By Douglas Gillison
(Reuters) -Paul Atkins, a former Wall Street regulator whom President Donald Trump has tapped to run the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is set to testify at a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday at a time of major change at the agency and across the federal workforce.
A well-known Washington lawyer with extensive business ties, Atkins will face questions from Democrats about potential conflicts of interest and his support for deregulation. He appears unlikely to face serious obstacles to confirmation, however, according to analysts.
Jonathan Gould, Trump’s nominee to supervise the largest U.S. banks as comptroller of the currency, is also set to appear, along with Luke Pettit and Marcus Molinaro, Trump’s picks for senior roles at the Treasury and Transportation departments, respectively.
In prepared remarks released Wednesday, Atkins avoided addressing White House efforts to slash the SEC’s workforce as part of broader government cuts, instead pledging to deliver regulation that would benefit the crypto industry and prevent “overly politicized” regulations from stifling free enterprise.
The SEC is facing the potential loss of 12% or more of its workforce under voluntary buyout programs offered by the White House, unprecedented cuts that staff members have warned could threaten the agency’s effectiveness.
Atkins has disclosed a family fortune of more than $328 million, about 90% of which is held by his wife, Sarah Atkins, whose family helped found a building supply company.
Through his consultancy Patomak Global Partners, Atkins, who was an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, served a roster of major clients, including some that have been the targets of SEC enforcement.
Atkins said he was prohibited from identifying several clients due to laws and regulations in Ohio, Utah and Australia, among others.
However, the Trump transition team said Tuesday that Atkins had pledged to divest from his holdings and was in full compliance with all ethical and disclosure requirements.
Meanwhile, if confirmed to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Gould would be charged with monitoring national banks, which include the eight “too big to fail” giants.
Gould served during the prior Trump administration as OCC general counsel and previously was chief counsel for the Senate Banking Committee. Most recently, Gould was a partner at Jones Day, and spent time as the chief legal officer at the crypto firm Bitfury.
In prepared testimony, Gould suggested he would support a lighter regulatory touch on the banking sector, critiquing a “blinkered approach” to eliminating bank risk altogether.
“If banks are to serve their role supporting the U.S. economy, they must be allowed to engage in prudent risk taking,” he said.
(Reporting by Douglas GillisonAdditional reporting by Chris Prentice; editing by Pete Schroeder and Leslie Adler)
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