WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s top regulator on Tuesday announced what it said were broadbased reform proposals for regulations on how companies offer shares and report required information to investors, saying this would help boost corporate participation on stock markets.
If adopted, the changes would promote the Trump administration’s efforts to encourage initial public offerings while preserving investor protections, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.
“These proposals build upon the legislative and regulatory concepts that have proven successful in the past and aim to extend that success to more companies,” SEC Chair Paul Atkins said in a statement.
The first of two proposals announced Tuesday would, among other changes, ease the path by which companies conduct so-called shelf offerings of shares, in which companies register securities in advance and sell them to investors later.
A second proposed set of changes would further ease public disclosure rules for a category of smaller firms that are new to Wall Street, known as “Emerging Growth Companies,” part of the Trump administration’s drive to cut regulations for publicly traded enterprises.
The proposals will be subject to a period of public notice and comment prior to any decision on finalizing them.
(Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
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