SEC oversight of ESG will continue despite exclusion from exam priorities, experts say
- Media Manager
- Oct 16, 2023
- 1 min read
Pensions & Investments
Written By: Courtney Degen
Published: October 17th, 2023
While the SEC excluded ESG from its examination priorities for fiscal year 2024, the agency will continue its oversight of the space, as it has done for many years, experts said.
On Oct. 16, the SEC's division of examinations released its priorities for the fiscal year 2024, which include operational resiliency and emerging technologies, such as cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. Those priorities do not contain environmental, social and governance investing, according to the division's report, despite the SEC including it in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
"The published priorities are not exhaustive and will not be the only issues addressed in FY24 examinations," an SEC spokesperson said in an email.
And according to industry experts, the move does not mean that the SEC will suddenly halt its oversight of ESG investing.
"That (risk alert) is still in place, and I think that's still a very good document for any firm to kind of understand the SEC's thinking on this," added Bryan McGannon, managing director of US SIF: The Sustainable Investment Forum, a nonprofit organization whose members represent $5 trillion in assets under management.
