Jim (James J.) Moloney is the Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, appointed in October 2025; he is a longtime corporate securities lawyer and former SEC official who returned from private practice to lead Corp Fin.
The Division of Corporation Finance reviews public-company filings and disclosure (e.g., registration statements, 10‑K/10‑Q, proxy statements), provides interpretive assistance to companies, and recommends rulemaking and enforcement matters to the Commission to ensure investors receive the information needed for investment and voting decisions.
Such a speech typically outlines the Division’s near‑term priorities and ‘coming attractions’ — e.g., staff focus areas, emerging disclosure topics, planned reviews or initiatives, and how the staff expects companies to apply disclosure rules — rather than rendering new rules on the spot.
No — standalone remarks by Corp Fin staff or its director are generally non‑binding and do not by themselves change securities laws; formal rule changes require Commission rulemaking (votes, notices and Federal Register publication). However staff statements can signal how rules will be applied and prompt market or issuer changes.
Statements can affect companies and investors by signaling staff priorities (leading issuers to change disclosures or compliance programs), prompting increased SEC reviews or comment letters in targeted areas, and shaping market expectations even though the remarks aren’t themselves binding.
The SEC posts the speech text and any related slides on its Newsroom (Speeches/Statements) page; the specific posting is at the URL in the article metadata: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/moloney-statement-coming-attractions-021326-coming-attractions-division-corporation-finance. Recordings (if any) are sometimes linked on that page or on the SEC’s YouTube channel or event page.
Corp Fin staff and the director regularly give agenda‑setting speeches throughout the year (multiple times annually); the SEC’s Speeches/Statements archive shows dozens of staff and commissioner talks each year rather than a single fixed schedule.