U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission Acting Chair Uyeda initiates staff work on crowdfunding, accredited investor and scaled disclosure reforms

In a keynote speech, Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda outlined an agenda for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission to recalibrate its regulatory approach toward cost-effective requirements across the company lifecycle, with an emphasis on facilitating capital formation alongside investor protection and market integrity. He highlighted recent steps including rescinding Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, removing Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L, exempting certain personally identifiable information from collection under the Consolidated Audit Trail, initiating a review of the Commission’s litigation posture on the climate-related disclosure rule, and establishing a crypto task force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. Uyeda said staff has been asked to explore targeted changes to the exempt offerings regime, including Regulation Crowdfunding, citing recommendations from the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation and compliance costs that can exceed 10% of a USD 5 million raise. He also directed staff to develop regulatory options to enable greater retail participation in private offerings, including potential modifications to the accredited investor definition and consideration of whether access should be provided directly or through pooled vehicles, with related Investment Company Act implications. To make IPOs more attractive and better align reporting burdens with issuer size, staff will review the emerging growth company definition and duration of eligibility, and consider whether filer category thresholds and overlapping definitions should be realigned and whether some disclosure rules should apply only to the largest companies. He noted that some potential changes may require legislative amendments and framed the initiatives as staff exploration and review work rather than adopted rule changes.