One hallmark of the Gensler SEC was to regulate through enforcement, particularly in cases where there may have been no explicit governing rules. That approach raised understandable resistance from the securities industry specifically and the business community more broadly. Not surprisingly, President-Elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Paul Atkins to replace Chairman Gary Gensler was met with applause by the broader business community, in part, with the hope that the new chairman will take a less hostile approach than his predecessor. It is well known that Atkins was the founder of Patomak Global Partners, a firm that consulted to the securities industry and other market participants. Indeed, the digital asset and crypto community has been supportive of the pick in large measure because the chair nominee has been a vocal supporter of innovation and crypto.

But how “friendly” will Atkins actually be toward the securities industry? His public statements since he left the SEC in 2008, when he finished his term as a commissioner, provide clues.

  • Why not simpler, easier-to-understand regulations?

The chair nominee has broadly criticized the burdens the SEC imposes in requests for information in enforcement cases and more broadly on public companies “in the normal course.” Perhaps rhetorically, he challenged a panel of current SEC staff to answer “just how are you effectively using this information, this wealth of information” and how heightened disclosure requirements “advance the mission of the SEC?” He has also specifically criticized the Dodd-Frank Act (passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis) for implementing a number of required public company disclosures. Examples he has used include CEO pay ratios, which was something that was considered by some to be at the core of Dodd-Frank at the time it was passed. He commented that some disclosure requirements “place real burdens on public companies and their shareholders who ultimately pay the costs of making these immaterial disclosures that provide no benefit to economically-driven investors.”