The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) recently published its unified 2025 unified program for regulatory and deregulative actions (the agenda). Although the agenda appears underestimated at 23 articles compared to the 30 elements that have populated the fall of the fall of the fall 2024 of former president Gary Gensler, he nevertheless reports several potentially consecutive regulations – and an equally important change in regulatory philosophy – under the newly installed president Paul S. Atkins. However, it is also important to recognize that due to the time in the development of the development and publication of the agenda, policy changes can exceed the elements listed. In addition, the agenda may not include other regulatory priorities actively prosecuted by the staff of the Commission, but who were not ready to be published when the agenda was submitted to the Management and Budget Office (OMB).
What came out can be as important as there is. As indicated in the declaration of President Atkins on the regulatory program of spring 2025 (September 4, 2025), the last program reflects the withdrawal of a certain number of elements of the previous administration which “do not align with the objective that the regulations should be intelligent, effective and properly adapted in the confines of our statutory authority”. Several high -level proposals of peopleler have been officially withdrawn, in particular, for example, from the rules proposed on the predictive analysis of data (or artificial intelligence) for brokers and placement advisers; Proposals for structure of the stock market such as the rule of exposure to order and the best execution of the regulations; safeguard (or guard); outsourcing by investment advisers; Management of cybersecurity risks; and the proposed expansion of the ATS regulation to poorly defined “communication protocol systems”. Katten previously discussed this important (and somewhat unusual) action taken under the new management of the dry.
Thanks to the president’s declaration, we see some recurring themes: (i) deregulation through, among other things, the withdrawal of many of the rules proposed by the previous administration; (ii) a priority on innovation, in particular with the aim of providing “clear road rules” for the program, guard and trade in cryptographic assets; (iii) a renewed concentration on the economic impacts of the proposed rules (for example, revise public comments on the consolidated audit track); and (iv) do not apply certain rules by not appealing to court decisions that have canceled the rules of the era people. The Commission also seems to end the subjects of lively level of the era people in the era, such as the application of the rule 15C2-11 to the fixed income market and the definition of a “concessionaire” under the law on the exchange of securities of 1934 (Exchange ACT), and revisit certain existing requirements such as the rule of securities, rule 611 under the reg nms and of the Securities of 1933 (Securties Act) law.
Some of the most important elements on the agenda are highlighted below.
Step of the Preeu / Concept outing:
- Titles supported by assets (ABS). The Commission may request public comments on potential regulatory changes to facilitate ABS recorded offers, including securities backed to mortgages and other improvements in securitization markets.
Stage of the proposed rule:
- Crypto. The agenda potentially includes four new proposed and distinct rules focused on cryptographic assets. These proposed rules relate to (i) the offer and sale of cryptographic assets, including certain exemptions and safe ports, to help clarify the regulatory framework; (ii) the care requirements under the 1940 law on investment advisers and the 1940 investment companies law (1940 law), including how these rules deal with cryptographic assets; (iii) changes in the structure of the market under the exchange law to take into account the trading of cryptographic assets on alternative trading systems and national securities scholarships; and (iv) updates to modernize the existing regulatory regime for transfer agents, including the rules relating to cryptographic assets and the use of the technology of the large book distributed by transfer agents.
- Exempt offerings. The agenda has potential changes in the rules to facilitate capital training, simplify capital collection routes and provide access to investors to historically private investments / offers. This may include, for example, updates to the standard of investors of the accreditor – a cornerstone of private placement exemptions in the regulations of the securities law.
- Cross negotiation rule 17A-7. Potential amendments to rule 17A-7 under the 1940 law, which governs purchase / sale transactions between a registered investment company and certain affiliated persons. The potential changes would seek to modernize the conditions and to expand the availability of the exemption with regard to these crossed times. Changes in rule 17A-7 are one of the rare remaining elements of the previous administration (and the regulatory agenda), in part, because of the continuous challenges raised by market actors following the adoption of amendments to the evaluation rule in 2020, which actually made the cross-rate trade in fixed income securities.
- The broker and exchange issues. The agenda includes a new question focused on adapting traditional broker concepts-such as the net capital rule (rule 15C3-1), the customer protection rule (rule 15C3-3) and the requirements of books and recordings (rules 17A-3 and A-4)-to cryptographic assets. In addition, as indicated above, the other possible areas for the action of the Commission are the rule of trade traffic; the application of registers to government titles; And the definition of a “concessionaire”, including the scope and exceptions of the term “concessionaire”. Indeed, the Commission has already announced a round table which will be held later this month to request opinions on the reform of commercial rules. Although the scope of the regulations on the dealer’s rule is not clear, the defeat of the previous commission before the American district court for the Northern Texas District suggests that an expansion of this term is unlikely and that the Commission can again focus on the supply of clear “road rules”.
Step of the final rule:
- Silver anti-flow (AML). The agenda suggests that the Commission will seek to approve, alongside the Ministry of the Treasury, the final rules demanding that the investment advisers implement reasonable procedures to verify the identity of their customers (CIP procedures). A corollary rule which obliges the advisers in place to adopt LMA programs was finalized in August 2024, but its date of compliance was deferred from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028, in part to synchronize its implementation with the planned finalization of this AML CIP rule.
