SEC Oversight Hearing
March 26, 2024
The House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee convened a hearing on March 20 to discuss legislative proposals aimed at reforming the Securities and Exchange (SEC).
In her opening statement, Chair Ann Wagner (R-MO) highlighted her concerns with the SEC’s current rulemaking process, particularly the “alarming absence of stakeholder input and meaningful cost-benefit analysis.”
Subcommittee members scrutinized the speed at which the SEC has proposed and finalized new rules, the length of comment periods, the agency’s attention to stakeholder concerns, and the scope of its statutory authority.
In addition to debating the SEC’s rulemaking process, the subcommittee touched on the following key issues:
- Climate disclosure;
- Consolidated Audit Trail (would allow regulators to track activity in the U.S. markets for listed equities and options); and
- Digital Assets and AI
The climate disclosure discussion, an exchange likely most pertinent to CREFC members, centered on the materiality aspect of the rule and whether its formulation aligns with the SEC’s statutory authority.
Why it matters. As reported in several CREFC Policy and Capital Markets Briefings, the SEC has proposed and finalized many rules that impact the CRE finance industry, including the:
- Climate disclosure rule (see here for CREFC response);
- Conflicts of interest in securitization rule (see here and here for CREFC’s comment letters); and
- 15c2-11 no-action letter.
CREFC has had a productive engagement with SEC staff and leadership on the above issues and appreciates the revisions incorporated from proposed-to-final rulemaking that reflect our industry’s realities.
Please contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) or David McCarthy (dmmcarthy@crefc.org) with any questions.