The National Securities Exchange Regulatory Parity Act (HR 5421) passed the House of Representatives yesterday on a voice vote. It previously was approved by the House Financial Services Committee on a vote of 47-12 last month.
The bill will alter how the SEC regulates exchanges. The bill would eliminate the specific references to the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the American Stock Exchange, and instead provide blue sky exemption for any security listed on a “national securities exchange” registered with the SEC, and whose listing standards have been approved by the SEC.
OTC Markets published a comment letter in support of the legislation calling the current approach outdated while describing HR 5421 as “a sensible adjustment that provides clarity in the present and, by using a standards-based approach, flexibility for the provision to retain its meaning into the future.”
Crowdfund Insider reached out to OTC Markets for a comment. Cromwell Coulson, CEO of OTC Markets, told us;
“When Congress included the Nasdaq market in Section 18 of the Securities Act of 1933, Nasdaq was not yet an exchange. The National Securities Exchange Regulatory Parity Act takes a sensible, standards-based approach that sets the stage for the SEC to consider parity among exchanges, alternative trading systems and other market operators.”