Commissioner Paul Atkins to Leave SEC

Donna Block

The Deal

May 07, 2008

Provided by The Deal

The Securities and Exchange Commission is losing yet another commissioner. Paul Atkins is leaving the agency after nearly six years in office, the SEC said late Monday.

Atkins, a Republican, plans to leave when his term expires June 5, but the SEC said in a statement he will stay until a successor can take office.

He started with the SEC nearly a decade ago, serving in various positions under three different chairmen. First appointed as a commissioner in 2002, he is now in his second term.

Atkins has worked "energetically to ensure that the administration of the nation's securities laws is fair, efficient and transparent," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, also a Republican, said in a statement.

Cox added that Atkins has worked to ensure that regulation costs are in line with its benefits, resulting in effective implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance act.

Compliance with Section 404, designed to beef up companies' internal controls over financial reporting, has been derided as expensive and burdensome. The agency voted last year to ease the standard.

"I have had the honor of serving at the SEC during some of the most challenging times for the agency and the capital markets," Atkins said in a statement about his departure. "I started in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals and the enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley, which imposed a very demanding rulemaking timeline on the SEC."

A former corporate lawyer who practiced in New York and France, there were rumors last year that Atkins was under consideration to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The SEC had no comment on his plans.

Atkins also served at the agency from 1990 to 1994 as a top staff member for former SEC Chairmen Richard Breeden and Arthur Levitt.

The five-member SEC is operating with only three members, all Republicans. In addition to Cox and Atkins, the other Republican member is Kathleen Casey. Roel Campos, who left the agency last year, and Annette Nazareth, who departed in January, gave up the two Democratic seats. Both positions are still vacant.

In March the White House nominated Elisse Walter, former deputy director of the SEC's corporation finance division, and Luis Aguilar, a former SEC lawyer, to fill the two empty Democrat seats. They await Senate approval.

Atkins' departure comes while the agency is struggling with what additional rules might be needed for credit rating agencies, which have been criticized for their role in the subprime mortgage mess.

"Atkins constantly sought to ensure that the benefits of any proposed regulation outweighed the costs and that the additional burdens placed on companies were worth the added expenses," said Michael McCoy, a lawyer at Bryan Cave, who also worked at the SEC while Atkins was there.

"Atkins wanted to ensure that the U.S. marketplace could compete effectively with overseas markets while ensuring that our regulatory regime protected investors. In addition, he brought balance to many of the debates and served investors by ensuring that the burdens of any proposed regulations were researched and understood."