Part II The Transatlantic Dialogue, 5 Cultivating the US Overseas Market

Subject(s):

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — Financial regulation

This chapter details how the United States introduced a trio of regulatory initiatives which represented a turning point in international capital markets. The growing significance of international markets could no longer be ignored nor left to the regulatory hinterlands. The first two initiatives, Regulation S and Rule 144A (under the US 1933 Act), have become standard features of virtually all international capital raisings. Although very different in conception and operation, they are fraternal twins, both responses to a 1987 United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report on internationalization. They were considered and adopted by the SEC on the same day in April of 1990. The third initiative, the creation of a Multijurisdictional Disclosure System (MJDS) between Canada and the United States, is a younger sibling, conceived in the same flurry of interest in international markets, but making its appearance a year later.