At a recent SEC Investor Advisory Committee meeting, Chair Mary Jo White urged continued support for the Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative and the implementation of the FAST Act mandates. She stated that she expects that efforts to make disclosures more effective will continue in 2017, adding:
"It is inevitable and entirely appropriate that these reforms be reviewed, incrementally improved, and made more efficient as we learn from their operation in the market. But, in my view, it would be a grave mistake to weaken, let alone dismantle, these core post‑crisis reforms."
Chair White described recent developments concerning those initiatives, including a proposal to require that hyperlinks to exhibits be used in registration statements and periodic and current reports, and a recent SEC staff report on the modernization and simplification of Regulation S-K (as required by the FAST Act). Chair White emphasized that the reforms that have been implemented by the SEC are "indispensable for investors and our markets."
Commentary / Steven Lofchie
Chair White's speech appears to be, at least in part, a message to Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has attacked the SEC Chair for her focus on things like the meat-and-potatoes of corporate disclosure instead of certain social disclosures concerning matters such as compensation. During her term, Chair White did not appear to be intimidated by Senator Warren despite the tenor of her attacks. It is encouraging that Chair White's departing words laid the groundwork for the incoming SEC Chair to focus on matters of economic disclosure that should continue to be among the agency's highest priorities.
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