July 07, 2016

Warren Renews Objections to SEC Efforts to Limit Disclosure Requirements

In Letter, Senator Warren Calls Out Chair White for Defying the Will of Congress, Pursuing Agenda to Benefit Big Business at the Expense of Investors

Read a PDF copy of Senator Warren's letter here.

Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White to follow up on Chair White's testimony at a Senate Banking Committee hearing regarding the SEC's "Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative," and to renew objections to any SEC efforts to limit disclosure requirements in ways that would harm investors.

Senator Warren writes in the letter, "Based on public statements by you and other senior SEC officials, the Initiative appears focused on changing SEC rules to permit publicly traded corporations to disclose less information to their investors and the public," and she expresses concern that the SEC has attempted to disguise the initiative as a "pro-investor effort" to address "information overload" - a problem that Senator Warren points out the SEC has never been able to document and that analysts have described as a "myth."

Senator Warren points out in the letter that since 2013, "the SEC has spent precious agency resources on a voluntary effort to reduce disclosure that appears to be aimed at addressing a problem - investor ‘information overload'-that does not exist," while the SEC simultaneously "has failed to complete mandatory rules [under the Dodd-Frank Act] that will strengthen investor protection and financial markets, and declined to address actual investor priorities."

Senator Warren closes the letter by stating that the SEC has "defied the will of Congress and its mission to protect investors and instead has pursued an agenda aligned with the narrow interests of the Chamber of Commerce and big business."

Read a PDF copy of Senator Warren's letter here.

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