SEC Announces Strategic Plan for 2022-2026
SEC Releases
Brief Introduction
The SEC published a 16-page document highlighting their strategic plan for 2022 through 2026. In addition to comments from the SEC chair and a general history of the SEC, the SEC also announced their mission, vision, values, and goals for Fiscal Year 2022-2026.
SEC’s Mission, Vision, and Values
- Mission:
- To protect investors, facilitate capital formation, and maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets.
- Vision:
- To promote capital markets that inspire public confidence, a diverse array of financial opportunities to retail and institutional investors, entrepreneurs, public companies, and other market participants.
- Values:
- Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, Teamwork, Fairness, Effectiveness.
SEC Goals For 2022-2026
- To protect the investing public against fraud, manipulation, and misconduct.
- To develop and implement a robust regulatory framework that keeps pace with evolving markets, business models, and technologies.
- To support a skilled workforce that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and fully equipped to advance agency objectives.
Goal 1: Protecting the Investing Public
- The process for disclosures to investors must be modernized to allow for consistent, comparable, and easily accessible information.
- Investigations and enforcement for all types of violations and misconduct, from insider trading to failing to act in a client’s best interest.
- Initiatives will focus on risks and misconduct affecting individual investors.
- Enforcement will be consistent and efficient across all industries regardless of the entity, technology, or business model.
- An increased focus on technology and data analytics to detect and prevent improper behavior in new and emerging markets.
Goal 2: Developing and Implementing a Robust Regulatory Framework
- As technology and access to markets increase exponentially, the SEC must create a regulatory framework that allows for proactive enforcement.
- Transparency in private and previously unregulated markets must be enhanced, and rules must be modified to enforce core regulatory principles in any appropriate context.
- Global entities must be supervised appropriately.
- The SEC will request new authorities (when needed) from Congress to strengthen their authority to be both prepared and agile in handling future market volatility.
- The SEC will enhance its expertise in product markets beyond equities.
Goal 3: Support a Diverse, Equitable, and Fully Equipped Workforce
- The SEC will seek high-quality and diverse talent in its workforce.
- Implementing workplace policies that encourages efficient workflow between departments.
- The SEC will enhance internal risk management surrounding cybersecurity.
- A process to promote rotations and details among employees to allow for more global coverage and regulation.
Vigilant’s Final Conclusion
The SEC’s published strategic plan provides many insights into the future regulatory environment. Their goal to provide a robust regulatory framework will expand their jurisdiction into private markets, cryptocurrency, and other emerging technologies.
As the SEC increases their reach, they also plan to create a consistent enforcement framework that focuses on core principles across markets.
With the everchanging regulatory environment, for many Advisers, Broker-Dealers, and Funds, it is difficult to stay up to date with the new regulations and regulatory guidance. Vigilant’s sole business is to stay abreast of the compliance industry and can be best suited to assist you in maintaining and updating your compliance program.