Page 39 - Investment Advisor April 2021
P. 39
THE PLAYING FIELD
By Melanie Waddell
Legislative, Regulatory Maneuvers in Play
New leaders, along with new regulations and exam priorities, give advisors
and broker-dealers a lot to review.
new administration as well In Peirce’s mind, the SEC should
as new leaders at the helm of “wait” before making “major changes”
A regulatory agencies and con- to Reg BI and the advice standards pack-
gressional committees sets up a slew of age, she opined during the IAA event.
activity for advisors and broker-dealers The SEC “should always be open to
to watch in the new year. rethinking rules; that’s never a terri-
Republican SEC Commissioner tory we shouldn’t be willing to enter,”
Hester Peirce pointed out in early March Peirce said.
at the Investment Adviser Association’s At the same time, Reg BI and the
virtual compliance conference, that standards of conduct package is “a very
President Joe Biden’s pick to be the new new rule set; there was a lot of work
SEC chair, Gary Gensler, “will come in done during the implementation. … It
and will be thinking about the agenda he makes sense to me to see how this
wants to set and where priorities fall.” all plays out and then if we conclude
During Gensler’s nomination hearing there’s things that needs to be changed
[SEC Chair nominee before the Senate Banking Committee or clarified or eliminated … then we can
on March 2, Senators’ questions seemed
come back to do that.”
Gary] Gensler to indicate his first priority should be A new SEC chair, Peirce continued,
told the senators, addressing the Reddit GameStop short also will “want to see how [the pack-
age] plays out.” Reg BI “gives [the SEC]
squeeze. The agency’s controversial
cryptocurrencies Regulation Best Interest and its accom- new abilities to bring cases that would
“have brought new panying advice standards package, have been harder to bring in the past.
including Form CRS, were not discussed.
So I’m optimistic.”
As to Form CRS, Peirce conceded that
Gensler — a former chair of the
thinking to payments Commodity Futures Trading Commission “it is so dense, and some of them are not
and financial who’s a professor of blockchain, digital very inviting to read.” Often, she said,
inclusion, but they’ve currency, financial technology and pub- a “non-paper based digital message” is
lic policy at the Massachusetts Institute
more effective. “It’s hard to get all this
also raised new issues of Technology — laid out to the sena- information into such a short form … I’m
tors the steps he’d mull to address the
open to reconsideration on Form CRS.”
of investor protection recent market volatility related to the
that we still need to GameStop Reddit squeeze. ADMINISTRATION AND THE HILL
He also addressed his approach to
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, taking the
attend to.” regulating cryptocurrencies. Gensler helm as the new chairman of the Senate
told the senators, these products “have Banking Committee means “much more
brought new thinking to payments and legislative activity” coming out of that
financial inclusion, but they’ve also committee than there was under for-
raised new issues of investor protection mer Republican Chairman Mike Crapo,
that we still need to attend to.” R-Idaho, Neil Simon, vice president of
If confirmed, Gensler said he’d “work government affairs for IAA, said dur-
with fellow commissioners to both pro- ing the group’s virtual compliance event.
mote the new innovation but also at the House Financial Services Committee bills
core, ensure for investor protection.” “went to die” under Crapo, Simon said.
APRIL 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 37
