ASA Urges Senate to Confirm Paul Atkins as SEC Chairman

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) sent a letter of support to the Senate Banking Committee calling for the swift confirmation of Paul Atkins to serve as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

“I have known Mr. Atkins for many years and I believe his deep understanding of how the U.S. capital markets work, his willingness to appropriately balance the costs and benefits of regulation, and his desire to protect American investors from scam centers and frauds will serve our country well in the years to come,” ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella wrote in the letter.

“Over the last four years, the SEC was sanctioned for lying to a federal court, wasted millions of taxpayer dollars writing and defending numerous rulemakings that were found to be illegal, missed one of the largest financial frauds in American history, used ‘regulation by enforcement’ to intimidate and extort American businesses, and openly disregarded its mandate to promote small business capital formation,” Iacovella wrote.

“The public needs the SEC to be a fair, just, and effective regulator. To do that, the Trump SEC must adhere to the ‘rule of law’ and not ‘rule by law’, not politicize our capital markets with culturally divisive issues, and adopt regulations that promote a fair and level playing field for all market participants,” Iacovella concluded.

In the letter, ASA expressed its desire to work with an Atkins-led SEC and Trump administration on several matters including but not limited to:

·    Removing personally identifiable information from the Consolidated Audit Trail;

·    Reprioritizing small business capital formation;

·    Depoliticizing the capital markets and proxy process;

·    Changing the current leadership of the MSRB;

·    Ending the Chinese Communist Party’s exploitation of our capital markets through the ‘passive index loophole’;

·    Protecting American firms and investors from fraudulent scams perpetrated by sophisticated cybercriminals and nation-state actors using ever-evolving technology;

·    Ending the practice of ‘creative lawyering’ by the enforcement division; and

·    Implementing tailored regulations that do not disproportionately impact America’s small businesses or needlessly impose costs on retail investors. 

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The American Securities Association (ASA) represents the retail and institutional capital markets interests of regional financial services firms who provide Main Street businesses with access to capital and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. ASA’s mission is to promote trust and confidence among investors, facilitate capital formation, and support efficient and competitively balanced capital markets. This mission advances financial independence, stimulates job creation, and increases prosperity. The ASA has a geographically diverse membership of almost one hundred members that spans the Heartland, Southwest, Southeast, Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States.