Mark Uyeda, Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will deliver a keynote address at ICAEW’s Chartered Accountants Hall on 12 May – his only speech in the UK. 

Commissioner Uyeda will talk about the mission of the SEC in protecting investors, supporting markets and facilitating capital formation, as well as the importance of corporate reporting in well-functioning markets. London and New York remain two of the most high-profile capital markets globally, with close cooperation on evolving economic and regulatory issues.

The event is part of a series looking at insights and international best practice around regulation, trust and reform, and how Britain can build and maintain world-class regulation.

In a speech to the Institute of International Bankers in March, Commissioner Uyeda talked about four essential investor fears that securities regulators must address: the investor fear of being uninformed about the investment being offered; potential abuse by market intermediaries; fear of inefficient market prices, including the issue of market manipulation and insider trading; and intermediary failures that may leave investors unable to access their wealth.

“How does a jurisdiction ensure that investors can place some degree of confidence in the information from corporate issuers raising capital? There are five basic regulatory tools: 

• mandatory financial reporting, so investors know what to expect; 
• standardised accounting, so financial results can be compared; 
• auditing, so investors can have some assurance; 
• oversight of auditing, to ensure auditors are doing their jobs; and 
• effective enforcement, so the investors know that the bad actors are being filtered out and removed.”

Later, he listed other regulatory tools including: registration requirements, record-keeping rules, supervisory rules, disclosure rules, rules prescribing specific types of conduct, and regulatory examinations and enforcement. In his speech at Chartered Accountants Hall, he is expected to cover his views on the regulatory balance that builds trust and confidence in financial markets.

John Boulton, Policy Director at ICAEW, says: “With the FCA publishing their proposals this week to streamline listing rules in the UK, it’s an apposite time to consider how capital markets can attract a wide range of companies while securing investor confidence and trust. 

“The SEC’s mission, as Commissioner Uyeda has articulated, is clear and has been consistently applied since the 1930s. At its heart is the protection of investors and the primacy of high-quality, trusted financial information. We look forward to hearing more about how the SEC is pursuing its mission in 2023 and considering how this experience might inform our own reform efforts in the UK.”