Following on the President’s directive to identify those financial regulations that work and don’t work, Paul Atkins highlighted a provision tucked into the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act requiring companies to release a ratio of CEO compensation versus median worker pay, and said the rule has nothing to do with preventing the next financial crisis. Appearing Tuesday on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Mr. Atkins added:

The CEO-worker pay ratio "was thrown in there at the behest of special interest." Atkins told CNBC's. "To have social aspects come into SEC disclosure policy is not the best way to run that agency or the disclosure system."

After long delays and opposition from corporate America, the SEC in August 2015 approved the rule in a 3-to-2 vote.

"The SEC chose one of the most burdensome ways of implementing that provision. So it's very costly for companies, especially international ones with lots of different employees to comply with," said Atkins, who served as SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 during George W. Bush's presidency. Atkins is currently CEO of compliance consulting firm Patomak Global Partners.

As a member, Atkins attended Friday's White House meeting of the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, chaired by Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and BlackRock’s Larry Fink, also forum members, were in attendance as well.