As President Trump's transition team plows forward, one major question remains: Who will replace the divisive Gary Gensler as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission?
One of the potential candidates, current commissioner Mark Uyeda, declined to comment on rumors that he might be tapped as acting or permanent chair while speaking at a Bloomberg Intelligence event on Tuesday. Still, he hinted that Gensler's time was coming to an end, and that Trump will likely to tap a different chair. "I anticipate that they'll follow that precedent," Uyeda said.
One of two Republicans on the SEC's five-person commission, Uyeda also called for a shift from the Gensler era, which has been marked by industry pushback and litigation. "We need to pivot from where we've been," Uyeda said.
A lightning rod agency
Uyeda is a veteran of the SEC, first joining the agency in 2006 and serving in various positions, including as a senior advisor to Chair Jay Clayton during Trump's first term. Uyeda was nominated by Biden and sworn in as commissioner in June 2022, just over a year after Gensler began his tenure as chair. As is the case with other agencies, the governing rules for the SEC seek to strike a balance between Republicans and Democrats and state that no more than three of its five commissioners can be from the same party.
The SEC is traditionally a very technical agency that does most of its work outside of public view. Gensler, however, has not been shy about seeking the spotlight, including through high-profile enforcement actions against crypto companies and aggressive rule-making on hot-button issues like climate change. This has resulted in open dissent and litigation from the crypto industry, but also from other corners of the finance industry, including hedge funds and private equity firms.
Uyeda has often joined the chorus of scrutiny, especially around the SEC's approach to lawsuits against crypto firms. On Tuesday, he criticized the shift to shorter comment periods on rule-making under Gensler, as well as rules that would have proved too onerous, such as with climate disclosures. "What kills folks is [rules] that are not effective but costly," Uyeda said.
Commenting on the wave of litigation that the SEC has faced in the past couple of years, Uyeda said that working with industry groups could have prevented the public spats. "The frustrating part from my perspective is a number of them could have been avoided by engaging," Uyeda said. "As regulators, while we do know a lot, we're far from perfect in terms of our knowledge of what's going on."
With Gensler's tenure coming to its end, speculation has mounted over who Trump might tap as his replacement, with Robinhood chief legal officer Dan Gallagher and former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins among those whose names have come up as possible nominees.
While Uyeda did not comment on the rumors, he said that the coming year will likely bring changes for the agency under the new party's rule. "We're likely to have some course corrections," he said.
