Posted by Mark T. Uyeda, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Editor’s Note:
Mark T. Uyeda is a Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This post is based on his recent public statement. The views expressed in the post are those of Commissioner Uyeda, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff.
Thank you, Carla [Garrett]. Good morning and welcome. I have been looking forward to the Advisory Committee convening in-person and I am grateful that we have this opportunity today.
First, I’d like to thank Commissioner Andrea Seidt for her service on the Advisory Committee and providing the important perspective of state securities regulators. State securities regulators play an important role in the development and implementation of rules governing small business capital formation. I also take this opportunity to welcome Bill [William] Beatty. I have known Bill, as well as his predecessor Michael Stevenson at the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, for many years through NASAA [North American Securities Administrators Association]. I thank you all for your service.
I am concerned by certain market and regulatory trends. First, the number of publicly-traded companies continues to go down. This results in a narrower set of economic opportunities for retail investors, who generally are unable to access investments in private markets. According to one recent report, “the number of US companies traded on major US exchanges has declined significantly in recent decades. For example, after peaking in 1996 at more than 8,000 companies, the number of domestic US-listed public companies decreased nearly 50% by 2019 (i.e., to approximately 4,300 companies).” [1] Although higher regulatory compliance costs may not be the sole factor driving this decrease, we should aim to improve the regulatory balance to incentivize companies to go or remain public.
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