583 US firms went public under Trump, raised $208 bn: SEC

583 US firms went public under Trump: SEC

Washington, Aug 20

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins described the figures as evidence of a sharp revival in the American market for initial public offerings.

"Since Inauguration Day, 583 companies have gone public, and that's up 75 per cent compared to the final year and a half of the Biden administration," Atkins said at the White House.

"And those companies have raised an impressive $208 billion, and that's nearly four times the amount raised during the final year and a half of the previous administration," he said.

The SEC chairman did not provide a detailed breakdown of the figures during his remarks. He said the commission was reducing regulatory barriers that discourage privately held companies from listing their shares on public exchanges.

"We're making IPOs great again, to continue on your theme, by cutting red tape that discourages companies from going public," Atkins told Trump.

"So, that's just not incremental progress, that is a turnaround," he said.

The figures were presented during a White House event attended by leaders from major stock exchanges, financial technology companies and cryptocurrency platforms. The gathering preceded the first meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Innovation Advisory Committee.

Intercontinental Exchange founder Jeffrey Sprecher, whose company owns the New York Stock Exchange, credited Trump's trade, energy and tax policies with contributing to records in American markets.

"Your trade policies of fair trade to bring back jobs and businesses from overseas, your energy dominance policies to fuel the next generation of technology in the United States, um, your big, beautiful bill that created incentives for investments has, um, led to the records that you're hearing about in our stock markets," Sprecher said.

He also said the United States was recording a large number of new business formations. Sprecher urged regulators to review older rules without weakening the foundations of American financial markets.

"We're here to talk about how to evolve regulation so that we don't impede that progress," he said.

Atkins said the SEC was also seeking to give cryptocurrency businesses greater certainty when raising money through digital assets. He cited a proposed Crypto Assets Rule announced by the commission.

"Our proposal, the Crypto Assets Rule, would provide crypto entrepreneurs, like those here in this room, and job creators the certainty to raise capital in the United States using digital assets," he said.

Atkins said Congress should also pass the CLARITY Act, which is intended to establish a broader regulatory structure for digital assets.

Trump separately claimed that the US stock market had recorded 80 all-time highs during his current tenure. He said retirement accounts had also reached record levels.

"We've had 80 days where the stock market hit all-time highs," Trump said. "The 401(k)s are at record numbers."

— IANS