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Compliance & Regulation SEC Enforcement

Don’t Mistake Our Fairness for Weakness: SEC’s Top Cop

February 2026

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s head of enforcement, Margaret Ryan, pledged to provide an “open, informed and thoughtful dialogue” with entities subject to investigation by the agency, but won’t tolerate “games” from industry players.

In a speech to the Los Angeles Bar Association – her first public comments since taking the helm of the enforcement division in September – Ryan said reports that the unit’s “work at the SEC has been tossed to the wayside are not only greatly exaggerated but flat out wrong.”

Still, Ryan said that the agency under Chair Paul Atkins has been working to create a pre-enforcement action process that is “transparent and fair” after a firm receives a Wells notice. The notice outlines specific violations that SEC staff have identified and informs those swept up in an investigation that the agency has made a preliminary determination to recommend an enforcement action or initiate a proceeding against them.

Firms and individuals facing potential SEC charges now have at least four weeks to respond to a Wells notice explaining why the SEC should not move forward with an enforcement action, said Ryan. Previously, firms and individuals had half that time to submit a response.

Ryan’s reference to a four-week Wells window is noteworthy because “publicly anchoring a defined timeframe signals predictability and a meaningful opportunity for respondents to be heard before a recommendation is made,” said Cynthia Kelly, a managing director of compliance at STP Investment Services.

“Her emphasis on quality and impact over chasing case numbers suggests a disciplined allocation of limited resources,” she said. “The message is not fewer cases for optics, but more targeted cases that advance the SEC’s core mission.”

Read more in FundFire.

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