On October 6, 2017, the Department of the Treasury released its Second Report on the Administration’s Core Principles of Financial Regulation which details how to streamline and reform the U.S. regulatory system for the capital markets. The Report is titled A Financial System that Creates Economic Opportunities and is in response to Executive Order 13772 issued by President Trump on February 3rd, which calls on the Treasury to identify laws and regulations that are inconsistent with a set of Core Principles of financial regulation.

The Treasury found that the federal financial regulatory framework and processes could be improved, among other things, by:

• Evaluating the regulatory overlaps and opportunities for harmonization of SEC and CFTC regulation;
• Incorporating more robust economic analysis and public input into the rulemaking process in order to make the rulemaking process more transparent; and
• Opening up private markets to more investors through proposals to facilitate pooled investments in private or less liquid offerings, and revisit the “accredited investor” definition;
• Limiting imposing new regulations through informal guidance, no-action letters or interpretation, instead of through notice and comment rulemaking; and
• Reviewing the roles, responsibilities and capabilities of self-regulatory organizations (SROs) and making recommendations for improvements; and
• Creating an appropriate regulatory structure for finders.

Click here to view the full text Report. Click here to view the fact sheet for the Report.