Today, the Division of Enforcement released an Enforcement Advisory on Self-Reporting, Cooperation and Remediation (Advisory). I thank the Division staff for receiving and considering the comments shared by my office. While I am supportive of the goals of greater transparency, clarity, and efficiency in enforcement practices designed and developed to enhance registrants’ willingness to be forthcoming and cooperative with the Commission, I believe that we must be careful not to muddy the waters. To best enable market participants to develop internal compliance infrastructure, is critical that the Commission offer clear, consistent guidance that enables effective compliance as well as a well-defined pathway to report, cooperate, or remediate. We must exercise caution when advancing new reporting, cooperation, and remediation regimes or rescinding long-standing guidance. Any effort to adopt new reporting processes, particularly processes that require inter-division guidelines and infrastructure, must be consistent with the mandates of our statue and regulation. Consequently, I am unable to support the Division’s recent Advisory.
In developing the Advisory, the Division may have benefited from deeper engagement with other divisions at the Commission, market participants, and the Commissioners and their staff. I stand ready to work with all of the divisions at the Commission and our registered market participants to develop further clarity on the Commission’s policies articulated in the Advisory.
