SEC joins Smith School of Business at DC event

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Financial regulators and researchers explored new ideas on May 16, 2014, during a daylong conference co-hosted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

“The papers presented today run counter to some of the traditional beliefs held not only by members and staff of the commission, but all financial regulators and some members of Congress,” SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar said during the inaugural Conference on the Regulation of Financial Markets at SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

Participants included SEC Chair Mary Jo White, two former SEC chief economists, Smith School Dean Alex Triantis, and Center for Financial Policy Director Russ Wermers. Smith finance Professor Kathleen Hanley, senior academic advisor to the Center for Financial Policy and former deputy chief economist at the SEC, also played a central role in the idea and organization of the event. 

“The commission could not have asked for a better partner in establishing this inaugural conference than the Smith School of Business, located just seven metro stops from the SEC,” Piwowar said. “The commission has long benefited from our relationship with faculty at the Smith School.” 

Papers presented at the conference, available for download and review, push for new thinking on CEO pay regulation, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, private “dark pools” for trading securities, potential spillover benefits of hedge fund activism, and other topics. 

“Academic research challenges us to think about regulatory policy in different ways,” Piwowar said. “It can provide facts and analysis that cause us to abandon widely held beliefs based on false narratives.” 

Wermers, who delivered the closing remarks, said the SEC partnership shows the commitment of the Center for Financial Policy to support the collaborative exchange of ideas. “We need business, government and academic leaders working together to find solutions to critical policy issues,” he said.