Quantcast
The MFWire
Manage Email Alerts | Sponsorships | About MFWire | Who We Are

Subscribe to MFWire.com's News Alerts [click]

Rating:Has Trump Chosen #34? Not Rated 0.0 Email Routing List Email & Route  Print Print
Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Has Trump Chosen #34?

News summary by MFWire's editors

Donald Trump may have chosen a familiar face to succeed Gary Gensler next year as the top regulator for the asset management industry and the rest of Wall Street.

Paul S. Atkins
Patomak Global Partners
Founder, Chief Executive
Last week (on Thanksgiving Eve), Bloomberg and Politico both reported that Paul Atkins led the pack of contenders to take over as the 34th chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and had already been interviewed by the President-elect. Then yesterday, Unchained reported that, per three unnamed sources, Trump has picked Atkins for the job. All three aforementioned publications describe Atkins as more friendly to the cryptocurrency world, in contrast with Gensler, and perhaps Atkins would be a different kind of regulator for the mutual fund industry, too.

Less than two weeks ago, Gensler revealed his plans to step down on inauguration day, clearing the way for Trump to pick a new SEC chief. The next day, one of Gensler's fellow SEC Democrats also unveiled his plans to depart soon.

Atkins is no stranger to either Trump or the SEC. Eight years ago, Atkins was rumored to be a contender to take over the SEC in 2017, after reportedly helping with Trump's transition team by advising the President-elect on "policies on financial regulation." Though Trump ultimately chose a different SEC chair in 2017, he also appointed a former Atkins staffer, Hester Peirce, to the commission. (Peirce continues to serve as one of the five.)

Though Atkins has never chaired the SEC, he is a 10-year veteran of the regulatory agency. He spent four years on the SEC's staff in the early 1990s, even advising a then-chair. Atkins returned to the SEC eight years later, in 2002, when U.S. President George W. Bush appointed the lawyer as a commissioner.

Atkins left the SEC when his term ended in 2008 (not in 2007, as was once rumored), and his six years as one of the five may offer fundsters a preview of what his approach to chair the SEC might look like. In that time, Atkins:
  • called for the creation of a "new products czar" to help shepherd new products through the SEC process;
  • supported the creation of the short-form mutual fund prospectus;
  • approved the creation of a faster SEC approval process for ETFs;
  • defended the supremacy of the federal government in mutual fund regulation and enforcement;
  • worried about the SEC staff's ability to juggle watching both traditional fundsters and hedge fundsters;
  • objected to a congressionally-mandated SEC report on a proposed rule requiring mutual fund boards to have independent chairs, and repeatedly dissented against that proposal, under two chairs;
  • approved new disclosure rules for funds' fees and portfolio holdings;
  • questioned a proposal for creating a Finra-like SRO for the fund industry; and
  • opposed proxy vote disclosure regs for fund firms while supporting similar regs for investment advisors.


  • Atkins also later joined a group of ex-SEC commissioners who pushed back against FSOC's efforts to implement new money fund regs.

    After leaving the SEC, Atkins founded Patomak Global Partners in 2009, and he continues to serve as the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm's chief executive. Earlier, he was a partner at PwC and Coopers & Lybrand, and he started his career as a lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell. He is an alumnus of the Vanderbilt University School of Law and of Wofford College. 

    Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


    Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
    CLICK HERE

    0.0
     Do You Recommend This Story?



    GO TO: MFWire
    Return to Top
     News Archives
    2025: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2024: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2023: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2022: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2021: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2020: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2019: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2018: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2017: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2016: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2015: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2014: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2013: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2012: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2011: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2010: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2009: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2008: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2007: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2006: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2005: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2004: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2003: Q4Q3Q2Q1
    2002: Q4Q3Q2Q1
     Subscribe via RSS:
    Raw XML
    Add to My Yahoo!
    follow us in feedly


    1. MFDF webinar - The Audit Committee Chair's Guide to Balancing Duties and Emerging Issues, September 3
    2. IDC webinar - A Primer on Digital Assets, Tokenization, and Distributed Ledger Technology, September 3
    3. WE U.S. - Women in Finance brunch at Dallas Securities Traders Association conference, September 4
    4. FutureProof Festival, Sep 7-10
    5. WE SoCal - Welcome Mixer at FutureProof, September 8
    6. WE US - ICI conference luncheon, September 8
    7. ICI ETF Conference, Sep 8-10
    8. WE Chicago - Unstoppable: A Journey of Resilience and Redefining Limits, September 9
    9. Nicsa webinar - Reimagining Reconciliation: AI, Regulation, and Capital Markets Transformation, September 10
    10. MFDF webinar - Series Trust Funds - Compliance and Board Reporting, September 10
    11. MFDF In Focus - Board Oversight of DEI in Current Landscape, September 11
    12. WE San Francisco - Annual Networking Event, September 11
    13. 2025 MMI Institutional Forum, September 11
    14. IDC webinar - Distribution for Fund Directors: Evolution and Trends, September 15
    15. IMEA Content Management Roundtable, September 16
    16. IMEA 2025 Star Awards Celebration, September 16
    17. IMEA Marketing Summit, Sep 16-17
    18. MFDF webinar - MFDF 15(c) White Paper Webinar Series: Part 4 – Enforcement Action Takeaways, September 16
    19. MFDF webinar - Latest in Closed-End Funds Litigations, September 23
    20. WE PNW - Mentorship Program Virtual Session: Building Trust to Win New Business and Influence Others, September 23
    21. Nicsa webinar - Utilizing AI to Enhance Distribution & Advisor Engagement, September 24
    22. IMEA Portfolio Construction Roundtable, September 24
    23. MFDF webinar - Fixed Income Insights: Navigating Market Trends & Opportunities, September 24
    24. IMEA Models Roundtable, September 25
    25. Expect Miracles Atlantic Coast Classic 2025, September 29
    26. MFDF webinar - Risk Management Essentials for RICs and Boards, September 29




    ©All rights reserved to InvestmentWires, Inc. 1997-2025
    14 Wall Street | 20th Floor | New York, NY 10005 | P: 212-331-8968 | F: 212-331-8998
    Privacy Policy :: Terms of Use