Washington, DC, February 28, 2019 — SIFMA submitted a letter to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in conjunction with today’s hearing entitled ‘Legislative Proposals on Capital Formation and Corporate Governance.’

“We believe there are many opportunities to boost economic growth, encourage job creation, and support entrepreneurs by improving our securities laws and regulations. U.S. capital markets are a critical source of financing for businesses – especially small and mid-sized businesses – and SIFMA and its members are concerned about the ongoing decline in the number of public companies and initial public offerings (IPOs),” SIFMA wrote in the letter to the Committee. “Congress should address this trend by tailoring securities regulations to facilitate access to the U.S. capital markets.”

As outlined in the letter, SIFMA continues to support the following legislation:

• 2126 – the Fostering Innovation Act of 2017 which would grant a five-year exemption from the auditor attestation requirements found in Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley for emerging growth companies and companies with less than $50 million in annual gross revenues.
• 2347 – the Encouraging Public Offerings Act of 2018 which would allow all issuers of public securities to take advantage of the testing the waters and confidential draft registration submission provisions of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012.
• 2756 – the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act which would allow Americans to qualify as accredited investors by virtue of their education and job experience.
• 3004 – the Small Business Audit Correction Act of 2018 which would provide much-needed regulatory relief to small, privately held, non-custodial broker-dealers from the requirement to use a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) registered audit firm for their annual audits.
• 3283 – the Options Markets Stability Act which would rationalize Federal banking regulators’ treatment of listed options positions for market makers when calculating a bank’s counterparty credit risk exposure.
• 3323 – the National Senior Investor Senior Initiative Act of 2018 which would create a “Senior Investor Taskforce” within the Securities and Exchange Commission charged with identifying problems senior investors encounter,
• 3578 – the Improving Investment Research for Small and Emerging Issuers Act, which would direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to study the provisioning of research on small issuers – a critically important issue affecting our capital markets.

The letter also outlines concerns with some additional proposals the Committee is considering that could unduly hamper capital formation and reduce small investors’ access to investment opportunities.

SIFMA’s full letter further details these views, which can be found here.

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SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s nearly 1 million employees, we advocate for legislation, regulation and business policy, affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.