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WASHINGTON\u2014Paul Atkins spent much of his first year at the helm of the Securities and Exchange Commission trying to give Americans more opportunities to invest.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have half as many public companies as we did 40 years ago,\u201d Atkins told The Daily Wire in his office this week. \u201cThe reason why we have a diminishing number of public companies is that as you have mergers and bankruptcies, you don\u2019t have newbies coming in and your population will dwindle.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe need to shake things up,\u201d Atkins added. \u201cSo I\u2019m pushing my team harder and we can go faster.\u201d<\/p>\n Atkins, who served on the SEC for six years under President George W. Bush, says he has a mandate from President Donald Trump to <\/span>\u201cmake IPOs great again.\u201d The chairman believes the SEC can incentivize companies through a deregulatory push eliminating burdensome and outdated rules. At the direction of President Trump the agency is exploring <\/span>reducing company reporting requirements from quarterly earnings reports to semi-annual filings. <\/span><\/p>\n Regulatory reporting forces companies into a costly cycle of legal and compliance work \u2014 one many cite as a key reason to stay private. Warren Buffett and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned in 2018 that the system even pressures companies to manage for the quarter at the expense of long-term performance.<\/span><\/p>\n Atkins told <\/span>The Daily Wire<\/span> that regulators are preparing to seek public comment on the potential reporting requirements shift. Even if the proposal moves forward, he said, companies would not be required to change, preserving flexibility based on investor demand.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t always had quarterly reporting,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cWhen the SEC was created in 1934, companies reported annually. In 1955, that shifted to semiannual reporting, and it wasn\u2019t until 1970 that quarterly reporting became the standard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The SEC is also exploring a more tailored regulatory framework based on company size, including separate categories for small- and mid-sized firms. \u201cThere are a lot of expensive provisions that are probably not really applicable to smaller companies.\u201d He added, \u201cThis is all part of \u2026 modernizing, clarifying our jurisdiction, and transforming to make our rulebook fit for purpose.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the center of Atkins\u2019 agenda is a return to the SEC\u2019s core mission as defined by Congress: protecting investors, maintaining fair and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation. Under Atkins, the agency withdrew its defense for costly rules that required companies to disclose climate-related risks and ended regulation by enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n But in some areas, the agency is adding rules to \u201cclarify and modernize\u201d its expectations, effectively ending regulation by enforcement \u2014 where ambiguity was resolved in the courts rather than through clearer definitions in the SEC\u2019s rulebook.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t just wave a wand and do it,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cSo it sounds like we\u2019re going back to regulation, but we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n He says the agency had drifted in recent years toward heavier enforcement and regulation, often at the expense of market access and innovation. By refocusing on capital formation, Atkins believes the SEC can strengthen markets while expanding opportunities for everyday investors.<\/span><\/p>\n But regulation isn\u2019t the only place where Atkins is rethinking the SEC.\u00a0He\u2019s also working closely with Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig, breaking a contentious history between the two agencies.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Atkins and Selig are working closely to more clearly define where the SEC\u2019s authority ends and the CFTC\u2019s begins \u2014 particularly in emerging areas like digital assets. In the past, Atkins said, the lack of clarity created confusion and pushed companies offshore to develop their financial products where investors are not as protected. He pointed to the collapse of FTX, a major crypto exchange, that lacked oversight leading to billions of dollars lost.<\/p>\n Atkins believes the agency can strike a balance between investor protection and fostering innovation in the markets.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that our capital markets must continue to reflect our national character,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cThey must continue to lead the world in their depth, in their dynamism, and in their capacity to translate ingenuity into prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n