SEC Chair Calls for ‘Coordinated Oversight‘ Between US Financial Agencies

Paul Atkins, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that an agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would lead to a new level of “coordination and collaboration,” including on enforcement.

In a Tuesday speech for the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Florida, Atkins said that the SEC and CFTC were considering an updated memorandum of understanding on coordination between the two federal regulators. The SEC chair did not explicitly mention oversight of digital assets, but said “the regrettable era of duplicative enforcement actions and conflicting remedial obligations for the same conduct is over.”

“Conduct in a single operating environment means that the SEC and CFTC, within the bounds of their independent statutory authority and regulatory interests, should coordinate legal theories and remedial strategies,” said Atkins. “Fragmented, redundant enforcement does not increase deterrence—it only increases confusion.”

Atkins’s remarks followed similar statements from CFTC Chair Michael Selig striking a cooperative tone as US lawmakers worked to pass a comprehensive market structure bill expected to give the CFTC more authority in overseeing crypto. The bill, passed as the CLARITY Act in the US House of Representatives in July, has effectively been stalled in the Senate amid discussions on stablecoin yield, tokenized equities, and conflicts of interest.

The SEC, which oversees securities, and the CFTC, overseeing commodities, have sometimes overlapped in regulating cryptocurrencies that, according to many experts, do not clearly fall into a single agency’s purview. The SEC chair said the agency’s staff would be conducting joint meetings with CFTC officials on product applications, and launched a harmonization website for the two regulators.

“Firms should not be shuffled back and forth between regulators when a product touches elements of both regulatory frameworks,” said Atkins. “Nor should clarity depend on which agency happens to speak first. Where jurisdiction overlaps, the most effective response is a coordinated one.”

Leadership slots vacant after no nominations from Trump

As of Tuesday, the CFTC’s leadership consisted solely of Selig, whom the Senate confirmed in December. He replaced acting chair Caroline Pham, but remains the sole Republican-appointed commissioner in a leadership panel normally consisting of a bipartisan group of five people. Similarly, the SEC is being led by three Republican commissioners.

US President Donald Trump had not made any public statement as of Tuesday signaling that he plans to nominate additional commissioners to either agency.