AFP, Washington :
Wall Street’s top regulator is punishing fewer companies and imposing smaller fines, bringing penalties and cases in the latest fiscal year to the lowest since 2013, according to new research.
Total penalties imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the fiscal year ended September 30 fell 15.5 percent over the previous year to about $3.4 billion, the lowest level in four years, according to research conducted by Georgetown University law professor Urska Velikonja, to be published next year.
Within that total, the size of fines alone-which does not do include the return of ill-gotten gains-is down 40 percent, according to Velikonja’s research, to be published next year. And the number of cases the agency has pursued has fallen nearly 18 percent, also the lowest level in four years.
Penalties are down because the SEC is not pursuing as many big fish, she told AFP on Tuesday.
“Big firms are targeted less frequently and when they are, they pay smaller fines,” she said. “If you narrow it down to enforcement against financial firms, there’s virtually no enforcement.”
And 53 percent of the fines imposed in the latest fiscal year came in the final four months of the Obama administration.
The SEC did not respond to an AFP request for comment. SEC officials have said this year they have no intention of reducing penalties, and they have cautioned against reading too much into a single year’s numbers.
Wall Street’s top regulator is punishing fewer companies and imposing smaller fines, bringing penalties and cases in the latest fiscal year to the lowest since 2013, according to new research.
Total penalties imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the fiscal year ended September 30 fell 15.5 percent over the previous year to about $3.4 billion, the lowest level in four years, according to research conducted by Georgetown University law professor Urska Velikonja, to be published next year.
Within that total, the size of fines alone-which does not do include the return of ill-gotten gains-is down 40 percent, according to Velikonja’s research, to be published next year. And the number of cases the agency has pursued has fallen nearly 18 percent, also the lowest level in four years.
Penalties are down because the SEC is not pursuing as many big fish, she told AFP on Tuesday.
“Big firms are targeted less frequently and when they are, they pay smaller fines,” she said. “If you narrow it down to enforcement against financial firms, there’s virtually no enforcement.”
And 53 percent of the fines imposed in the latest fiscal year came in the final four months of the Obama administration.
The SEC did not respond to an AFP request for comment. SEC officials have said this year they have no intention of reducing penalties, and they have cautioned against reading too much into a single year’s numbers.
