US SEC adopts final rules for holding foreign insiders accountable

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's top regulator on Friday said it had adopted final rules requiring disclosures of shareholdings and transactions by directors and officers of foreign companies traded in the United States, something Congress had mandated late last year.

The move adds to an apparently tightening regulatory environment for foreign companies in the United States. Last year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began a rulemaking process that could require many foreign companies to make more investor disclosures, closing what officials said had become a loophole that benefitted China in particular.

Under the rules adopted on Friday, top executives and board members of foreign private issuers who hold certain registered stock must begin disclosing their holdings and transactions by March 18 in compliance with the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act, the SEC said in a statement.

The law, adopted by Congress in December, eliminates what had been an exemption for insiders at foreign companies by requiring disclosures like those made by top officials at U.S. companies.