Office Hours with Gary Gensler: The U.S. Capital Markets and the Securities and Exchange Commission

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[Chair Gary Gensler walking towards a coat closet. Text on screen: "Heading to the last Office Hours with Gary Gensler recording…" The Chair then knocks on the coat closer door and opens it.]

Hey team. We doing some more Office Hours?

[Office Hours Intro Animation]

What are the vast U.S. capital markets have to do with you? And what role does the SEC play in making sure that they work best for you?

You might think when I say capital markets, it's just the stock market, but it's so much more. Our capital markets, weighing in at $120 trillion in size, are five times larger than our entire banking system. And our capital markets touch nearly every part of our economy. They make it possible to take out a mortgage, an auto loan or credit card. Your employer may be raising money in the capital markets, or raising money from banks that then are going to the capital markets. And you see, even we as a nation borrow in our capital markets, it's something called the U.S. Treasury market. So it just touches all parts of our economy and that touches you.

Now how does the SEC fit into all of this? Well, 90 years ago, when President Roosevelt and Congress set up the Securities and Exchange Commission, they had just lived through the 1920s when fraudsters and Ponzi schemes took advantage of investors like yourselves. Roosevelt and Congress understood the importance of having common sense rules of the road.

I think of it this way, over the years I've slept better knowing that when one of my three daughters borrows the car keys, there are common-sense rules to protect them-stop signs, traffic lights, speed limits. There are laws against drunk driving, and there are cops on the street to enforce these laws. Now let's think about another thing. Let's think about football. What if there were no rules or referees? There'd be mayhem on the field and surely fans would lose confidence in the integrity of the game.

Well, it's just as true in the world of finance. Common-sense rules lower risk. And yes, they build trust in our capital markets that we might participate in them. The SEC fits in because we're this remarkable agency entrusted by Congress to do your work, the capital markets and enforce these common-sense rules of the road.

Our third chair, William O. Douglas, he said of the SEC that "we are the investor's advocate." And over these last four years, I've had the great privilege to work alongside with the SEC's incredible talented staff. They are deeply committed to the mission of protecting you and everyday folks around this country in these capital markets. They also have the role of promoting capital formation, but ensuring that the markets in the middle work for investors and issuers alike.

One of the great privileges of the last four years has been engaging with you, the public, whether directly through meetings, through the many tens of thousands of comments that you've submitted on our rulemakings, through investor education, or, yes, through the tens of thousands of tips, complaints, and referrals you've sent us to help us do our jobs to protect you.

Well, there's another way that we've engaged with each other these last four years, and it's through these Office Hours. And I've thought it's important to explain what we were doing on your behalf and to meet you through these videos, whether we were talking about market structure, whether we were talking about the market plumbing like central clearing, the U.S. Treasury markets, or many other topics.

Before I wrap up, I just I think I'd be remiss not to say just one thing about public service. It's what we give back to our communities. We all do it in some form or fashion when we help out folks in our community. It could be family. It could be friends. It could be somebody at our synagogues or churches or mosques. It's just helping out our community.

Well, the great privilege is here at the SEC, there's 4,800 people strong that are doing that. They're helping the community, our great nation, 330 million strong.

I'll wrap up by saying what a privilege it is to work for you, for everyday folks looking to the markets to make a better life for their family. With that, I want to thank you and is that when we do the mic drop?

[Screen fades black and fades into Office Hours outtakes.]

I haven't read this. So how long is it?

We're going to have to do it at least twice because I'm going to goof around.

I'm ready. This law... I'm sorry, can I go back? This law give...no, can I go back up?

She sells…she sells short sales by the seashore. She sells…she's, all right, sorry.

Oh, you want to do this with a different background?

So the dog is not hot If it doesn't have the bun?

She said she sells seashells by the seashore, but actually, she sold short those seashells by the sea shell shore.

That's a slam dunk.

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