Wall Street traders, financiers and the crypto crowd spent the weeks following Election Day dreaming of a friendly Securities and Exchange Commission chair after a particularly fraught several years. Enter Paul Atkins. On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump tapped Atkins — a former SEC commissioner and one of the most influential voices on financial policy — to become the top U.S. financial markets regulator. In Atkins, Trump is turning to a Washington veteran with a deep understanding of the SEC’s inner workings. That could prove crucial to the new administration’s efforts to not only unwind large pieces of current Chair Gary Gensler’s sweeping regulatory agenda but also pave a new path for the SEC. And they’ll want to do it quickly. “Paul knows the SEC better than anyone, and now, he’ll have the opportunity to implement his vision,” said Justin Daly, a former SEC official and congressional staffer who has known Atkins for two decades. “He will hit the ground running.” Atkins, if confirmed, would take over the SEC after a trying period for the regulator, which faced industry-led legal challenges that have resulted in some of Gensler’s biggest new rules — including the first significant push to beef up oversight of the private equity and hedge fund industry — being tossed by the courts. Gensler’s strident rulemaking and enforcement efforts drew fire from financial firms of all stripes. Atkins will be far more receptive to industry qualms. He has advocated for years for a lighter-touch regulatory regime and has been critical of the SEC’s approach to policing the $3 trillion crypto market. “Many of the financial institutions that are regulated by the SEC, I think, are going to welcome Paul’s arrival like a breath of fresh air,” Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee told our Eleanor Mueller, adding that he has known Atkins since they were “students.” (Both Atkins and Hagerty attended Vanderbilt Law School.) The SEC’s looming pullback underscores the stark new reality that awaits Wall Street, crypto and the broader business world next year when Trump takes office. President Joe Biden’s corporate watchdogs have regularly clashed with executives and lobbyists over everything from monopoly-busting to the often-hidden fees paid by consumers. But corporate America is eagerly anticipating a reversal of fortune with the Trump administration. Atkins would face a long to-do list as chair. One of his first tasks will be to determine whether to undo any rules adopted during Gensler’s tenure. Incoming SEC chairs, Daly told MM, have especially looked at rules that were passed along party lines. That could spell bad news for measures like the SEC’s climate disclosure rule, a legacy-defining initiative from Gensler aimed at uncovering new climate-related information from corporate America that is already tied up in the courts. What’s more, Atkins is sure to pump the brakes on the SEC’s enforcement approach. Wall Street groups like the Investment Company Institute and MFA were quick to cheer Atkins’ selection. SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, both of whom previously worked for Atkins, also applauded the pick. “We have a lot of work to do at the SEC to advance free markets, capital formation, investor choice, and innovation,” Peirce said in a post on X. “I’m delighted that Paul Atkins will be returning to lead the effort.” Still, at least one critical Democrat on Capitol Hill has some reservations. In a statement late Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is set to take over as the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee next year, said she is “concerned about putting at the helm of the SEC a Wall Street lobbyist whose main contribution during the last financial crisis was to protest fines against the giant corporations that defrauded investors.” Progressive watchdogs like Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets are warning that an Atkins-led SEC will stop all pending rulemaking, soften its enforcement approach and adjust its priorities — and not just around crypto. “You’ll see it across the board,” Kelleher told MM prior to Atkins’ selection. But, as MM has previously reported, undoing Gensler’s agenda won’t be that easy. If a rule has already been finalized, for instance, the SEC would need to propose and finalize a whole new version of it to upend the previously adopted one, former SEC official Satyam Khanna told MM. And that could take years. “Durably unwinding Chair Gensler’s agenda will be a tough, slow grind for any new chair,” he said. “Repealing his rules means restarting the notice-and-comment process from scratch — a heavy lift that demands not just a revamped front office and Division directors, but the deep expertise of the SEC staff.” Atkins, in the meantime, will still have what Daly called a “real opportunity” to pursue his own agenda as chair. IT’S THURSDAY — Are you Paul Atkins? Do you know Paul Atkins? We should talk: dharty@politico.com. And, as always, you can find Sam at ssutton@politico.com.
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