The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Investor Advocate (OIAD) has released its report on activities for the fiscal year 2025. The report, which highlights the work and initiatives of the OIAD during the year, was published and submitted to Congress last month.
Section 4(g)(6) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), 15 U.S.C. § 78d(g)(6), requires the Investor Advocate to file two reports per year with the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives. The two reports are the mid-year Report on Objectives covering the forthcoming Fiscal Year and the end-of-year Report on Activities covering the preceding Fiscal Year
The end of the year report included the following:
-An update on the office’s investor research activities, including the issuance of a working paper on accredited investors and their ownership of private market securities;
-A discussion of the office’s engagements with a broad range of investors, and the office’s collaborative efforts both within and outside the SEC to help amplify the voices of investors;
-A discussion of the office’s ongoing advocacy efforts with respect to private markets, disclosure, and the impact of certain rule proposals;
-A report describing the Ombuds Office’s efforts to assist investors, as well as the matters handled by that office during the fiscal year.
During fiscal year 2025, the OIAD reported 120 engagement activities, 2,496 investor submissions to the Ombuds Office, 14 rulemakings and staff statements reviewed, data collection activities involving over 27,000 individual investor contacts, and over 250 SRO filings reviewed.
The office noted that its goals for investor engagement are twofold:
-To understand investor experiences and perspectives regarding products, practices, regulations, rulemakings, and the markets, and communicate them in a decision-useful context for SEC leaders and staff; and
-Advocate for investors’ interests in the regulatory and rulemaking environments in a manner consistent with the Office’s statutory mission.
“This year, the Office continued to meet with a broad array of investors and investor representatives to gain from their perspectives and identify trends, issues, and policies that investors consider to be important,” the report stated. “By leveraging virtual conferencing, in addition to the numerous in-person activities traditionally performed, OIAD welcomed a number of new investors and related groups to share their experiences with the Investor Advocate.”
The OIAD is an independent office established by Congress to assist retail investors in resolving problems with the SEC and self-regulatory organizations (SROs); identify areas where investors would benefit from changes in SEC and SRO rules and regulations; identify investor problems with financial service providers and investment products; analyze the potential impact on investors of proposed regulations and rules of the SEC and SROs; and propose regulatory or legislative changes to the Commission and to Congress that might mitigate investor problems and promote investor interests.
Click here to read the full report.
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