FT: NYSE pushes for shorter disclosure period

07 February 2013

NYSE Euronext has asked regulators to force large investors to disclose their stock holdings far sooner, in the name of greater transparency and improved corporate governance.

In a move that re-opens broader discussions on disclosure, including a contentious attempt to force stricter rules on activist investors, NYSE said investors are denied the ability to track the movements of large and influential investors through the markets, while companies lack timely information about their shareholders.

It is more than a year since the SEC said it would begin a broad review of reporting rules pertaining to so-called beneficial ownership. Regulatory fillings from big investors are keenly awaited by market watchers looking to follow in the footsteps of market gurus, while such investors prefer to avoid alerting the market to their intended trades.

Activists opposed the move, and gained a reprieve last year when the weight of rulemaking required by Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation forced the SEC to put off any changes.

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