“In a thorough and well-reasoned opinion, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected a long list of industry challenges to the SEC’s rule requiring greater transparency in the use of ‘conflict minerals.’ The rule, which requires public companies to disclose their use of minerals from a region of Africa with a devastating history of human rights abuses, is a major victory for the SEC and for anyone who supports strong financial reform,” said Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the financial markets.
“The District Court squarely rejected the now-familiar argument being used by industry to rollback much-needed financial regulations, holding that the SEC clearly satisfied its duty to consider economic factors. This decision should help neutralize one of Wall Street’s favorite weapons against financial reform,” Kelleher said.
“As Better Markets advocated in its amicus brief, the SEC is not required to conduct an onerous cost-benefit analysis that prioritizes industry costs over the public interest when it issues rules under the securities laws. The Court’s decision is a very significant victory for taxpayers still paying the price for the financial collapse caused largely by unregulated and reckless trading and investments. Once again, a court decision has made it clear that industry cannot win its war on sensible financial reform by exaggerating, distorting, and misapplying cost-benefit analysis,” Mr. Kelleher concluded.
View Better Markets’ Amicus Curiae brief in this case here.
View Better Markets’ report “Setting the Record Straight on Cost-Benefit Analysis and Financial Reform at the SEC” here.
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Better Markets is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes the public interest in financial reform in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets. Better Markets advocates for transparency, oversight and accountability with the goal of a stronger, safer financial system that is less prone to crisis and failure thereby eliminating or minimizing the need for more taxpayer funded bailouts. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.
