U.S. Chamber Welcomes Growing Support for More Effective, Robust Capital Markets

Will Lead Efforts to Enact Necessary Changes to Bolster U.S. Competitiveness

WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue issued the following statement on the preliminary reports released today by The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation calling for more efficient and accessible U.S. capital markets:

"The committee being led by Hal Scott is making a valuable contribution to the debate on the proper legal and regulatory framework needed to make our capital markets the envy of the world. The independent, bipartisan Commission established by the Chamber late last year to thoroughly study these issues-The Commission on the Regulation of U.S. Capital Markets in the 21st Century-will issue its own report in March. It will consider the work of the Scott committee along with the views of many others it has collected over the past year.

"However, the end of our commission will mark the beginning of a concerted, aggressive, long-term program by the Chamber employing all of our significant assets. Our goal is clear: the most fair, efficient, transparent, and attractive capital markets system in the world. To achieve that, we'll need to make legislative, legal, and regulatory changes, including: modernizing the 70-year old regulatory framework governing our markets; eliminating duplicative and overlapping layers of regulation and enforcement that undermine efficiency; harmonizing our rules with our global trading partners; and preventing abuses of private securities litigation where individual shareholders lose and lawyers win.

"As the Scott committee's report indicates, there's a growing consensus among stakeholders on what must be done. The laws of nature say living things must adapt or die. The same is true of our capital markets. If we do not seize new opportunities and respond to new threats, our country's economy and standard of living will rapidly decline. The Chamber is taking the lead in preventing that from happening."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

www.uschamber.com

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