U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission Adopts New Policy Statement On Mandatory Issuer

On September 17, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a policy statement announcing that, when considering a request by a company to accelerate the effectiveness of its registration statement, the Commission’s decision will not be affected by whether the company has a provision in its governing documents requiring arbitration of investor claims under the federal securities laws. SEC Policy Statement, https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/policy/33-11389.pdf . The policy statement reverses a long-standing policy of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance that effectively prohibited the inclusion of mandatory arbitration provisions in the governing documents of companies seeking to go public. The policy was based on the Division’s assessment that it was not able to determin