The voluntary sector watchdog said it had opened a statutory inquiry into the Aspinall Foundation charity. The SEC is already unionized and in what could be a harbinger of labor troubles, workers recently filed a grievance against Gensler for not extending a Covid-related benefit that let employees care for children during business hours.The Charity Commission has begun an investigation into potential financial mismanagement at a wildlife conservation foundation that appointed the prime minister’s partner, Carrie Symonds, to a top corporate role. When he led the CFTC, Gensler drove people hard to implement post-crisis swaps rules and they formed a union after he left. Coinbase shelved the product.Īs Gensler combats outside forces, he also faces internal challenges. Still, for a regulator that’s perpetually outgunned by industry, the strategy was effective. Several white-collar defence lawyers who used to work at the SEC said they couldn’t remember a similar situation and called it an inappropriate use of the agency’s enforcement powers. Last month, Brian Armstrong, the chief executive officer of the exchange Coinbase, went on a Twitter rant, accusing the SEC of “intimidation tactics” after the agency threatened to sue if the company rolled out a product that would let customers earn interest on their token deposits. Interviews with more than two dozen people who have served in the government with Gensler or clashed with him when he ran the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Obama administration say he won’t pare back his ambitions or shy away from a fight.Ĭrypto firms bristle at Gensler’s contention that they are peddling securities, which would trigger SEC oversight for the unregulated industry. The warning from inside the agency shouldn’t come as a surprise. The wild trading has prompted several congressional hearings and put firms, including Robinhood and Citadel Securities, on edge because new regulations could hurt their lucrative businesses.Įxecutives who’ve met with SEC officials have been privately cautioned that the market structure rules being developed may be extreme, according to people familiar with the matter. One area vexing Wall Street is Gensler’s pledge to overhaul the equity market’s plumbing in response to this year’s meme-stock mania. Lawmakers’ other priorities include reining in special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, responding to this year’s implosion of family office Archegos Capital Management and getting a handle on the unchecked growth of cryptocurrencies. The Biden administration and congressional Democrats – two constituencies he doesn’t want to disappoint – are keenly interested in particular policies, especially a pending SEC rule that would address climate change through more-robust corporate disclosures. “If anyone underestimates his ability to get things done, they do so at their own peril,” Micah Green, a lobbyist at law firm Steptoe & Johnson He is keeping close tabs on the progress the groups have been directed to send regular updates to the chair’s office on the state of play. Each has staff from the general counsel’s office as well as economists to carefully weigh the costs and benefits, a key requirement of federal law. Gensler has set up some 50 teams involving about 200 people to write rule proposals. There is plenty of action inside the agency. “Don’t ask me about my three daughters and which one I spend more time with,” he said. The policies he’s advocating, they argue, may take years to complete and have prompted powerful corporate interests to start discussing strategies for suing the SEC.įor his part, Gensler insists he has no priorities because everything is at the top of the list. A few Democrats and outside advisers have urged Gensler, 63, to narrow his scope to a more manageable load.