Florida’s two Republicans in the U.S. Senate–Marco Rubio and Rick Scott–applauded reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will create a plan to have Chinese companies traded on American markets to be regulated by auditors and federal regulators.
Fortune offered some of the details on what the SEC’s plans are.
“By the end of this year, the SEC intends to propose a regulation that would lead to the delisting of companies for not complying with U.S. auditing rules, according to people familiar with the matter,” Fortune reported. “Agency officials have been moving quickly on a rule since August, when the president’s Working Group on Financial Markets — a regulatory council whose members include SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — urged the regulator to pass new restrictions that could take effect as soon as 2022, said the people who asked not to be named in discussing private deliberations.”
Florida’s senators reacted to the reports and showcased their own efforts to ensure more transparency from Chinese companies.
“U.S.-listed Chinese companies present regulatory, oversight and enforcement challenges that undermine transparency and confidence in American markets. For months, I’ve called on the SEC to take action to strengthen and enhance the oversight of these Chinese-based companies. I’m glad they are taking this important step to protect investors by shutting Chinese-based companies out of U.S. exchanges if they fail to be transparent and play by the same rules as U.S. businesses,” Scott said this week.
At the start of the week, Rubio wrote to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, calling on him to “make unfettered Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) access to the audits of firms listed on U.S. securities exchanges a condition for both initial and continued listing.”
Rubio said Congress and the SEC need to do more to make sure Chinese companies are held to the same standards as American businesses.
“Yesterday, I urged Chairman Clayton to protect U.S. investors by ensuring Chinese companies fully comply with American laws and regulations,” Rubio said. “While I welcome the SEC’s plan to move forward with this regulation, I look forward to reviewing the specifics to ensure this rule, especially the co-audit component, is airtight. Additionally, Congress must follow the SEC’s lead and take action to enshrine this into law. Importantly, if this proposed rule is implemented, it would mark another strong data point for the direction of U.S. policy going forward that prioritizes the interests of American workers and mom and pop investors over the Chinese Communist Party and Wall Street.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.
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