On the one hand, there is a good amount of Dodd-Frank that should be repealed or rolled back, particularly in the commodities world. On the other hand, there is something to be said for avoiding partisan disputes.

The CFTC and the banking industry have long argued that the Basel III capital rules that require banks to reserve against collateral posted to a central clearing agency are mistaken. Governor Powell is coming around belatedly to that view. The existence of central clearing parties does not decentralize risk; it concentrates it. Yet a further risk of clearing emphasized in Governor Powell's remarks is the power that the clearing agencies have to suck tremendous amounts of liquidity…

This is technology expertise that the SEC should consider outsourcing. Perhaps the SEC should call up the credit card companies and ask them for some lessons in catching fraudulent transactions.

The priorities and concerns of the new SEC Chair are consistent with the traditional missions of the SEC; e.g., the promotion of capital formation and investor protection. This is likely to result in less attention to more political issues, such as conflict minerals and executive compensation disclosures.