Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Gensler keeps going, and going, and going

"The Trump SPAC might have just given Gensler and warren an invitation to start a probe."

By KATE DAVIDSON and AUBREE ELIZA WEAVER

12/15/2021 08:00 AM EST

Editor’s Note: Morning Money is a free version of POLITICO Pro Financial Services morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 5:15 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Money won’t publish from Monday, Dec. 20-Friday, Dec. 31. We’ll be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 3.

Links

Quick Fix

One financial lobbyist called him the Energizer Bunny. To Democrats, he’s their best hope for delivering on the Biden administration’s sweeping financial regulatory agenda before the midterm elections.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler is plowing ahead with initiatives to crack down on special purpose acquisition companies, regulate cryptocurrency, require companies to disclose their climate impact, and revamp market structure policies in the wake of the GameStop trading saga earlier this year.

He’s also working on proposals to scrutinize executive pay and shore up the $23 trillion Treasury market, and eyeing new investor safeguards for complex financial products traded on exchanges.

Today, he’s set to take his biggest step yet toward advancing Democrats’ policy priorities, when the SEC meets to propose rules aimed at insider trading and share buybacks, as well as regulations on money market mutual funds and derivatives.

Gensler’s ambitious agenda has paved the way for a slew of potential rulemaking next year, ramping up the regulatory machine as action on Capitol Hill is expected to downshift before the 2022 midterms. It’s reminiscent of his approach as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Obama administration.

“The SEC has the luxury of having a confirmed leader who arrived with a clear vision of where he wanted to take the agency and where he wanted to focus,” said Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, a group that advocates for stricter Wall Street oversight.

Contrast that with the other independent financial regulators:

—Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Still has no Senate-confirmed leader, after the White House’s nominee, Saule Omarova, withdrew last week after losing support even from moderate Democrats over her advocacy of a vastly expanded government role in banking.

—Federal Reserve: President Joe Biden has yet to nominate a vice chair for supervision, the Fed’s top bank regulator, despite knowing for months that the previous vice chair’s term would expire in October. (The White House says additional Fed nominations could come “before the holidays.”)

—Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Director Rohit Chopra is taking a tougher line on big financial and tech firms. But he has only been in the job about eight weeks, after facing months of delays before the Senate voted on his confirmation.

—FDIC: Chairman Jelena McWilliams, a Trump appointee, is attempting to block efforts by the board’s Democratic-appointed members to begin a formal review of bank merger policy, sparking a partisan battle that could head to the courts.

Gensler, on the other hand, had an early — though rocky — start. Biden nominated him to the job on Feb. 3, and he was confirmed and sworn in by April 17. He quickly assembled a team of top policy and legal advisers, released a list of policy priorities and put rule-writing groups to work. He stumbled with the selection of an enforcement director who resigned after it came to light that a federal judge reprimanded her in a class action lawsuit involving Exxon Mobil and Indonesian villagers, where she was representing the energy giant. He later tapped New Jersey’s attorney general for the job.

“He really has teed up the agency to get an enormous amount of stuff done in the next six, 12, 18 months, across a range of all the important issues,” Kelleher said.

IT’S WEDNESDAY — And officially mid-December. Will we actually get more Fed nominations from the White House before the holidays? Or just a lump of coal? Let us know what you think: [e-mail], [e-mail], or on Twitter @katedavidson or @aubreeeweaver.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money/2021/12/15/gensler-keeps-going-and-going-and-going-799478