• The head of the SEC says more needs to be done to make it easier for companies to go public.
• Jay Clayton says his office is taking a “fresh look” at allowing Main Street investors access to the private capital markets.

The head of the SEC says more needs to be done to make it easier for companies to go public and that his office is taking a “fresh look” at allowing Main Street investors access to the private capital markets.

In a speech to the Economic Club of New York on Monday, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said the lack of more IPOs and the inability of most of the Main Street investing public to access private markets was a “growing concern.”

Clayton addressed what he called the “two segments” in capital markets: the public markets, and private ones, including private equity and venture capital investments.

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“Twenty-five years ago, the public markets dominated the private markets in virtually every measure,” he said. “Today, in many measures, the private markets outpace the public markets, including in aggregate size.”

Clayton wants to make the public capital markets (IPOs) more attractive for companies, and expand opportunities for Main Street investors to participate in the private markets. The SEC, Clayton says, is making efforts to modernize financial disclosure rules and to recognize that one size does not fit all, permitting what he calls “scaled disclosures.”

He expressed concern that the Main Street investor for the most part does not have access to private markets, noting that the cost of including individual investors in private offerings is “high.”

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