Full Disclosure: The SEC's Requirements Relating to Bank Holding Companies

Federal secur i t ies laws requ i re that investors in a pub l i c l y t r aded c o m p a n y be fu rn ished w i t h comp le te and t ime l y i n f o rma t i on a b o u t t he f i rm a n d its securi t ies. This ful l d isc losure c o n c e p t is cr i t ical to t he e f f i c iency of our capi ta l markets and t he p r o t e c t i o n of investors. Du r i ng t he 50 years s ince t he secur i t ies laws w e r e enac ted , t he Securi t ies and Exchange C o m m i s s i o n has dev e l o p e d a c o m p r e h e n s i v e d isc losure system as we l l as an e f fec t i ve e n f o r c e m e n t p rogram t o ensure c o m p l i a n c e w i t h that system. This art ic le wi l l rev iew general ly t h e commiss ion ' s present d isc losure system and w i l l discuss speci f ica l ly the requirements appl icable to the approx imate ly 800 bank h o l d i n g compan ies (BHCs) that f i le d isc losure d o c u m e n t s w i t h t he commiss ion .