SEC Chair Gensler Asks Congress for More Money

SEC Chair Gary Gensler testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services in support of a 2024 budget request of $2.436 billion for the agency.

Mr. Gensler's appeal to the Senate legislators was substantially similar to his recent request before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services. As previously covered, he argued the following:

• Division of Enforcement. While the SEC received more than double the number of complaints and referrals from whistleblowers in FY 2022, the Division of Enforcement shrank in size by five percent. He stated that the Division also requires new tools and resources to address misconduct in new and emerging areas, such as crypto assets. He asserted that the budget request would grow the Division four percent from its FY 2016 size.
• Division of Examinations. Mr. Gensler stated that the new budget request would aid the Division of Examinations as the "first line of defense" for the investing public in addressing emerging risks posed by crypto markets and cybersecurity, ensuring market resiliency. He said the budget would allow the SEC to add 198 full-time equivalents ("FTEs").
• Division of Corporation Finance. Mr. Gensler stated that the number of reporting companies the Division of Corporation Finance oversees increased by 18 percent over the last three years, but that the staff is 17 percent smaller than what it was in FY 2016. He argued for a FY 2024 budget that would allow the Division to add 454 FTEs.
• Division of Investment Management. Mr. Gensler asserted that the assets managed just by private funds has surpassed the size of the entire U.S. commercial banking industry. Mr. Gensler said that the FY 2024 budget would allow the Division of Investment Management to add 238 FTEs.
• Division of Trading and Markets. Mr. Gensler said that in response to the increasing number of market transactions and volume of trade, the FY 2024 budget would be used to grow the Division by 309 FTEs.
• Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. Mr. Gensler asserted the importance of the work done by the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, ranging from determining ill-gotten gains for enforcement actions to providing economic analyses in rulemaking releases. Mr. Gensler said the FY 2024 budget would be used to add 198 FTEs in this capacity.

Mr. Gensler said the SEC is also requesting $393 million to support its data analysis and cybersecurity needs. He noted that this would assume the full deployment of an additional $50 million from the SEC Reserve Fund for ongoing IT projects and programs. Mr. Gensler argued that this amount of spending is "dwarfed by what some of the biggest market participants spend in a month on technology."