Commissioner Gallagher's Key Note Address: Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century (with Lofchie Comment)

SEC Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher delivered a key note address at the Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: An Agenda for Europe and the U.S.

Commissioner Gallagher highlighted several reports discussing the need for the U.S. to make changes to its regulatory system that would enable it to adapt and respond to "growing global competition," "innovative market developments," and "the dynamic financial needs of all consumers." Gallagher also discussed what he believes to be the crucial regulatory issues that Dodd-Frank failed to address. The key, according to Gallagher, is for regulators to accept the reality that, as to any given financial product or activity, there are likely to be high-quality regulatory regimes other than the one in the U.S.

Therefore, U.S. regulators must not only look in isolation at the potential benefits of regulation, but also in each instance at whether they are sufficient to justify the costs they entail. Gallagher stated he believes the U.S. can increasingly keep pace with developments in industries and markets while reducing the burdens we impose on those we regulate by deferring to peer regulators in appropriate situations.

Lofchie Comment: The tone of Commissioner Gallagher's remarks is generally consistent with the tone of Chairman Walter's speech to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("ASIC").

View speech in full here (links externally to SEC website).