Policy in Pieces

Recently departed CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz talks about his experience overseeing commodities markets, the political process governing regulation, and from his new role as an advisory partner at Andreesen Horowitz (A16Z), he discusses what he believes should be the future of crypto-asset regulation.

Harvard Law School professor John Coates talks about his recent roles at the SEC, first as the head of the Division of Corporation Finance, and then as the Agency’s general counsel. For years he has studied financial regulation through the lens of a scholar, and he shares with us what it was like to put […]

You may not realize, but the SEC is not the only securities market regulator in the US. Melanie Lubin, the Maryland Securities Commissioner and current President of NASAA (North American Securities Administrators Association), joins this episode to explain ‘cops on the beat’ securities regulation at the State level, and how States coordinate with each other […]

London Business School professor Alex Edmans, a leading scholar on ESG related issues, and author of the recent book “Grow the Pie,” joins this episode to explain a new way to think about evaluating company performance, dispelling the common belief that corporate purpose and profit can’t co-exist.

SEC Commissioner Allison Lee joins this episode to discuss her recent remarks calling for greater transparency in private markets, the impact of the secular decline in the number of public companies on retail investors, and the push for additional disclosures, particularly related to climate risk.

Wes Bricker, Vice Chair and co-leader of Trust Solutions at PwC and Chair of XBRL International, joins this episode to explain how technology is changing the corporate audit, the bumps in the road with the adoption of machine readable reporting, and what to expect with emerging ESG standards.

John Griffin, a distinguished professor of finance at the University of Texas, talks about forensic finance, and how for the past decade he has dedicated his research pursuits to finding fraud. His most recent paper alleges that 1.8 million loans issued as part of the government’s COVID-19 relief program for small businesses, totaling $76 billion, […]

J. Robert (“Jay”) Brown, legal scholar and recently departed member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, explains how this young regulator, created following the Enron accounting scandal, oversees audit firms. It’s still a teenager, and as Jay describes, there remains some work to do, to fulfill its mission.

Ira Hammerman, general counsel of the trade association SIFMA, joins our episode to discuss how regulation is shaping massive changes in the brokerage industry. He addresses controversial topics like payment for order flow, gamification of trading, and the role of investor choice and advice giving under new Regulation Best Interest.

Crypto assets are becoming mainstream. Tens of millions of Americans own them. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, affectionately known as crypto mom for her pioneering thoughts on how digital assets should be treated by regulators, joins this episode to discuss their meteoric rise, potential future treatment by the SEC, and other views in this now $2 […]