Page 10 - Investment Advisor - November 2021
P. 10
EDITOR’S NOTE
By Janet Levaux
Moving Ahead
The LUMINARIES e are proud to present this month’s cover story, “Taking the Right Steps:
Meet the 2021 LUMINARIES in Executive Leadership and Dealmaking
program is an evolution W& Growth.” The piece features members of the inaugural LUMINARIES
of our Broker-Dealers honorees being recognized in these two categories for the dynamic and inclusive
of the Year awards efforts they lead to drive the wealth, investment and retirement industry forward.
(Winners in the Diversity & Inclusion and Thought Leadership & Education catego-
and shines a spotlight ries were featured in September.)
The LUMINARIES program is an evolution of our Broker-Dealers of the Year
on how the top- awards. It emphasizes excellence across the financial services industry and shines a
performing industry spotlight on how the top-performing industry participants are producing meaningful
participants are results in the areas that matter most to advisors and other financial professionals.
We appreciate all the individuals, firms, programs, products and services that were
producing meaningful nominated for LUMINARIES Class of 2021 and hope you enjoy this new program, as
results in the areas that well as our coverage of the winners. All members of the Class of 2021 LUMINARIES
will be recognized on stage at the program’s first awards dinner — set to take place
matter most to advisors Nov. 9 at the Mandarin Oriental in New York.
Meanwhile in Washington, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary
and other financial Gensler has told Congress that “as our capital markets have grown and technology
professionals. continues to shape the face of finance, though, the SEC has not grown to meet the
needs of the 2020s.” At the end of fiscal year 2016, the SEC had 4,650 people on
board, and nearly five years later, that number had dropped by about 4%, Melanie
Waddell explains in this month’s The Playing Field column.
Gensler added that the SEC’s Division of Examinations’ staff headcount has stayed
“relatively flat despite growth of more than 20% in the population of registered
investment advisors and a 65% increase in the assets managed by these firms. Other
divisions are similarly stretched thin.” The House’s support of a fiscal year 2022 bud-
get of about $2 billion for the SEC, he said, would get the securities regulator back to
“only a headcount of 4,859.”
He also said on Capitol Hill recently: “We just don’t have enough investor protec-
tion in crypto finance, issuance, trading or lending. Frankly, at this time, it’s more like
the Wild West or the old world of ‘buyer beware’ that existed before the securities
laws were enacted. This asset class is rife with fraud, scams and abuse in certain
applications. We can do better.” The SEC chief and his colleagues are working with
other financial regulators to protect investors under current authorities and to iden-
tify gaps that, with Congress’ assistance, can be filled, Waddell reports.
We hope you enjoy these and other stories in this month’s issue and wish you a
happy fall and Thanksgiving.
GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
8 INVESTMENT ADVISOR NOVEMBER 2021 | ThinkAdvisor.com
