What the Biden administration might do on financial regulation

Following an election that resulted in narrow Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, it will be difficult for the U.S. Congress to advance major financial-reform legislation. Therefore, the focus this year will be on the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will have a Democratic majority on its five-member panel during the Biden administration, according to panelists on a Feb. 18 InvestmentNews webinar.

“The primary focus of Congress will be to provide political space for [Biden’s] new regulators to operate and to shine a light on the work the SEC and [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] can do to make things better for investors and consumers,” said Maryland Securities Commissioner Melanie Senter Lubin.

Ken Bentsen Jr., chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America, were the other two panelists on the one-hour webcast.

[Watch: View the entire one-hour webcast]

Among the topics covered in the wide-ranging conversation were:

• Possible revisions to Regulation Best Interest
• Impact on financial regulation of the Biden administration’s intense focus on climate change
• Biden Department of Labor’s revisiting of ESG and fiduciary rules
• Regulatory ramifications of the GameStop trading frenzy
• Regulation of subscription fees for investment advice