Securities Exchange Act of 1934
The primary sources considered for this essay are:
1. congress, A. (2012). SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. Retrieved
from sec.gov: https://www.sec.gov/about/laws/sea34.pdf
2. Reuters, T. (1934). Find Law. Retrieved from Securities and Exchange Act
Rule 10b: http://consumer.findlaw.com/securities-law/securities-andexchange-act-rule-10b.html
3. Taylor, M. (2014). 17 CFR Part 240 - GENERAL RULES AND
REGULATIONS, SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. Retrieved from
Legal Information Institute: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/17/part-240#
Overview and Explanation.
Business transactions are conducted with the consideration of ethical approaches
in order to deliver sound and valid results. Through the influence of laws, statutes, and
regulations, the society is capable of reducing the chances of malicious business
dealings. The American federal government implemented the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 as a resolution to malpractices that ensued or would ensue from the securities'
market. It is argued that the act presents a protocol through which business transactions
concerning the secondary trading of securities should be conducted. The units of trade
encompassed by the act entail stocks, debentures, and bonds (Fox 1336). The study
seeks to reveal the influence of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as an item of
business law in the secondary market of securities in the USA market (congress, 2012).
Securities Exchanges and Securities Associations
The process involves intermediaries who act as specialists in the competitive
process of buying and selling the available stocks, bonds, or debentures. Therefore, they
inject liquidity as well as price continuity in the market. However, the introduction of the
act served to reduce the ill outcomes that would emanate from the intermediaries as it set
physical places, amount of capital, and other legal conditions of trading in the stocks
(Hanna and Turlington 259). The associations implemented through the Securities
Exchange Act issue precise regulations to control issuers in making their companies’
changes since the outcomes are capable of affecting the securities’ prices.
Furthermore, the associations provide antifraud provisions as implemented in the
act's Section 17. The development led to the implementation of the Section 10(b) in the
same year, which provided for the unlawful act of a person to be directly or indirectly
involved in the use of interstate or mailing instruments in the securities’ transactions. In
1948, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began to enact rules against fraud
in securities trading under the authority granted to it by the Securities and Exchange Act
of 1934.
The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 created the SEC, and Section 10b of the
Act gave the SEC the power to enact rules against "manipulative and deceptive practices"
in securities trading. The Act was passed in large part as a response to the stock market
crash of 1929, to provide more transparency in the secondary securities market.
Congress gave the SEC the authority and flexibility to create and revise rules, in
the hope that it could effectively deter and punish manipulative and deceptive practices
(termed "fraud" here for simplicity's sake). The anti-fraud regulations that the SEC created
are listed in subsections of Rule 10b. Note that these regulations continue to evolve; the
first one was created in 1948, the most recent was enacted in 2000, and amendments
were conducted in the year 2014 (Reuters, 1934).
The 1934 act stipulates that every constituent company listed in the stock
exchange must honor several requirements prior to their involvement. Primarily, the
companies must present registrations of any core securities listed therein. Furthermore,
the act compels the companies to disclose every accounting details as this would help in
ensuring security for the interested shareholders. The authorized bodies also account for
marginal outcomes of the companies’ products, proxy solicitations, and the auditing
processes.
The Congress perceived that the enforcement of full disclosure of information from
the companies would enhance trust between the issuer and the investor through the
markets. What is more, the Exchange Act is said to be capable of controlling the
securities' exchange markets and the groups of participants. Precisely, the act enforces
power over the brokers, the companies (issuers), and the industry associations. The act
establishes the grounds through which interstate commerce, mailings, and other
instrumentalities are set (Fox 1338). Secondly, the Congress’ decision expressed through
the act enables stocks prices to show uniformity in the USA and foreign markets. The act
reduces the extent at which the involved parties in each segment of securities’ exchange
may manipulate the prices.
The Congress outlined the Section 4 of the Exchanges Act as vital to enforce
regulations that would forecast and set directions in the threat of fluctuations in the
marketplace. Therefore, the section provides for the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) to issue the appropriate procedures that would eventually effect the
actual disclosure of information to the investors from the issuers. The SEC organization
provided by the Securities Exchanges Act of 1934 receives the participating companies’
periodic files. It responds to them through the EDGAR filing system, which is an onlinebased correspondence method (Patterson 213).
The SEC is a powerful unit since the act enables it to enforce jurisdiction to
fraudulent companies, which fail to present the actual information as set in the US
markets. Furthermore, the SEC is capable of issuing disciplinary acts to malpractices
presented by individuals and associated companies in the marketplace. The act also
enables the SEC to enforce other rules, which seem possible in correcting certain
obstacles in the securities exchange markets (Taylor, 2014).
The Federal Government presents a protocol through which the different classes
of companies operating in the exchanges markets would present information to the SEC.
For instance, Section 13(a) aids publicly registered firms to disclose their information to
the SEC as the “reporting companies” under the Exchanges Act. The act ensures that the
outlined companies present reports on annual, quarterly, and emergency reports.
Therefore, stakeholders receive updated information in a continuous process, which
reduces the chances of incurring losses, as they are capable of evaluating the processes
prior to purchasing.
What is more, the provision of Section 14(a), (b), and (c) enables the enforcement
of democracy in the companies’ election processes as the act ensures the disclosure of
information concerning the processes, and reduces the chances at which investors may
be influenced by certain parties to vote for certain groups of people (Strong 474). The
13th provisions of the Securities Exchange Act assist investors in making realistic
decisions concerning the sale of securities. Through it, the SEC inquires the disclosure
of information from the tender offeror and restrains the practice of engaging non-existing
parties in acts that may enable him to acquire over 5% of the provided stocks.
The SEC ensures that all trading parties in the American markets register and act
in accordance with the section’s provisions. For example, the New York Stock Exchange
is registered as a direct SEC company. Further, the NASDAQ electronic trading market is
also registered. Therefore, the registration process is a vital approach to ensuring that all
firms trading through the named companies disclose their information before engaging in
any transactions. The Sections 12(a) and (b) guarantee that the legal registration of all
securities minimizes the prevalence of ill motives in the American securities markets.
Moreover, the implementation of Sections 9, 10, and 18 and Rule 10(a) and (b) restrain
any fraudulent acts from occurring. However, whenever the fraudulent acts take place,
the SEC is mandated by the act to enforce legal measures to the guilty parties. The
process serves for the benefit of the organizations, individual shareholders, and trading
companies (Patterson 215). In the absence of the act, success would be limited and ill
practices would be unbearable.
Conclusion
The study highlights the various statutes that effect the application of the Securities
Exchanges Act of 1934. It is known that the USA is a global leader in the securities
exchanges markets. Therefore, the evaluation of the act about business practices avails
knowledge that the outcomes are born to the controllable approaches set in the
marketplace by the act. Notably, the SEC controls the markets’ dealings since the
implemented regulations subject all of the involved parties to engage in ethical practices
or forego their business’ dreams. Lastly, the act serves in ensuring economic growth since
companies engage in ethical transactions to avoid collision with the Federal
Government’s jurisdiction, loss in market share, and decline in the number of investors.
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