In this recent speech, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins again highlighted his three pillars in his “Make IPOs Great Again” plan (here’s a blog about his October speech kicking off this plan). The three pillars were described in this speech as:
- Modernizing, rationalizing, and streamlining disclosure reports so that they are meaningful, understandable, and not a repellant to investors. Too many SEC requirements that began as a framework to inform have become instruments to obscure—drifting along the way from what a reasonable investor would consider important to what a regulator might find interesting. That is completely opposite of what should be the case since we are commanded by law to put the investor first.
- Focused on ensuring that States, and not the SEC, regulate matters of corporate governance. Over time, the agency has used its disclosure authority to attempt to indirectly establish governance standards that state corporate law should and can address. We must stay in our lane as a disclosure agency and not be a merit regulator.
- Allowing public companies to have litigation alternatives while maintaining an avenue for shareholders to continue to bring forth meritorious claims. At the SEC, we have been hard at work on executing this plan so that we can shield the innovator from the frivolous—and protect the investor from the fraudulent.
Authored by
Broc Romanek