While it is a worthy objective to protect prospective investors from difficult to perceive or understand risks of investments having greater than usual complexity, the history of regulations limiting certain investment categories to investors of higher net worth or sophistication has largely served to deny the broader population access to higher potential returns that the favored might enjoy. Liberalizations such as Regulation Crowdfunding have proved a great success at broadening access to opportunities. New regulations going in the other direction seem like an inadvisable move backwards. Surely improved regulations regarding disclosure and education could accomplish the desired purpose without locking people out from opportunities.
James Edlin Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08
While it is a worthy objective to protect prospective investors from difficult to perceive or understand risks of investments having greater than usual complexity, the history of regulations limiting certain investment categories to investors of higher net worth or sophistication has largely served to deny the broader population access to higher potential returns that the favored might enjoy. Liberalizations such as Regulation Crowdfunding have proved a great success at broadening access to opportunities. New regulations going in the other direction seem like an inadvisable move backwards. Surely improved regulations regarding disclosure and education could accomplish the desired purpose without locking people out from opportunities.