United States

Paul S. Atkins, Chairman Financial Stability Oversight Council Washington D.C. Dec. 11, 2025 Thank you, Secretary Bessent. I am pleased to join you all at our final FSOC meeting of the year. First, a word of gratitude. The annual report before us reflects a remarkable level of dedication, made all the more notable by shutdown-imposed limitations. I should like to extend special thanks to the drafting team assembled by FSOC—and to the SEC staff who worked cheek by jowl with them in preparing this report. Of course, my thanks as always to Secretary Bessent, under whose leadership the Council is laying a strong foundation for the work ahead. I especially applaud the Council’s emphasis on sustainable long-term economic growth. This focus will not displace our ongoing assessment of the U.S. financial system, nor will it diminish our monitoring of its stability. Rather, this new dimension recognizes that market resilience and growth are twin pillars, not competing imperatives, of our financial security. The benefits of this framework abound in the 2025 annual report. By organizing our findings into key areas of focus, separating formal recommendations from significant market developments that warrant monitoring, we have produced a clearer, more coherent picture of the system that we are charged to safeguard. So, as we wind down one historic year and prepare for another, I am eager to build on our momentum, including a thoughtful review of the non-bank designation guidance. When firms face the prospect of arbitrary and capricious designation, as we have seen too often in the past, they cannot plan for growth or undertake strategic decisions. This risk impairs their ability to deploy capital efficiently and serve their customers effectively—outcomes that run completely counter to our shared objectives. Furthermore, Federal Reserve supervision, whose only tool is capital standards, would bring a meaningless regulatory framework to asset managers, insurance …

Source: MyPR International

Paul S. Atkins, Chairman Dec. 11, 2025 Today the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) received a briefing from Treasury staff on potential revisions to the Council’s interpretative guidance regarding nonbank financial company determinations. And I was especially encouraged to see revising the non-bank designation guidance on the agenda. Secretary Bessent’s leadership on this issue is welcome, and I believe that this Council cannot begin to undo the damage of the last administration fast enough. The idea of non-bank designation was misguided from the start. Designation, in the wrong hands, is poised to become a weapon for an activist Council to push an arbitrary agenda and punish companies that are not onboard. It is urgent that we fix this. When companies are subject to the risk of arbitrary designation, they are unable to plan for growth and undertake strategic decisions, impairing their ability to deploy capital efficiently and meet the needs of customers. For example, in 2016, General Electric sold off its financial division specifically to avoid the burdens associated with being labeled a systemically important financial institution. As we learned from designations under the 2012 guidance, companies view designation as an existential threat. This should not be surprising. For a nonbank institution, designation brings with it a new regulator that does not have the primary regulator’s expertise in its business—and quite possibly with its industry overall. I do not mean that to disparage our colleagues at the Federal Reserve. I am quite sure that they would have very strong negative feelings about the SEC stepping in to regulate a bank holding company. I would share those feelings. Furthermore, the Fed’s primary regulatory tool is capital standards. These are meaningless in the context of an asset manager, insurance company, or investment fund. Instead, FSOC’s activities since 2016 demonstrate that regulators can effectively address the risks …

Source: MyPR International

Commissioner Hester M. Peirce Dec. 11, 2025 Today, the staff of the Division of Trading and Markets issued a no-action letter to The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”). The letter relates to DTC’s development and launch of a preliminary version of its voluntary securities tokenization program on supported blockchains that meet DTC’s technology standards. This program will enable the tokenization of security entitlements to certain eligible securities that DTC’s participants hold through DTC (“tokenized entitlements”). Any DTC participant with a registered wallet will be able to transfer its tokenized entitlement directly to the registered wallet of another DTC participant. DTC’s software system will track each transfer to record tokenization entitlements for DTC’s official books and records. Although this program is a pilot subject to various operational limitations, it marks a significant incremental step in moving markets onchain. DTC plays a central role in our securities markets. I am looking forward to seeing how DTC’s participants benefit from this program and the extent to which DTC’s tokenization model can enhance the functioning of our securities markets. DTC’s tokenized entitlement model is a promising step along the tokenization journey, but other market participants are exploring alternate experimental avenues. As I have said repeatedly, the Commission’s crypto work is iterative. We welcome and expect other market participants’ continuing efforts to innovate and experiment. Their experiments may involve other securities tokenization models. Investor choice is critical, particularly at this early stage when the market is testing what works. For example, some issuers have begun tokenizing their own securities, which may make it easier for investors to hold and transact in securities directly, rather than through an intermediary. As I previously cautioned, market participants should be aware that different tokenization structures may raise distinct …

Source: MyPR International

Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw Washington D.C. Dec. 11, 2025 Good morning and thank you Aaron [Klein]. It is a pleasure to be here this morning. While this isn’t a “farewell address,” I hope you will indulge me if I take the opportunity to reflect a little bit on what I’ve learned, what we accomplished prior to this year, and provide commentary on where I think the markets are today and where I think they should be headed.[1] *** The securities laws, as drafted, were designed to provide legal structure around an intricate system of market participants with different interests and different incentives. It has evolved over time, including through the passage of new statutes and rules, into a unique ecosystem of checks and balances.[2] This structure, which has accommodated growth in volume, speed, and complexity over the last 90 years, is far from perfect.[3] But, more or less, it has worked. If those who can afford to invest buy and hold plain vanilla diversified products based on investment advice that is provided in their best interest, those investors should get, and generally have gotten, more money out than they put in. And American businesses have successfully raised capital year-in and year-out. Our job, at the SEC, is to ensure fairness and order, improve efficiency and effectiveness, and require appropriate transparency in the markets. We must do that carefully and with adherence to certain foundational principles, including, ideally, the belief that this is a system for everyone, and not for any special interest or market participant. The job of the SEC is a critical one. The agency must understand the interactions between all of the participants, while recognizing the interests and incentives of each of them, and ensure that the overall structure remains balanced and works for everyone. Nearly five and half years ago, I had the privilege of testifying before the Senate for a hearing on my nomination. At that hearing, I explained who I …

Source: MyPR International

On 2 December 2025 at 9:15 am (EDT) and on the cusp of America's 250th anniversary, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (9:15 a.m.) and deliver a major speech (10 a.m.) entitled “Revitalizing America's Markets at 250” to outline his vision to strengthen U.S. capital markets for the next century and what the SEC is doing now to lay that groundwork. …

Source: MyPR International

Washington D.C., Nov. 25, 2025: The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Cristina Martin Firvida, who has served as the Director of the Office of the Investor Advocate since January 2023, will conclude her tenure with the agency at the end of January 2026. As the Investor Advocate, Ms. Martin Firvida has led an office that was established by Congress to identify, analyze, and address the concerns of investors, providing them a voice and ensuring their needs are reflected in decisions made at the SEC and elsewhere in the federal government and securities industry. Under her leadership, the office conducted a significant research project to study registered index-linked annuities and investors’ understanding of these complex products, and advised the Commission on opportunities to improve disclosures for retirement investors. Ms. Martin Firvida also helped lead other data collection efforts within the office that identify real-time insights on evolving retail investing behavior and inform the Commission rulemaking process with evidence obtained from surveys and tests of the impacts of potential policy changes. “Our work at the SEC should always be rigorous and responsive to the needs and interests of investors, and Cristina and her staff have provided important policymaking support to the Commission,“ said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “We wish her the best in her future endeavors and thank her for the contributions she made to our agency and investors as a whole.” Ms. Martin Firvida said, “It has been a privilege to serve investors and the Commission in this role, and I thank the Chairman and the Commissioners for generously supporting and encouraging our work. I am grateful for the opportunity to spotlight investor aspirations and challenges by providing timely empirical research, expert legal analysis, and direct engagement during a period of rapid change in the capital markets. It has been an honor to work alongside the exceptional …

Source: MyPR International