ASA Applauds SEC's Action on Disclosure Reform

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) applauded Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins' speech at the Texas A&M School of Law Corporate Law Symposium outlining reforms to corporate disclosure requirements and a more rational approach towards the initial public offering (IPO) process. 

"ASA strongly supports Chairman Atkins' vision to rationalize, simplify, and modernize the SEC's disclosure regime," said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. “The Chairman’s common-sense agenda sets out common-sense solutions to reverse the long-term decline in U.S.-listed public companies.”

Key highlights of the Chairman’s speech include:

• Reiterating the position adopted by the Commission last fall that SEC staff will no longer be able to take ad hoc positions regarding mandatory arbitration provisions in a company’s registration statement;

  
  

• Emphasizing the importance of state law in corporate governance and stating that “competition amongst States for domiciling corporations is a healthy function of our capital markets”;

  
  

• Making it clear that the materiality standard will guide corporate disclosure going forward and suggesting that risk factor disclosure be simplified to provide more useful information to investors.

  
  

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The American Securities Association (ASA) represents the retail and institutional capital markets interests of regional financial services firms who provide Main Street businesses with access to capital and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. ASA’s mission is to promote trust and confidence among investors, facilitate capital formation, and support efficient and competitively balanced capital markets. This mission advances financial independence, stimulates job creation, and increases prosperity. The ASA has a geographically diverse membership of almost one hundred members that spans the Heartland, Southwest, Southeast, Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States.