SEC’s Roisman to step down in January

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Elad Roisman announced Monday he will resign from the stock market regulator at the end of January.

Roisman, a Republican who has served on the commission since 2018, said he informed President Biden on Monday of his plans to step down from the commission by the end of the year.

Federal law prevents Biden from nominating another Democrat to join the three already at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), making it almost certain Roisman will be replaced with another Republican. 

Roisman was nominated to the SEC by former President Trump and briefly served as acting chairman after former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton resigned from the agency in 2020. He had previously been the chief counsel to Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee and counsel to former SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher.

“Serving the American people as a Commissioner and an Acting Chairman of this agency has been the greatest privilege of my professional life. It has been the utmost honor to work alongside my extraordinary SEC colleagues, who care deeply about investors and our markets,” Roisman said in a statement.

Roisman was supportive of several efforts led by Clayton meant to improve financial market structure and cement new rules for investment advisers. He had also been critical of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s push for new climate risk reporting regimes and skeptical of environmental, social and governance regulations broadly supported by liberal SEC members.

“I’d like to thank Commissioner Roisman for his dedicated service to the Commission and to the American public, both as a Commissioner and as Acting Chairman. While we didn’t always agree on policy matters, I’ve come to rely on his judgment and expertise, and I have enjoyed a positive working relationship with him,” Gensler, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Roisman’s resignation leaves Hester Peirce as the only Republican commissioner on the SEC. 

Federal law bars more than three members of any political party from serving among the five SEC commissioners. Gensler, along with SEC Commissioners Caroline Crenshaw and Allison Herren Lee, are all Democrats, meaning Biden must nominate someone from outside his party for Roisman’s spot.