Registration Requirements for Foreign Securities

We the undersigned members of the Financial Economists Roundtable (FER) propose that American investors be allowed to trade the shares of major foreign companies as easily as they now trade the shares of U.S. companies. Our proposal should be viewed as a first step towards eliminating the regulatory impediments that now preclude the securities of most foreign firms from being traded on the principal U.S. equity markets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission now requires foreign firms that wish to have their securities traded in these markets to register under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and, among other things, reconcile quantitatively their financial statements to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). This registration requirement hinders U.S. investors and exchanges in trading foreign shares… Read the entire statement.