February 7, 2022
As a foreign investor in U.S. securities, policy changes such as this one restore to me a small measure of confidence in the American markets and the entities that purport to regulate them.
Huge efforts are needed to remove the layers of obstruction and abstraction that have been imposed on retail investors' ability to participate in a fair, free and transparent market. This is a small step in that direction.
I would urge the SEC, and any other relevant watchdogs, to continue to produce and enforce legislation such as this. However, punishment for breaches of such regulations must change to be commensurate to the crime. Too often, retail investors watch as corporations are charged a fraction of their proceeds from illegal activities as punishment. This is far from a deterrent and causes individuals to lose faith in the markets and the agencies regulating them.
Offending parties that violate these rules must be:
1. Identified more quickly, with more tools being made available to make the required information transparent and unearth entities that misreport or mislead with their finances.
2. Punished appropriately with more than a slap on the wrist. The public have absolutely zero confidence that this currently happens, and it is commonly viewed that fines are simply a cost of doing business rather than the punishment that they should be.
Retail investors have to follow these rules, it is only right that corporations be forced to too.
Thank you for your time.