Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, released an oversight plan in January which includes issues his committee will tackle in the 112th Congress. Besides holding oversight hearings on specific Dodd-Frank-related areas like the Volcker Rule, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and the Office of Financial Research, as well as on derivatives and credit ratings agencies, Bachus and his subcommittees will also hold hearings on these issues:
• Oversight and Restructuring of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Committee plans to monitor “all significant aspects of the SEC’s operations to ensure that it fulfills its Congressional mandate.” The Committee will examine the SEC’s budget requests to ensure that the agency deploys its resources effectively and plans to examine the operations and organizational structure of the SEC, placing an emphasis on its supervisory and inspection functions. The Committee will also consider the impact of separating the SEC’s examination and policy functions and whether such functions should be consolidated.
• Regulation and Oversight of Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisors. The Committee will examine the study mandated by Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the SEC to review the effectiveness of the legal and regulatory standards of care applicable to broker-dealers and investment advisors when providing personalized investment advice to retail customers. The Committee will also examine the study mandated by Section 914 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the SEC to report on the need for enhanced examination and enforcement resources for investment advisors, and on whether self-regulatory organizations (SROs) or user fees should be used to augment SEC and state oversight of RIAs.