SEC Commissioner Identifies Regulatory Areas With "Data Gaps"

SEC Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw identified private securities markets, Regulation Best Interest disclosures and the Consolidated Audit Trail ("CAT") as areas where the SEC should obtain more information to ensure data-driven rulemakings.

At the 8th Annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation, Ms. Crenshaw stated that the SEC should prioritize:

• the collection of information on the success of investor participation in private securities offerings, with a view toward determining whether investors do better in private or public securities offerings;
• investor testing on various Forms CRS, which Ms. Crenshaw explained was necessary since (i) the SEC's investor testing on a sample Form CRS (prior to the finalizing of Regulation Best Interest) indicated that some disclosures were not understood by investors and (ii) the SEC has not done investor testing on any real forms, which vary from the sample tested;