WASHINGTON, D.C.—Benjamin Schiffrin, Director of Securities Policy, and Cantrell Dumas, Director of Derivatives Policy, issued the following statement in connection with Better Markets’ new Fact Sheet, “An SEC-CFTC Merger Would Not Save Money and Would Endanger Main Street Families”:

“With DOGE intent on dismantling federal agencies, its supporters are reviving an old idea: merging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). But the reason this idea has been rejected every time it has been raised is that the SEC and CFTC both play critically important but very different roles. This is why the Treasury Department rejected an SEC-CFTC merger during the first Trump administration. It concluded that merging the SEC and CFTC was unlikely to enhance efficiency or improve the current system. There is no reason to reach a different result today.

“The SEC and CFTC have two very different missions and mandates. The SEC regulates the securities markets and is primarily an investor protection agency. The CFTC regulates the commodities and derivatives markets and ensures that vital products are available to the American people at the right time, in the right amounts, and roughly priced based on supply and demand. As a result, the SEC could not do the job of the CFTC, the CFTC could not do the job of the SEC, and a combined entity would still have to carry out the functions of each agency. A merger also would not save money because the combined agency would still need to execute the divergent missions of each standalone entity. So while it sounds like combining the agencies would save money and improve efficiency, in reality, it would not lead to any cost savings and would instead endanger Main Street Americans’ wallets and pocketbooks as well as investors, retirees, markets, and financial stability.

“For all of these reasons, there is no more cause to merge the SEC and CFTC now than all the other times that this idea has been raised, considered, and rejected.”

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