Are We Investing or Gambling?

By Karl Lockhart July 28, 2025 by renholding

Few in business or law are talking enough about the national legalization of sports gambling. For the last few months, anyone, in any state, has been able to place wagers on the outcome of professional baseball, basketball, hockey, and tennis …

SEC Investment-Management Chief Speaks at Investment-Adviser Conference

By William A. Birdthistle March 4, 2022 by renholding

Good morning. Thank you, Karen, for your kind introduction and for inviting me to speak today. I am delighted to join you for my first public address as the Director of the Division of Investment Management.

Let me begin, if

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Market Myopia’s Climate Bubble

By Madison Condon March 9, 2021 by renholding

A growing number of financial institutions, from BlackRock to the Bank of England, have reached the conclusion that markets are not accurately assessing climate change-related risks. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde recently warned that central bankers “will have to …

SEC Chairman on the Essential Connections Among Markets, Businesses, and Workers in the Time of Covid-19

By Jay Clayton March 26, 2020 by renholding

Over the past several weeks, my colleagues at the SEC, other regulators, elected officials, market participants and others have asked my views on the functioning of our capital markets, and the importance of those markets, in the context of our

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Commissioners Testify on SEC Oversight: Wall Street’s Cop on the Beat

By Jay Clayton September 26, 2019 by renholding

Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member McHenry and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today [September 24] about the work of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission or agency).[1]

Overview—The SEC’s

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SEC Investor Advocate Talks Investor Issues for 2019

By Rick A. Fleming April 22, 2019 by renholding

Good afternoon. I hope you are enjoying this year’s edition of SEC Speaks, which gives the public a good overview of all the work that is going on at the Commission.[1] In the Office of the Investor Advocate, we

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Bitcoin’s Price Chaos Demonstrates the Importance of Sophisticated Financial Products

By Peter Charles Bassine and Harrison Fregeau June 28, 2018 by renholding

Between January 1 and December 17, 2017, the value of a single Bitcoin skyrocketed from under $1,000 to nearly $20,000. To match Bitcoin’s 1183 percent return during this period, an investor would have needed the equivalent of 38 years’ average …

The Death of Corporate Law

By Zohar Goshen and Sharon Hannes May 15, 2018 by renholding

For decades, corporate law played a pivotal role in regulating corporations across the United States. Consequently, Delaware, the leading state of incorporation, and its courts played a central part in corporate law and governance. More than half of publicly traded …

The Influence of Cross-Border Cooperation on Equity Market Liquidity

By Roger Silvers May 4, 2018 by renholding

In a recent post on this blog, I described how IOSCO’s Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU)—an arrangement intended to facilitate cooperation among regulators—improved cross-border enforcement of securities laws. In this post, I summarize a follow-up study showing that this enhanced …

SEC Chair Clayton Talks Retail Investment Services and Forward-Looking Regulation

By Jay Clayton May 3, 2018 by renholding

It is wonderful to be in Philadelphia.

It is wonderful to be at Temple University. It is very kind of Temple to host this event. I will speak for about 30 minutes and then take questions.[1]

Before I move …

SEC Commissioner Piwowar Speaks on Market Structure

By Michael S. Piwowar October 30, 2017 by renholding

These days you rarely hear the name Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) in this town [Washington, D.C.] [1] without some mention of “FINRA 360,” the comprehensive self-evaluation initiated by FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook. From what I have seen …

How Principles of Good Governance Can Improve Oversight of Financial Regulatory Institutions

By Hadar Y. Jabotinsky and Mathias Siems June 16, 2017 by renholding

Financial regulatory institutions are at the center of intense debates over how to supervise financial firms and markets. They are also the focus of an important and growing body of literature that is mainly concerned with the question, “Who…

Auctioneers as Market Makers and Their Role in Managing Price Momentum

By Tanjim Hossain, Fahad Khalil and Matthew Shum April 6, 2017 by renholding

Whether in large auction markets involving worldwide sales of, say, automobiles or in more specialized forums like the Tsukiji, Tokyo, fish market, auctioneers provide a platform for buyers and sellers to interact.[1] They also play an important role in …

Unicorns, Guardians, and the Concentration of U.S. Equity Markets

By Amy Deen Westbrook and David A. Westbrook March 21, 2017 by renholding

Developments in private and public markets are changing the role equity plays in the United States, i.e., what “stock” means as a matter not only of investment and corporate governance, but also of political economy. For several generations, a broad …

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