SEC Commissioner Aguilar Offers Perspective on Regulatory Developments

Commissioner Aguilar shared his perspective on SEC regulatory developments and highlighted unfinished business that should be a priority in 2016. He offered a brief history of SEC developments since the beginning of his tenure in the "late summer of 2008." Further, he offered perspective on these events "as the only Commissioner remaining from those who were here when Lehman Brothers fell."

Commissioner Aguilar recommended that the SEC address the following issues:

• complete the rulemakings mandated by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act;
• establish a better environment for the secondary trading of the securities of smaller issuers;
• modernize the Transfer Agent regulatory regime, starting with the issuing of a concept release;
• enact effective Target Date Fund reforms that work for retail investors;
• finalize rules to amend Regulation D ("Rules Governing the Limited Offer and Sale of Securities without Registration under the Securities Act"); and
• finish working on a fiduciary standard for those broker-dealers who provide personalized investment advice.

Commissioner Aguilar was one of only three Commissioners since 1934 to be nominated by two Presidents from both political parties; he is also the eighth longest-serving Commissioner. He will finish his final term at the end of December 2015.