Responding directly to an earlier letter from current and future Senate Banking Committee Chair Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), respectively, that reportedly urged SEC Chair White to cease any Dodd-Frank rule-making activity pending the start of the new administration, Chair White set forth in this letter yesterday a series of proposed rules and other items that she characterized as ready for current consideration by the Commission either via open meeting or seriatim vote, and which - consistent with the independence of the agency and historical post-election periods - she planned to pursue during the balance of her tenure, provided the Commission has a quorum to act:
- Adoption of rules to establish capital, margin, and segregation requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants;
- Adoption of rules regarding recordkeeping, reporting, and notification requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants:
- Adoption of rules regarding the orderly liquidation of certain broker dealers:
- Adoption of Rule 30e-3 regarding an optional method for investment companies to transmit shareholder reports by web posting;
- Adoption of rules to regulate registered investment companies' use of derivatives and require enhanced risk management measures;
- Adoption of rules to facilitate certain communications in connection with security-based swap transactions;
- Proposal of rules to require the use of the inline XBRL format in the submission of certain Commission filings; and
- Request for comment on statistical and other disclosures by bank holding companies and other financial institutions.
Based on the current Commission composition (including Chair White), all three sitting commissioners would need to be present for the SEC to act, which - given the current composition - is deemed to be a not insignificant hurdle for any matters that may be perceived as potentially controversial.
See also these articles from Reuters and the WSJ, and our prior reports concerning efforts to forestall rule-making activity for the balance of the current administration, post-election regulatory reform: here and here, and additional relevant Commission composition issues associated with White's departure.