Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, SEC NEWS AND SPEECHES—Brattle Group reports on SEC enforcement slowdown, (Oct 23, 2026)

By R. Jason Howard, J.D.

Fiscal Year 2026 SEC enforcement actions show a 57 percent decline from the FY18–FY25 annual average.

The Brattle Group, a global consulting firm specializing in economics and finance, has published a report on SEC enforcement activity for Fiscal Year 2026 which shows that the SEC filed an estimated 308 enforcement actions, down 57 percent from the FY18-FY25 annual average and, despite a rise in filings in the second half of the year, those remained below every comparable period from FY18-FY24.

The press release from Brattle provides a snapshot of the larger data sets from the report and explains that “several developments shaped the context for enforcement this year, including the government shutdown, persistently low staffing levels, and a change in Enforcement Division leadership.”

The press release also highlights that the report found that:

• In five of six months, H2 FY26 activity exceeded H2 FY25 levels, though it remained below the FY18–FY25 monthly averages throughout.

• Securities Offerings and Delinquent Filings were the most frequent allegation categories, each accounting for 21.4 percent of FY26 actions. Insider Trading reached its highest share since FY18, at 12.3 percent.

• Actions against individual respondents alone accounted for 54.8 percent of actions in H1 FY26, but 40.5 percent in H2. The full-year proportion fell toward the upper end of the FY18–FY25 range.

• Although SEC announcements identified parallel criminal indictments in 7.5 percent of FY26 actions, the authors’ search of public records puts the estimated proportion at 16.9 percent, or 52 actions.

Brattle expects a partial rebound in FY 2027 with 350 to 450 enforcement actions compared to the FY26 estimate of 308 but cautions that even at that level, activity would remain well below the FY18-FY25 average.

Reacting to the report, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, issued a statement in which she said: “President Trump has taken the Wall Street cop off the beat, putting Americans’ investments and retirement savings at risk. After Chair Atkins misled Congress and the public earlier this year about the SEC's enforcement collapse, this new independent report confirms that Trump’s SEC is giving a free pass to fraudsters.”

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