Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the primary federal government regulator of securities markets in the United States. The SEC was created to administer the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Since its creation, the SEC has been assigned responsibility for administering other laws and amendments to those laws, including the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, and the Investment Company Act of 1940. The SEC also has responsibility for administering large parts of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. These laws were enacted by Congress to achieve the broad policy goals of protecting investors and promoting efficiency and competition in the capital formation process. The ...