On February 23 and 24, 2018, the SEC held its annual SEC Speaks conference in Washington, D.C. This year's conference was centered around the key themes of accessibility, flexibility and transparency. Senior SEC leadership provided remarks illustrating the SEC's 2017 accomplishments and priorities for 2018 and beyond.
Chairman Jay Clayton delivered opening remarks and reflected on his first year leading the SEC. He emphasized a need to focus on financial institutions as a means of protecting the long-term investments of "main street investors." This year's highlights also included remarks from Division of Enforcement officials, who discussed recent cases as well as priorities for 2018, which are largely concentrated around the areas of cybersecurity, cryptocurrency and retail investment. Robert Cohen, chief of the SEC's new Cyber Unit, described the unit's priorities as well as early success indicators.
New Commissioners Jackson and Peirce described their regulatory approach, with Commissioner Peirce placing a strong emphasis on economic analysis and Commissioner Jackson expressing the importance of melding law and finance together in order to prevent another financial crisis. The Divisions of Corporation Finance and Investment Management discussed the current issues on their radars, both placing an emphasis on cryptocurrencies and block chain technology. The Chief Accountant for the SEC, Wesley Bricker, reported on the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Acknowledging the uncertainty likely to be faced by companies with regard to their financial disclosures, he recommended a "triage" approach for reporting, by identifying (1) the effects that have taken place, (2) the effects that are likely to occur and (3) those that have been assessed but not yet quantified.
The speech transcripts are available at:
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