Thank you for including me in the Wharton Fintech Series. It is an honor to be here. I must begin with my disclaimer: My views are my own as a Commissioner and not necessarily those of the SEC or my fellow Commissioners.
Before I address financial technology, I want to talk about a very basic technology—a potholder that I bought recently. Much to my surprise, it was accompanied by a document more fitting for a complex piece of technology: attached to the potholder was a twenty-plus-page disclosure pamphlet, prepared in accordance with European Union regulation. To be fair, the length of the document was primarily attributable to the many languages in which the disclosures were presented, but does an ordinary potholder even need a one-pager? A quick read suggests that using a potholder is not as straightforward as you might think. The disclosure explains that it is “designed to be used for protection against thermal risks (contact heat) associated with removing hot items off the hobs of the types usually used in [a] domestic environment.” It is only to be used in a “dry condition,” “offer[s] palm protection only,” must be “inspected prior to each use,” “is not specifically designed to offer protection for . . . large quantities of molten metal,” and should be kept “away from naked flame and fire.” Oh, and “[t]he acceptable number of cleaning cycles” is five. I might take a walk on the wild side and see what happens after wash number six. If the disclosure hanging off the potholder is not enough, you can go to the manufacturer’s EU Declaration of Conformity on the retailer’s website for assurance that the product complies with European regulatory requirements. That is a lot of regulation for a humble potholder.
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