New guidance from the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) aims to establish an approach to allowing firms to use electronic documents and signatures when they raise funds from investors.
The umbrella group of state and provincial regulators on Monday published a proposed policy on the use of electronic offerings, and electronic signatures, for public comment. The comment period runs until Nov. 2.
According to a notice from NASAA, advances in securities industry technology are making it “increasingly important” for regulators to ensure the appropriate use of technology when conducting a securities offering. The proposed policy seeks to enable regulators to establish uniform guidelines to govern these sorts of initiatives and to streamline the process for industry participants.
The proposed policy sets out the requirements and restrictions that should apply to an issuer that launches an electronic initiative, such as providing offering documents and/or subscription agreements electronically, or allowing documents to be executed using an electronic signature.