In this episode of The SIFMA Podcast, SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. sits down with SIFMA General Counsel Saima Ahmed to unpack key takeaways from the 2025 SIFMA Compliance & Legal Annual Seminar.

They discuss top regulatory priorities, evolving compliance expectations, and what’s on the horizon. With exclusive conversations live from the Seminar floor, this episode brings you firsthand insights from:

• Mark Uyeda, Acting Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Robert Cook, President and CEO, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

Tune in for expert perspectives on the future of regulation and what it means the capital markets and financial services industry in 2025.

Transcript

Edited for clarity

Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr.: I’m Ken Bentsen, SIFMA President and CEO and welcome to our latest episode of The SIFMA Podcast. In late March, Saima hosted our 2025 Compliance & Legal Society Annual Seminar in Austin, Texas. The event brought together 2,000 industry legal and compliance professionals and featured more than 60 panels at sessions on key legal, regulatory, and compliance issues, including presentations with senior federal and state regulators.

I’m joined here today by my colleague and SIFMA’s General Counsel, Saima Ahmed, to talk about some of the key highlights from what was a very successful event. Momentarily, we’ll dig into two key regulatory sessions. But before we do so, I’m as, you’ve had a time to look back. What strikes you as some of the meaningful takeaways from the event?

Saima Ahmed: It was such a terrific event. Ken, as you noted, we were very fortunate to be able to hear from many of our industry’s top regulators at what really is a pivotal time for our industry to be able to hear directly from acting SEC Chair Uyeda on the SEC’s key priorities at this time, along with heads of enforcement at the SEC, the CFTC, as well as FINRA and state regulators, among others, was so invaluable.

And, of course, this also is a great opportunity for regulators and others to hear what’s on the minds of senior legal and compliance officials within the industry. A lot of those conversations focused on the broader regulatory environment. But other hot topics, not surprisingly, included artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital assets, and panelists views on where things stand in the markets from equities to fixed income in private markets.

Bentsen: Yeah. I think it was three days of incredibly valuable content. And when you think about the breadth and depth of the, not just the panels, but the participants, as you mentioned, the senior, officials from the, you know, from the official sector as well as, is senior, legal, people, just really top notch.

So we’re going to play for our listeners some substantial excerpts from two of the main stage conversations that we had at the seminar. The first, a fireside chat that I hosted with acting Acting SEC Chairman Uyeda, and the second, a one-on-one conversation that you had with FINRA CEO and President Robert Cook. So, Saima, before we hit play, maybe you can provide some headlines, if you will, from each session.

Ahmed: The conversations were very candid and informational. Where, as you said, we’re just so appreciative of these senior regulators taking time to come speak to our audience of compliance and legal professionals. As for headlines? For both, I think you could say a fresh look at the rule book and rulemaking. In Chair Uyeda’s conversation, he discussed his blueprint for a return to normalcy in rulemaking. That includes rigorous economic analysis, longer comment periods, and utilizing roundtables and requests for comments.

Similarly, FINRA president and CEO Robert Cook discussed, for example, FINRA’s review of its own rules and other initiatives and things like taking a fresh look at which rules could be modernized with a focus on capital formation and the modern workplace. Right now, federal agencies and some SROs are taking a look at the existing rules on their books that provide opportunities for the industries to weigh in with recommendations on amending or even repealing certain rules that, for example, are unduly burdensome.

Bentsen: So I think that sums it up really nicely. And so now, let’s allow our podcast audience to hear a bit more directly from these conversations. First up, SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda.

Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr.: And now FINRA’s Robert Cook.

Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr.: So thank you to our audience for joining us today. We hope you found these regulatory conversations as valuable as we did. These sessions and many more are all available to watch on demand on our website at, sifma.org/cl-annual I encourage you to dive into each one for more important perspectives from our regulators and industry leadership.

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