Occupy the SEC (OSEC) is an

activist group Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...

which aims to influence financial regulators to work for the

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

. The "SEC" in its name refers to the US

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

, but OSEC's scope covers all financial regulatory activity. OSEC was formed and developed as an outgrowth and working group of

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

. Among its members are employees or former employees of some of the largest

financial firm Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial inst ...

s. They have been described as "a counterweight to the deep-pocket lobbying push" by financial firms against reform.

History

OSEC was founded in October 2011 as a working group of

, the protest movement which started in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan on September 17, 2011. After initially meeting on a bench in Zuccotti Park, late October 2011, the group evolved into a bi-weekly "book club" at a diner near the park, and then met weekly in the atrium of 60 Wall Street. The group first gained attention after tackling a response to the proposed

Volcker Rule The Volcker Rule iof the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (). The rule was originally proposed by American economist and former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to restrict United States banks from ma ...

, part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, that would severely limit proprietary trading at commercial banks, similar to the Glass Steagall Act of 1933. OSEC drafted answers to questions regarding the proposed rule, which were included in a 325-page comment letter submitted to the SEC on February 13, 2012.

Volcker Rule comment letter and follow-up

Submitted by OSEC to the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

on February 13, 2012, the 325-page comment letter was hailed as "amazing", describing how the authors went through the rule "line by line, explaining where it's useless and where it can and should be improved." Others suggested OSEC was doing "the day-in, day-out grind of policymaking—calling legislators, responding to regulatory agencies, learning the issues..." OSEC's comment letter was close to the lengthiest and most detailed of the 16,000 letters sent to the SEC, with the vast majority coming from industry insiders. This letter was cited 284 times by the Federal Reserve Board when the regulations were ultimately put into effect in 2013. On February 26, 2013, OSEC filed a suit in the Eastern District Court of New York naming the Federal Reserve, the SEC, CFTC, OCC, FDIC, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury calling for implementation of the "

" (Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010).

Ongoing activities

After the Volcker Rule comment letter, the group continued to engage in regulatory matters where it felt that the 99% needed to be represented. In June 2012, Occupy the SEC submitted a 7-page letter to the

Senate Banking Committee The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, ...

prior to JP Morgan CEO

Jamie Dimon James Dimon (; born March 13, 1956) is an American billionaire businessman and banker who has been the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase – the largest of the big four American banks – since 2005. Dimon was previously on ...

's testimony. In December 2012, OSEC submitted an

amicus brief An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

in the case of Gabelli v. SEC, in which the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

will decide when the statute of limitations clock begins for certain

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

actions brought by the government – from the time the fraud was last committed or from the time the fraud was discovered. On February 15, 2013, OSEC submitted a formal comment letter on money market fund reform to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). The letter urged FSOC to move forward with money market reforms, supported the proposals for floating NAVs and buffers to absorb losses but pointed out that broader reforms were required as well. The letter was cited several times by the SEC when they promulgated reforms to market fund regulations. In July 2013, OSEC submitted an

to the US Supreme Court regarding overly broad interpretations of securities litigation laws. In September 2014, OSEC submitted an

to the US Supreme Court in the case of Omnicare v. Laborers Pension Fund supporting the rights to sue securities issuers and their agents for material misrepresentation. In March 2015, OSEC filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Bank of America N.A. v. Caulkett, and Bank of America N.A. v. Toledo-Cardona. OSEC also filed comment letters relating to the systemic risks created or propagated by asset managers to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and in May a letter on designation of asset managers as SIFIs (Systemically Important Financial Institutions) to the global Financial Stability Board (FSB). In November 2015, the group submitted a comment letter to the CFTC on aggregate position limits. They also organized an effort to petition Congress to oppose a bill backed by the

Koch brothers The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities and their control of Koch Industries, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $115 billion). ...

. It generated over 1,000 letters.

Reception

According to ''The Economist'', Occupy the SEC's "contributions to the debate on

regulatory reform Regulatory reform concerns improvements to the quality of government regulation. At the international level, the "OECD Regulatory Reform Programme is aimed at helping governments improve regulatory quality - that is, reforming regulations that rai ...

(including a tome on the Volcker Rule) have been well-received even by some leading regulators".

References

External links