Under Trump, Wall Street regulator's headcount falls 18%, watchdog says

By Douglas Gillison

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - Nearly one in five staff members had departed Wall Street's top regulator by September of last year under normal attrition and the Trump administration's campaign of job cuts, with losses falling most heavily on divisions overseeing investment managers and stock markets, an independent congressional watchdog reported Friday.

The erosion of the workforce, largely in response to the White House's demand for steep reductions across the federal government, further stretches capacity at a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission contending with far-reaching changes to the business and regulatory landscapes.

President Donald Trump and former advisor Elon Musk last year said "large-scale" cuts were necessary to rein in an allegedly wasteful and uncontrolled bureaucracy across the federal government. However, critics of administration and some staff say the cuts risk hindering the agency's ability to police markets and respond to crises. The SEC is funded through industry fees rather than taxpayer dollars.

The decline in the SEC's headcount has been substantially deeper than that generally seen in the entire federal government, which shrank 12% over a longer period, according to official figures.

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

As Reuters reported last year, 600 people, or 12% of agency staff, had participated in voluntary buyouts as of last May. Friday's report from the Government Accountability Office said, however, that by September more than 270 others had also departed outside of those early resignation and retirement programs, leaving the SEC headcount down 18% for the government's 2025 fiscal year.