The Head of the SEC - Past and Present

As a new presidential administration enters the fold and as the confirmation of a new Head of the SEC takes place, let us look at the outgoing SEC head Jay Clayton’s accomplishments. After serving from 2017 to 2020, Clayton’s SEC accomplishments are countless; we will focus on the many important things that occurred during his tenure, mainly focusing on Rule 506(c) changes and how that has changed our industry.

Before assuming the mantle of Head of the SEC, Clayton was a successful attorney for many large corporations who have had success with IPOs. This guidance helped many of Clayton’s clients during the Great Recession, where companies such as JP Morgan and Barclays Capital had great success in purchasing assets from some failing companies. Clayton’s extensive knowledge and experience in financial markets demonstrated his ability to fill a position as Head of the SEC.

Confirmed on President Trump’s inauguration day, Jay Clayton became the 32nd Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton’s identification as a political independent combined with his industry experience made him a fantastic candidate for the position, and his Senate confirmation was passed with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle.

During his tenure, the SEC encouraged capital growth leading to S&P 500 index growth of sixty-five percent. His administration also passed many regulations that sought to simplify or expand public and private markets to encourage as much growth as possible. This is especially true with the recent expansion of the Accredited Investor definition, which was one of his team’s last significant accomplishments. This change made it easier for many investors to become accredited investors and thereby increasing the viability of Rule 506(c) offerings. All in all, Clayton’s SEC found great success in rooting out corruption and fraud while promoting the health of our nation’s financial systems.

As we take a look back at the last four years of the SEC and its Chairman, let us take a look at President Biden’s pick, Gary Gensler. Like Clayton, Gensler is a successful financial mind who has experience as a successful investment banker and an accomplished academic and public servant. He served under the Obama administration in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and taught at MIT. As an industry insider who did very well on wall street at the beginning of his career, Gensler is expected to be tough on wall street to have better protection to promote the general stock market and protect the American investor. Since Rule 506(c) offerings are meant to make capital generation easier for issuers while protecting investors by restricting those investments to high net worth and financially experienced investors, Gensler will hopefully bring even more positive change to our niche in the financial market.

The beauty of a democracy is that the will of the people dictates the laws of the land, therefore who is chosen by our elected leaders to head up important bodies such as the SEC is essential to pay attention to. We at VerifyInvestor.com post updates on upcoming SEC open forums to encourage our clients to voice their opinions about crowdfunding laws. Whether you are an issuer or an investor, make sure to check our blog regularly for updates on the SEC and accredited investor related laws as they evolve.