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Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, is set to testify before Congress over the next week as lawmakers grapple with regulation in the financial markets.
Gensler will address the House Financial Services Committee issues related to the markets for Wednesday. Then Thursday morning, he will appear before the Senate Banking Committee to discuss the Commission’s efforts to combat market manipulation. The hearings come at a time when investor protection has been a top priority at the Commission under Gensler’s leadership.
In his first testimony before Congress since taking the position, Gensler is expected to field questions from lawmakers on an array of topics, such as what the SEC is doing to ensure fairness in the equity markets and the agency’s response to market volatility in the past year. He may also face questions about the role of the agency in addressing climate change-related risk disclosure and how to best encourage capital formation through new rules.
Gensler is likely to emphasize the SEC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen the agency issue a series of emergency announcements and orders meant to support investors and keep markets running. More recently, the Commission has approved several measures to allow extended access to capital for small businesses and relaxed some of the restrictions on smaller public companies, including allowing certain companies to raise money without being subject to typical registration requirements.
The hearings provide lawmakers the opportunity to quiz Gensler on the Commission’s record, policy proposals, and plans for the future. Given that the Senate is set to consider a bill on securities market reforms, Gensler’s testimony will likely help inform the debate both on Capitol Hill and among investors.