By Lawrence Delevingne and Douglas Gillison
WASHINGTON Reuters) -U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would nominate Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, putting a prominent and experienced conservative Washington insider atop Wall Street’s major regulator.
The appointment of Atkins, a lawyer and former top SEC official who has advocated for de-regulation, spells relief for Wall Street and the crypto industry which have chafed under President Joe Biden’s hard-charging SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
His nomination stands in contrast to Trump’s cabinet picks, many of whom are loyalists with few qualifications for the job.
Atkins “believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.
“He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
Atkins and his representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gensler, who is stepping down on Jan. 20, inked more than 40 rules aimed at boosting transparency, reducing risks, and stamping out conflicts of interest on Wall Street and sued multiple crypto firms he alleged were flouting SEC rules.
Atkins is expected to review many of Gensler’s rules and enforcement actions wending their way through the courts, adopt a softer touch on crypto, and pursue rule changes aimed at promoting capital formation. Industry groups applauded his nomination, while some progressive groups warned he may be too soft on Wall Street.
“His distinguished record, years of experience in the industry, and history of service at the SEC make him a supremely well qualified nominee,” Eric Pan, the chief executive of investor lobby group the Investment Company Institute, said in a statement.
Atkins is currently the chief executive at Patomak Global Partners, a Washington-based strategic and risk management advisory business he founded in 2009.
The well-connected firm’s leaders, many of them former federal regulators, consult with banks, fintech companies and investment firms, among others, according to its website. Atkins’ clients have included Deutsche Bank as a court-appointed monitor and the Chicago Board Options Exchange as an expert witness, court records show.
Atkins served on Trump’s transition team in 2016, when he was also viewed as a contender to lead the SEC, Reuters reported at the time. He was then among the high-profile business executives on a short-lived advisory council for President Trump.
CRYPTO FRIEND?
The crypto industry, which poured money into Trump’s campaign, has pushed for an industry-friendly SEC chair that would end Gensler’s crackdown, and industry executives had said ahead of the nomination that he would be a good pick.
Atkins has been involved in crypto policy as co-chair of the Token Alliance, which works to “develop best practices for digital asset issuances and trading platforms,” and the broader blockchain trade association, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, as a member of its advisory board.
“This is a strong, forward-leaning pick. We look forward to a new SEC administration focused on promoting responsible innovation,” Ji Kim, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at the Crypto Council for Innovation, said in a statement.
In the early 1990s, he was a staffer for two former chairmen, Richard Breeden and Arthur Levitt. In 2002, Atkins was picked by President George W. Bush to be one of the agency’s five politically-appointed commissioners, a role he held until 2008. At the SEC, Atkins said his “overriding philosophy” was based on the “free market system,” and in the role he opposed what he saw as unproductive increases in oversight of hedge funds, internal audit controls, and stock trading rules known as Reg NMS.
In line with the Trump administration’s plans to challenge so-called “woke” capitalism, Atkins has criticized socially conscious corporate shareholder activism – an issue the SEC has embraced in recent years with climate risk disclosures and other rules on environmental, social and governance investing.
He has also criticized overzealous SEC corporate enforcement actions, arguing they only hurt shareholders twice over.
Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate at Public Citizen, flagged worries Atkins may try to unpick important investor protections, adding: “We obviously hope he understands that, if confirmed, he will be expected to work on behalf of average Americans, not his consulting clients, crypto or otherwise.”
(Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne; Additional reporting by Michelle Price and Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Diane Craft)
