Regarding the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, Bruce Aust, Executive V.P. of NASDAQ OMX, Global Client Group, provides the following statement: "NASDAQ OMX congratulates President Barack Obama for signing the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. This bill enacts the important recommendations from the IPO Task Force about how to help small companies access the capital markets. The JOBS Act will benefit the United States economy and help create jobs for Americans."
President Obama's signing of the JOBS Act brings to an end congressional debate about how small companies are treated by the regulatory system when they go public. It is now time for Congress to turn its attention to how the stocks of these and other small companies will actually trade in our equity markets. Our current securities laws apply the same trading regime to large-capitalization companies and small-capitalization companies. As the JOBS Act demonstrates, small companies can benefit from carefully crafted rules that apply to their narrow category of market capitalization. It is time to look for ways to help emerging growth and other smaller listed companies with innovative trading rules that will help liquidity and transparency, ultimately benefitting investors. NASDAQ OMX looks forward to engaging Congress, the SEC and investors on what we believe is an important discussion.