On March 2, 2026, Bill St. Louis, FINRA’s executive vice president of Enforcement, published a statement outlining changes that FINRA has implemented as part of the broader FINRA Forward initiative to increase transparency, improve efficiency and provide member firms with greater opportunities to be heard. Of particular note, FINRA’s recently implemented pilot program, which is intended to give firms the opportunity to self-report, investigate and remediate compliance issues without simultaneously having to respond to an investigation or examination of the matter.
SEC Enforcement Director’s First Public Remarks Highlight Process, Fraud, and Compliance Failures
The SEC’s Enforcement Division Director recently delivered her first public remarks and provided helpful insight into the Division’s direction under her leadership. In her Remarks to the Los Angeles County Bar Association, SEC Enforcement Director Judge Margaret Ryan outlined her guiding principles, approach to enforcement process, and substantive priorities. A brief Q&A with insightful commentary from Judge Ryan followed her remarks. In our experience, after a long transition, changes within the Division of Enforcement are taking shape.
GDC on the SEC: An Insider View of the Agency’s Enforcement Program
A year into the new Administration, SEC Enforcement leadership is now in place, and the Commission and internal structure of the Enforcement Division look very different. Based on our decades of experience leading and defending enforcement matters from coast to coast and across different administrations, here are our thoughts on what’s ahead.
A Flurry of Activity at the SEC and Beyond
December has brought a range of activity at the SEC and beyond. From the SEC issuing its first enforcement press release in several months, filing multiple actions including one for alleged accounting and disclosure fraud, to US prosecutors announcing criminal action on a matter that first hit the news just in September. But a pair of regulatory releases by the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets (TM) are also due attention. Our rundown of those releases follows in an area we are keeping watch.
SEC Division of Examinations Releases its List of What’s Hot & What’s Not for 2026
Consistent with recent years, early this fiscal year the SEC’s Division of Examinations (the “Examinations”) has released its 2026 examination priorities (“Priorities”). The Priorities signal a more engagement‑oriented program consistent with one of Chairman Atkins’ mantras, framing regulatory oversight and compliance as a two‑way conversation—not a “gotcha” exercise. In the prologue, Examinations leadership: (1) promises to share observations and deepen outreach with registrants and SROs, and to harmonize its work with that of the Commission’s various policy divisions and (2) underscores its plan for deploying limited resources to the highest risk areas for investors and market integrity. The second issue is a perennial one for the SEC but is particularly acute following the significant reduction in headcount the SEC has experienced in the past nine months. Notwithstanding agency changes, in our experience, the work of Exams has generally continued to proceed apace.
SIFMA Asks the SEC to Significantly Reduce Recordkeeping Obligations for Brokers and RIAs
When the SEC returned to its offices last week after the lengthy shutdown, it was greeted by a letter from SIFMA president Ken Bentsen, Jr. to Chair Atkins urging the Commission to “modernize” the communications and records-retention rules for broker-dealers, federally registered investment advisers, and security-based swap dealers. The letter was copied to each SEC Commissioner and Division Director, as well as to the President and Chief Legal Officer of FINRA.
What Investment Advisers Should Expect from SEC Enforcement Post-Shutdown
If the first few months of the new SEC administration has shown anything, it is that investment advisers should expect the SEC to remain active in its enforcement of the Investment Advisers Act. Despite an overall slowdown in enforcement actions this past fiscal year, the Enforcement Division continued to pursue investment advisers for a variety of different violations, such as the custody rule, marketing rule, Rule 105, deficient policies and procedures, and certain negligence-based conduct involving evergreen issues like conflicts of interest and fees.[1]
Following Chairman Paul Atkins’s directive, the SEC is likely to focus on bread-and-butter securities law violations involving market participants who “lie, cheat, and steal” and on the most vulnerable investors, such as retail investors and seniors. As a result, investment advisers can expect the SEC to focus its efforts on core violations of the Advisers Act, including Sections 206(1) and (2), Section 207,[2] and Rule 206(4)-8 claims, and less attention on novel legal theories that might be seen as second-guessing management or stifling innovation.
A few themes have emerged as to the type of conduct the SEC’s enforcement regime may focus on after the shutdown.
Chairman Atkins Discusses SEC Enforcement: An Exercise of Government Power “Tempered by Fair Process, Good Judgement, Integrity and Rectitude”
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) Chairman Paul S. Atkins outlined some foundational themes for SEC enforcement in a recent keynote address at Fordham Law’s 25th Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture on Corporate, Securities, and Financial Law.[1] This was the Chairman’s second important enforcement-related speech in his career. The first one came 18 years ago at the same A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture, when then-Commissioner Atkins discussed the Wells process and potential reforms to the SEC’s enforcement program. This time, as Chairman, he used the speech to begin shaping enforcement the way he has long discussed.
New SEC Cross-Border Task Force to Combat Fraud
In an early sign of the priorities of the new administration, the SEC recently announced a new Cross-Border Task Force within the Division of Enforcement. According to its press release, the initiative is designed to sharpen the agency’s focus on foreign-based companies and market participants whose activities may harm U.S. investors, particularly through market manipulation schemes on US exchanges or otherwise.
The SEC’s New Regulatory Agenda = 180 Degree Turn from Prior Administration
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today released its much-anticipated “Spring” regulatory agenda. The agenda removes more than a dozen items from the Fall 2024 agenda and adds nearly double that to the Spring 2025 agenda. The two proposed rules that remain from Fall 2024 had their titles (and substance) changed (e.g., the “Rule 144 Holding Period” became the “Rule 144 Safe Harbor” and “Foreign Issuer Reporting Modernization” became “Foreign Private Issuer Eligibility”).