ASA Statement on House Appropriations SEC Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association today reiterated its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) advocacy priorities ahead of a House Appropriations oversight hearing featuring SEC Chairman Paul Atkins.

“After four years of the Biden administration directing the SEC to advance its political agenda and grow the administrative state, ASA applauds Chairman Atkins and this Committee for refocusing the SEC on its core mission of serving America’s investors, working families, and small businesses,” said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. “Ending bureaucratic rule in our government, and especially at the SEC, is paramount if America is to enter a new era of innovation and small business job creation.”

Earlier this year, 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. 

Last month, Iacovella penned a Washington Times opinion piece urging the SEC to restore the public’s trust and confidence and not politicize our capital markets with culturally divisive issues.

###

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.