The options market will see some changes and publicly traded companies can use “seasoned” broker dealers to dispense more information.
Those changes will occur in the bills passed during the latest round of mark-up in the Financial Services Committee become law.
The committee debated four bills– all of them passed- with two having a direct effect on the trading industry.
The first bill, H.R. 5749, and it is called the Options Market Stability Act; the bill was introduced by Republican Randy Hultgren from the State of Illinois.
Hultgren first introduced the bill on May 10, 2018.
The bill “requires the prudential regulators to implement a risk-adjusted approach to value centrally-cleared options as it relates to capital rules to better and more accurately reflect exposure and promote options market-making activity.” According to a statement issued by the Financial Services Committee.
That bill passed out of the committee by a vote of 54-0.
The second bill is H.R. 6035 and it is called the Streamlining Communications for Investors Act.
This bill was introduced by Representative Ted Budd who is a Republican from the State of North Carolina.
The bill directs “the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise SEC Rule 163(c) to allow a well-known seasoned issuer (WKSI) to authorize an underwriter or dealer to act as its agent or representative in communicating about offerings of the issuer’s securities prior to the filing of a registration statement.” According to the Financial Service Committee.
That bill had far more trouble, passing by a vote of 31-23.
“Today, the Committee is meeting to consider another important series of measures. These are designed to deal with market stability and security to the financing of illicit activities. These bills represent months of dedicated efforts by their sponsors, and I want to thank members on both sides of the aisle who continue to work hard to get these bills in front of the committee,” said Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from the State of Texas. “This committee will continue to be focused on achieving [3% economic growth] as well as security of our people.”
All four bills passed out of the House Financial Services Committee.
Mark-up is the part of the legislative process when a committee considers a bill, allowing for debate, amendments, before holding a vote.
The bills now head to the full House of Representatives and then they will repeat the same process in the Senate.
If these bills pass the Senate, then they need President Trump’s signature before becoming law.
