The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will have a new Commissioner soon. President Donald Trump announced the nomination of a new SEC Commissioner in Allison Herrin Lee. The announcement was made as part of a press release from the White House.
“Allison Herren Lee is a veteran securities law practitioner of more than two decades. She served at the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2005 to 2018 in various roles including Senior Counsel in the Complex Financial Instruments Unit, and as Counsel to Commissioner Kara M. Stein.” The White House said. “She has also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, and prior to government service, was a litigation partner at Sherman & Howard, LLC in Denver, Colorado. Since leaving the SEC, she has, among other things, lectured and taught courses in financial regulation and corporate law at Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and LUISS Universita Guido Carli, Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza in Rome, Italy.”
Lee was one of five nominees on this press release; another was Michelle Bowman of Missouri, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Community Bank Representative) for a 14-year term beginning February 1, 2020.
At the moment, there is not enough information about her and which is her position on important issues such as the approval of a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). The SEC has rejected several Bitcoin ETF proposals made by different participants in the crypto market. The crypto space is expecting the regulatory agency to eventually approve a Bitcoin ETF in the future.
It might be possible to suggest that she doesn’t like banks. This is something that could be positive for the crypto space. Crypto enthusiasts are usually against traditional financial institutions, including banks. However, this does not mean that she will be in favour of virtual currencies.
The SEC has five commissioners; no more than three can be from the same political party.
Lee is a Democrat and will replace SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson, also a Democrat. Each SEC commissioner serves for five years and their nominations start on June 5. Lee’s nomination now heads to the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. That committee will hold a nomination hearing before voting her nomination out of committee. After that, her nomination will head to the full Senate for a vote and she is expected to pass. If confirmed as expected, her term as commissioner will run until June 2022.
