SEC Commissioner Addresses Hedge Fund Registration Missteps

Friday, 11 April 2008 22:15 Speaking at the 40th Annual Compliance and Legal Seminar, SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins announced that the securities industry would no longer need to comply with Regulation NMS. Commissioner Atkins explained the SEC staff decision to consign the controversial regulation to the dustbin of history as eliminating a regulation that had become a diversionary exercise to those in the securities industry and the SEC. Commissioner Atkins stated that the, Reg. NMS exercise not only has taken up a lot of your time, but it has consumed a lot of SEC hours that could have been spent on other matters. Commissioner Atkins used the now defunct regulation as a means of illustrating how the agency could lose focus of those problems that led to the current economic state. By having on an unquestionably time-consuming and technologically challenging regulation that required a massive amount of exemptions to function, the SEC focused its attention on problems that were non-existent or simply immaterial. The elimination of Regulation NMS is a positive sign that the SEC will begin to fashion regulations with less procedural red-tape.