SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda used a speech at Jagiellonian University in Kraków on Saturday, June 13, 2026 to argue that financial regulation should focus on market quality and materiality, not political or social goals, pointing to the agency’s recent proposal to rescind its climate-disclosure rule as evidence of that shift.
“Several weeks ago, the Commission proposed to rescind its own climate-disclosure rule and return to financial materiality as the test on what must be disclosed,” Uyeda said in remarks posted by the SEC on Wednesday.
The views expressed are Uyeda’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the full Commission or his fellow commissioners.
Capital formation and issuer burden
Uyeda said he worries about regulatory requirements that place the heaviest burden on smaller and newer companies, which may dissuade them from going public. He said the SEC has spent the past year reviewing core disclosure rules to refocus them on financial materiality, modernize the registered offerings process, and expand accommodations for smaller issuers.
He framed the effort as a competitive issue, arguing that when regulators fail to provide a workable framework, capital moves to jurisdictions with more effective rules.
Europe’s parallel shift
Uyeda drew comparisons with Europe, where the EU adopted a directive in February narrowing the scope of its sustainability reporting and due diligence mandates. He cited the 2024 Draghi report’s finding that only about 5% of global venture-capital funds are raised in the EU, compared with 52% in the United States, and said the bloc still relies excessively on bank financing.
In Poland, he said, households hold over half their financial assets in cash and bank deposits, citing IMF data.
SEC history in the region
The speech, delivered at the 4th US-CEE Connection Weekend, placed the SEC’s current posture in the context of the agency’s long involvement in Central and Eastern European market development. Uyeda said the SEC provided technical assistance to Poland in 1990 on trading systems, clearance and settlement, and enforcement, and embedded an advisor in the Polish Securities Commission in 1992. Poland’s publicly listed domestic companies have grown from nine in 1992 to around 750, with market capitalisation rising from roughly $4.5 billion to more than $300 billion.
