The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inadvertently uploaded a draft of Gary Gensler’s speech on the “public good of disclosure,” which includes various suggestions and annotations.
The speech, made available on the SEC’s website today, was intended for the Peterson Institute for International Economics and captured by users online. It contains internal remarks that reflect edits on repetitive phrases, “diplomatically beneficial” recommendations, and overall reductions to the content of the speech.
For example, following a statement regarding large financial institutions reforming “in light of a potential failure,” a comment proposes, “I strongly recommend including a sentence here (or in the initial part of the speech) to reassure markets that you are not delivering the speech due to concerns about an imminent crisis” (emphasis ours).
Another suggestion states, “It might be diplomatically useful to acknowledge that we have had productive conversations with several regulators,” specifically noting that the UK’s Bank Of England has been “particularly constructive.”
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After outlining aims to shield taxpayers from the adverse effects of restructuring by a systemically important financial institution, the speech states, “The optimal way to accomplish this is through comprehensive disclosures that align with market expectations, not merely legal obligations.” This particular line is noted as, “Key sentence, Excellent!”
In total, there are no fewer than 44 distinct edits highlighted in the Gary Gensler speech that was mistakenly uploaded to the SEC website. The original link now results in, “Error 403: Forbidden.”
Another incident from the SEC earlier this year involved a breach of its X (formerly Twitter) account, which resulted in a fake announcement of a Bitcoin ETF approval that overshadowed the actual approval.
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