Theres a new Wall Street sheriff in town and heres what Paul Atkins plans to do

The new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission will do the opposite of what was done by the last guy in the job, On The Money has learned.That was the terse description supplied to me by a top SEC official this week while I was making the rounds at the Milken Institute Global Conference, a one-stop shopping for reporters like me who want to meet power players on Wall Street and Washington.Wall Street’s new top cop Paul Atkins was recently sworn in by Trump for the very important task of protecting small investors from fraud and making sure markets run efficiently.He replaces Gary Gensler, who was appointed by President Biden for that basic task – but took the agency in novel directions far afield from its congressional mandate and was decidedly progressive, according to critics.“We’re going to do the opposite of everything that Gary did,” is how my SEC insider put it.“The agenda will be laid out in the next few weeks.”Unlike Gensler, who was a banker and academic by trade, Atkins is a securities lawyer and himself a former SEC commissioner during the administration of George W Bush.He understands the limits and priorities of the office.

So don’t expect any wild goose chases during the Atkins years.Lefty pursuits such as Gensler’s mandate that corporations disclose their carbon footprint — about as far afield as you can get from typical investor-oriented disclosures — are dead in their tracks.No more regulation through enforcement crackdowns on businesses like crypto, a business that the left hated because it represents a diversion from government control.Unnecessary edicts to change the structure of the stock market that Gensler took on – based on the false notion the markets are biased against small investors (remember trading is virtually free) – will also be a thing of the past.Atkins could care less that Robinhood — which is one of those brokerages that charge no fees — can sell its “order flow” or buy and sell ord...