Insights

The Hill: Yet Another Festering Regulatory Problem Growing in Washington

In a joint opinion piece in The Hill, Peter Wallison of American Enterprise Institute and Paul Atkins of Patomak Global Partners write, “It is much more equitable, more investor focused, and a better use of federal resources for a regulatory agency to provide clear and forward looking guidance or rulemaking on an issue, particularly one that has been festering for years.”

Wall Street Journal Letter to the Editor: The SEC Should Follow Its Own Rules for Guidance

Paul Atkins writes in a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor: “Even novice students of due process understand that guidance provided in 2018 cannot be used in cases citing actions taken before that time.”

ThinkAdvisor: Reg BI Footnote Justifies Pausing SEC Share Class Disclosure Initiative

Footnote 60 reveals an agency that is seeking to paper the record after failing to make its expectations clear around 12b-1 fees.

Investment News: Critics concerned with pending second wave of SEC share-class crackdown

Paul Atkins, former SEC commissioner, wants the agency to halt its share-class initiative because it is establishing a new disclosure standard through enforcement rather than a regulation. He said it is unfair because the industry didn't have a chance to adjust.

Patomak Chief Executive Testifies Before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets

Patomak CEO Paul Atkins testifies at the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets hearing, “Building a Sustainable and Competitive Economy: An Examination of Proposals to Improve Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures”

Testimony Before House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets

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On July 10, Paul Atkins testified at a House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) proposals.

Investment News: Adviser Regulation Caught Up in Partisan Era, Making it Hard to Plan for Future

A former Republican SEC member…said Reg BI should stay in place; changing direction based on politics is the wrong approach. "To go down that road, that's not good for the markets, it's not good for investors," said Paul Atkins, chief executive of Potomak Global Partners.

Bloomberg BNA: More SEC Cases Over High Investor Fees Expected, Official Says

The SEC likely will bring more enforcement actions against investment firms that pushed mutual funds with higher fees on clients who had cheaper options, a senior agency official said. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative has been “phenomenally successful” since it launched in 2018, Steven Peikin, a co-director of the agency’s Enforcement Division, said June 25.

Boardroom Resources: A Washington DC Update on Proxy Plumbing & Corporate Governance

Patomak CEO Paul Atkins discusses proxy issues, corporate governance, Environmental-Social-Governance investing and pension fund health with TK Kerstetter on Inside America’s Boardrooms web show

Barron’s: ESG Investing Suffers a Setback in California

Barron’s reporter Vito Raccanelli writes “A funny thing happened recently in the left-leaning Golden State. In a board election last month, members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, the biggest pension fund in the nation, threw out their president and gave ESG investing a bloody nose… “It’s too early to tell if this election will have ramifications beyond Calpers,” says Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners and a Republican SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008. “But a lot of funds are already using ESG, and investors don’t know to what extent they are using it.”