The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has received significant criticism for its rulemaking process, particularly for allowing inadequate time for public comment. This criticism has come from market participants (not surprisingly), from Congresspersons (both Democrats and Republicans)[1] and most frequently from Commissioner Uyeda and Commissioner Peirce. In increasingly blunt dissents, they have stated that the SEC rulemakings failed to provide sufficient opportunity for public comment or otherwise failed to comply with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.[2]

House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Subcommittee Chair Andy Barr (R-KY) asked GAO to evaluate the role played by each federal banking agency in developing new capital standards consistent with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

A broker-dealer that provided execution, clearing and stock lending services settled charges with FINRA and various securities exchanges for allowing several of its employees to operate in roles for which they were not registered.

FinCEN proposed new recordkeeping and reporting requirements for financial institutions that facilitate convertible virtual currency "mixing" transactions.

A broker-dealer settled charges with FINRA for failing to timely report trades and for incorrectly reporting internal transfers as "securitized products transactions" to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine and to the MSRB's Real-time Transaction Reporting System.