About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (August 8, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govemlu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congr ssionaI Research Service h Iforming the legislative debate since 1914 Updated August 8, 2023 Introduction to Financial Services: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Congress passed the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (P.L. 73-291) to create the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the wake of the stock market crash in 1929 to help restore confidence in capital markets. The SEC is an independent federal regulatory agency responsible for administering federal securities laws. It has broad regulatory authority over significant parts of the securities industry, including securities offering and trading, asset management, and investment advisory. The SEC oversees federal securities laws broadly aimed at a three-part mission: (1) capital formation; (2) investor protection; and (3) maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets. These laws provide rules for honest dealing among securities market participants, including antifraud and antimanipulation provisions and information disclosure deemed necessary for informed investor decisionmaking. Budget The SEC's budget is set through the congressional appropriations process. Sale fees on stock and other securities transactions that the SEC collects from securities exchanges offset the appropriations. Annual collections, which historically exceeded the SEC's annual appropriations, go directly to the U.S. Treasury's General Fund. The SEC's enacted annual budget for FY2023 was approximately $2.2 billion. Organizational Structure The SEC is led by five presidentially appointed commissioners, including a chair, subject to Senate confirmation. Commissioners have staggered five-year terms, and no more than three commissioners may belong to the same political party. The SEC has more than 5,300 positions and approximately 4,600 full-time equivalent employees across six divisions, one independent office, 11 regional field offices, and other program offices (such as the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation and the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology). Figure 1 illustrates the SEC's main divisions. * The Corporation Finance Division is responsible for the review of securities issuer filings and disclosure. * The Enforcement Division takes actions to deter misconduct and punish securities law violations. * The Examinations Division conducts the SEC's National Exam Program that involves onsite examinations of market participants such as investment management companies and advisers, broker-dealers, clearing agencies, and self-regulatory organizations (SROs). * The Investment Management Division regulates investment management companies and advisers pursuant to the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (P.L. 76-768). * The Trading and Markets Division oversees capital market infrastructure and its participants to help maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets. * The Economic and Risk Analysis Division provides cross-divisional support for the agency on research, economic analysis, and data analytics. Figure I. SEC Divisions Source: SEC. Notes: See the complete SEC organizational chart at https://www.sec.gov/about/secorg.pdf. Securities Laws an d Regulation The SEC oversees an array of securities laws, several of which have been amended over time. Major securities laws include those described below. Securities Act of 1933 (P.L. 73-22). This act sought to ensure that investors are given salient information on securities offered for public sale and to ban deceit, misrepresentations, and other kinds of fraud in the sale of securities. The act requires issuing companies to disclose information deemed material to investors as part of the mandatory SEC registration of the securities that those companies offer for sale to the public. Certain offerings are 0

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most