The Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation of Public Utility Holding Companies:
An Evaluation of Commission Comments on a Critical Report
FGMSD-78-7: Published: Jan 4, 1978. Publicly Released: Jan 4, 1978.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
A June 1977 report "The Force of the Public Utility Holding Company Act Has Been Greatly Reduced by Changes in the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Enforcement Policies" raised questions concerning SEC surveillance of 14 regulated public utility holding companies. The report noted that SEC was not conducting the type of field investigations necessary to ensure that the companies were complying with constraints imposed by the act and questioned the SEC policy of exempting companies from the full force of the act. The report was issued without SEC comments.
The Commission stated that it had carefully and vigorously supervised the activities of registered holding companies, but it acknowledged that most of its efforts were devoted to financial matters and questioned the need for field investigations. The SEC may be correct in believing that the information reported to it is complete and reliable and that intercompany transactions conform to regulatory restrictions. GAO believes, however, that it is not possible to be reasonably certain that regulated holding companies are complying with the act's restrictions without the information provided by the independent, first-hand assessments of a field investigation. The SEC has relied primarily on the act's geographical qualifications in exempting companies as intrastate in character. In its comments, the SEC acknowledged that its level of regulation had declined, but it held that this represented an accomodation to the act's objections.
Dec 16, 2020
Financial Stability:
Agencies Have Not Found Leveraged Lending to Significantly Threaten Stability but Remain Cautious Amid PandemicGAO-21-167: Published: Dec 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 16, 2020.
Dec 10, 2020
-
Federal Reserve Lending Programs:
Use of CARES Act-Supported Programs Has Been Limited and Flow of Credit Has Generally ImprovedGAO-21-180: Published: Dec 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 10, 2020. -
Financial Assistance:
Lessons Learned from CARES Act Loan Program for Aviation and Other Eligible BusinessesGAO-21-198: Published: Dec 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 10, 2020.
Sep 22, 2020
-
Anti-Money Laundering:
Opportunities Exist to Increase Law Enforcement Use of Bank Secrecy Act Reports, and Banks' Costs to Comply with the Act VariedGAO-20-574: Published: Sep 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 2020.
Sep 4, 2020
-
Bank Supervision:
FDIC Could Better Address Regulatory Capture RisksGAO-20-519: Published: Sep 4, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 4, 2020.
Jul 21, 2020
-
Financial Company Bankruptcies:
Congress and Regulators Have Updated Resolution Planning RequirementsGAO-20-608R: Published: Jul 21, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 21, 2020.
Jul 6, 2020
-
Public Companies:
Disclosure of Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors and Options to Enhance ThemGAO-20-530: Published: Jul 2, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 6, 2020.
Apr 30, 2020
-
Priority Open Recommendations:
Department of the TreasuryGAO-20-549PR: Published: Apr 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 30, 2020.
Apr 27, 2020
-
Priority Open Recommendations:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve SystemGAO-20-499PR: Published: Apr 20, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 27, 2020. -
Priority Open Recommendations:
Federal Deposit Insurance CorporationGAO-20-498PR: Published: Apr 20, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 27, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Financial Markets and Institutions
Explore our other Key Issues here
