SEC to extend probe response timeline

Your SEC stress dreams just got a little less stress-y.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will provide subjects of investigation with four weeks to respond to probes, instead of the previously allotted two weeks, in order to encourage “dialogue and facilitate greater consistency,” the agency said in a news release on Tuesday.

The broader goal of the extended timeline is to improve the consistency of the Wells notice process, in which firms and individuals are informed of potential SEC violations.

The Wells notice change comes as part of a wider update of the agency’s internal enforcement protocols, which hadn’t been updated since 2017, the SEC said. Now, the SEC’s internal enforcement manual “will undergo yearly reviews going forward.”

Margaret Ryan, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said in the press release that the updated manual “seeks to clarify, and enhance the public’s understanding of, how we enforce the federal securities laws.”

In addition to the extended Wells notice timeline, the SEC will also offer the opportunity to meet with staff, including “a member of senior leadership within the division,” within four weeks of a Wells submission.

“We’re trying to be more efficient. This gives them enough time to focus on legal or factual issues and to respond in a meaningful way,” Ryan told Reuters. “We’re hoping to underscore the importance of open, informed dialogue.”

The SEC has taken a withdrawn approach to enforcement actions recently. Out of the 56 total enforcement actions taken against public companies by the SEC in 2025, only four were taken after former Acting Chair Mark Uyeda and then current Chair Paul Atkins took over, according to analysis from the NYU Pollack Center for Law and Business and Cornerstone Research.