SECURITIES
December 2, 2016
Securities Alert
Change and Continuity in Securities Regulation
By William McLucas, Harry Weiss, Tom White, Meredith Cross, Matthew Chambers, Matthew
Martens, Mark Cahn, Amy Doberman, Lori Echavarria, Brandon Becker, Cherie Weldon, Gail
Bernstein and Mahlet Ayalew
The election of Donald Trump as the next President and the continued Republican control of
Congress raise questions as to what changes may be expected at the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC or Commission) and what may stay the same. Although Mr. Trump has
called for a repeal of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-
Frank Act), he has provided few specifics about changes to the federal securities laws and what
role he expects the SEC to play, what type of SEC Chair or other Commissioners he is likely to
nominate, or how the financial markets would be policed.
Current SEC Chair Mary Jo White already has announced that she will be stepping down at the
end of the Obama Administration, leaving three Commissioner openings for the Trump
Administration. The President-elect’s transition team for the independent financial agencies is
being led by Paul Atkins, a former SEC Commissioner with a deregulatory focus. He will provide
recommendations regarding financial regulation policies and personnel. In addition, Sharon
Brown-Hruska, who is a former Commissioner and acting Chair of the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission, has been named to Mr. Trump’s landing team for the SEC.
In addition, the Financial CHOICE Act (CHOICE Act),1 proposed during the current Congress by
Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Committee on Financial
Services, and cited with approval by the transition team, may provide some indication of
potential changes the Trump Administration or Congress may seek to make to the Dodd-Frank
Act. With a deregulatory focus by the incoming Republican Administration, and with the House
and Senate both under Republican control, there is the potential that significant changes in
policy and direction could be implemented at the SEC, including changes in personnel,
authority, budget and policy.
Many key components of securities regulation, however, would likely remain unchanged.
Despite concerns about various aspects of the SEC’s approach to regulation and enforcement,
1 The CHOICE Act, which was passed by the House Financial Services Committee on September 13, 2016, is styled
as an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R.5983 Offered by Mr. Hensarling of Texas (September 12,
2016), and is available at http://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-hr5983-h001036-amdt-001.pdf.
