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Experts tell Senate panel retail access must be balanced with stronger disclosure and enforcement
Summary
Witnesses at the hearing argued for expanding retail access to private-market investments but stressed that access should come with better disclosure, liquidity design and enforceable safeguards to protect ordinary investors.
Dahlia Blass, the former SEC division director and now senior investment management partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, told the committee that "retail access is about thoughtfully reintroducing access to private market investments for all rather than a subset of retail investors." She cautioned that some retail-focused vehicles operate outside the protections of the Investment Company Act and that regulators should tailor products to liquidity needs while maintaining investor safeguards.
Kentrell Dumas, a senior researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, framed the debate around equity: disclosure shortfalls and weak enforcement disproportionately harm low-wealth households. He told senators that disclosure "should reduce information gaps" and warned against placing lightly regulated private equity or digital assets into retirement accounts without more evidence that they serve ordinary families.
