Last week, the SEC announced that Corp Fin will increase the number of its industry offices to nine by adding two new offices later this year: the Office of Crypto Assets and the Office of Industrial Applications and Services.
For the first half of my career, the number of offices reviewing disclosure documents remained fairly stable, with six Assistant Directors overseeing 12 branches. The last decade or so has seen some office shuffling, and this continues that trend. Changes to existing offices are made based on changes in the markets and the priorities of the current SEC leadership.
Given Chair Gensler’s focus on crypto assets, a new Office of Crypto Assets should come as no surprise. The SEC’s announcement states that this office will continue the work currently performed within all the offices in Corp Fin that review crypto asset filings. The new Office of Industrial Applications and Services will review filings made by companies in the non-pharma, non-biotech, and non-medicinal products fields currently assigned to the Office of Life Sciences.