After his election victory, the question is: “Will Donald Trump champion restoring transparency in the global financial system?”

In my opinion, the likely answer is No.

This isn’t to say he is predisposed to dislike transparency.  Rather, I don’t think it will be on his to do list.  Every president has this list of a half dozen to a dozen big things they would like to do.  In the absence of a financial crisis, transparency is unlikely to make it on to this list.

Furthermore, Republicans in both the House and Senate are always looking for ways to reduce “regulation” of Wall Street.  As a result, it is likely they will want to reduce the SEC’s authority and budget.  To avoid giving Congress an excuse to do this, the SEC will be even more reluctant to take on Wall Street.

Make no mistake, transparency involves battling Wall Street.  After all, Wall Street profits greatly from selling opaque securities.  Wall Street also profits greatly from operating opaque firms where the bankers get to keep the profits if their bets win and the taxpayers get the losses if their bets lose.

As a result, there is an even greater need on the part of the buy-side for the Transparency Label Initiative.  The Initiative is needed to step into the void left by the SEC through its abdication of its responsibility to require disclosure so investors can know what they own.