ASA Applauds SEC’s Hard Line with China

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the American Securities Association (ASA) CEO Chris Iacovella issued the following statement in support of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler for continuing to hold Chinese companies accountable as audit negotiations dwindle.

“ASA applauds Chairman Gensler for continuing to take a hard line with China to protect investors, the integrity of our markets, and our national security interests. Any Chinese company refusing to submit itself to basic regulatory scrutiny must be removed from trading in our markets,” ASA CEO Chris Iacovella said. “The law is clear—Chinese companies unwilling to comply with U.S. laws cannot have access to American capital. The sooner these companies are removed from our markets, the better off American investors will be.”

For years, ASA has been at the forefront of advocacy to end China’s fraud on our markets, including ASA CEO Iacovella’s op-ed laying out the risks of Chinese access to U.S. capital markets. ASA praised unanimous Senate passage of the bipartisan Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act and commended the SEC for adoption amendments to finalize rules related to the bill. ASA applauded the Biden Administration for issuing an Executive Order banning American investment in companies financing Communist China and called on Congress to further strengthen investor protections to remove fraudulent Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges more quickly.

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