On February 17, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro gave testimony before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the Commission's implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. Schapiro opened her testimony by summarizing the over 100 rulemaking provisions and more than twenty studies and reports that are mandated from the SEC by the Dodd-Frank Act. She also noted that the legislation requires the Commission to create five new offices overseeing everything from hedge funds to derivatives.
According to Schapiro, though some of the required regulations, studies, and new regulatory offices have been delayed due to funding issues, the Commission "has issued 25 proposed rule releases, seven final rule releases, and two interim final rule releases." She noted that, "we have received thousands of public comments, completed five studies, and hosted five roundtables."
Ms. Schapiro moved on to summarize the Commission’s efforts with regard to:
- OTC derivatives,
- fund advisers,
- asset-backed securities,
- credit rating agencies,
- corporate governance and executive compensation,
- investment advisers and the related studies,
- specialized disclosure provisions,
- whistleblowers, the Volker rule,
- procedural rules for SRO filings, and
- the creation of SEC offices.
Schapiro futher stressed that the need to fund the SEC properly to meet its expanded oversight responsibilities.
The provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act represent a major expansion of the SEC’s responsibilities and will require significant additional resources for full implementation. To date, the SEC has proceeded with the first stages of implementation of the Dodd-Frank Actwithout additional funding. As described above,implementation up to this point has largely involved performingstudies, analysis, and the writing of rules. These tasks have taken staff time from other responsibilities, and have been done almost entirely with existing staff and without additional expenses in areas such as information technology.
The full text of Chairman Schapiro's testimony is available at: http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2011/ts021711mls.htm