Republicans plan to scrap US audit regulator

Republican lawmakers are planning to shut down the US audit regulator, which was founded in the wake of the Enron scandal more than two decades ago, as part of a reform package designed to deliver Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda.

The proposal to eliminate the independent Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was published late on Friday by the leadership of the House Committee on Financial Services, for inclusion in the giant tax and spending bill being considered by Congress.

Under the draft legislation, a levy on listed companies and broker-dealers that funds the PCAOB would be scrapped and the organisation’s responsibilities would be folded into the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wall Street watchdog staff shrinks 16% in last year, includes key units, sources say

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has lost 16% of its workforce since this time last year, two sources briefed on the matter said, leaving Wall Street’s top regulator with gaps across key divisions at a time of market turmoil.

Most of those staff members left since February when more than 600 accepted Trump administration offers to resign and retire early, according to one of the sources and a second source familiar with the matter. The people spoke on condition of anonymity as the details are not yet public.

Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Johnson cited the 16% figure on Tuesday in an email to certain staff that was described by the first two sources.

Trump Says He Would Sign Bill Banning Congressional Stock Trades: Time Interview

President Donald Trump said he would “absolutely” sign a bill banning congressional stock trading, saying he was concerned lawmakers could be using insider information for an advantage.

“I would be okay with it,” Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine that published Friday. “If they send that to me, I would do it.”

There has long been some bipartisan support for legislation that would limit how members of Congress could buy and sell stocks, as their access to classified intelligence and internal knowledge about the progress of lawmaking offers a leg up on others in the market. In 2020, a bipartisan group of senators drew fire for trading health care stocks after closed-door briefings on the coronavirus pandemic.

SEC Already Has Ample Authority to Oversee Crypto, Atkins Says

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has “ample room to maneuver” in regulating digital assets even without congressional action, Chairman Paul Atkins said Friday.Paul Atkins at his swearing-in ceremony this week.

The remarks by the agency’s new head at a crypto event in Washington come while Congress is debating the contours of a market structure bill for digital assets that could clarify whether the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should be the primary regulator of the growing asset class.

“It’s always good to have Congress’s input; if there’s a statute to back up what we’re doing, I think that’s all the better,” Atkins told reporters at a public roundtable on regulating crypto assets held at the SEC’s headquarters.