Which organization is responsible for overseeing the securities industry in the United States?

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the primary federal regulatory body responsible for overseeing the securities industry in the United States. Established in 1934, the SEC's main mission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. It achieves this through enforcing securities laws and regulating market participants, such as broker-dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds.

While other organizations, such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), play significant roles in financial regulation, their functions are more specialized. FINRA is a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that works under the oversight of the SEC to ensure compliance with the rules governing broker-dealers. The CFTC focuses on the regulation of futures and options markets rather than the broader securities markets.

The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) was also an SRO but merged into FINRA, which now operates independently. Thus, while all these organizations contribute to the regulation of financial markets, the SEC holds the authoritative power over the overall securities industry in the U.S.