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Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, testifies before an oversight hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 27, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler spoke this morning at the Practicing Law Institute’s 56th Annual Securities Regulation Conference.
It sounded eerily close to a farewell speech.
“It’s a remarkable agency,” Gensler said of the SEC, which he has led since April 2021.
“It has been a great honor to work with them, do the people’s work and ensure our capital markets remain the best in the world.”
Gensler rates performance
Gensler gave an overview of what he has accomplished.
In particular, Gensler highlighted the many disclosure rules the SEC has issued, including disclosure about data breaches, executive compensation versus performance, and additional disclosures about those seeking to control and purchase more than 5% of stock in a company.
Gensler made only passing reference to his most controversial disclosure rule, on climate change, which has been challenged in court.
“Congress has introduced important disclosure provisions because securities information creates a public good,” he said.
On the market structure, Gensler noted that he had introduced new rules for the central clearing of government bonds and that the stock settlement cycle had been shortened from two days to one day. cents.
Defense of the crypto position
Gensler offered a full defense of his approach to crypto.
Gensler reiterated his assertion that while bitcoin is not a security, the SEC’s focus was “on some of the approximately 10,000 other digital assets that many courts have ruled were offered or sold as securities” and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the SEC. .
He again asserted that anyone offering securities must register, and intermediaries such as broker-dealers, exchanges and clearinghouses must also be registered.
He said the failure to properly police the crypto industry had resulted in “significant harm to investors” and that “the vast majority of crypto assets have not yet proven a sustainable use case.”
Proud to serve
Gensler didn’t say he was resigning, but the tone was clear.
“I am proud to serve alongside my colleagues at the SEC who work day in and day out to protect American families on the financial highways,” he said at the end of his speech.