ASA Endorses Senator Rick Scott's Bills to Block Chinese Military Companies from U.S. Markets

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) today announced its endorsement of two bills introduced by U.S. Senator Rick Scott directing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to identify and suspend Chinese Communist Party military companies from trading on U.S. exchanges.

"ASA applauds Senator Scott for prioritizing America's economic and national security by holding Communist China accountable," said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. "When the Pentagon designates a company as a Chinese military company, that company has no business raising capital from American working families, savers, and retirees. These CCP-controlled firms have traded freely on U.S. exchanges for years despite those designations — that's not a procedural gap, it's a strategic failure that Senator Scott's bills fix."

ASA has consistently warned that through the "Passive Index Loophole" American retirement savings are being routed into companies tied to a strategic competitor's military without the knowledge or consent of American investors. Last year, Iacovella testified at a joint hearing with the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party titled “Financial Aggression: How the Chinese Communist Party Exploits American Retirees and Undermines National Security". In his testimony, Iacovella describes the risks the CCP poses to American investors and senior savings, what can be done about it, and why a bipartisan Congress must act. 

ASA's endorsement is featured in Senator Scott's announcement.

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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.