The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a series of recommendations aimed at reforming various aspects of U.S. capital markets. The recently released report outlines goals of supporting U.S. capital markets, promoting economic growth, increasing access to capital and investment opportunities, protecting the Treasury market and modernizing regulatory structures. Specific recommendations include revisiting the "accredited investor" definition in an effort to open private markets to more investors, decreasing the Treasury market's regulatory data gaps (particularly with respect to principal trading firms), modifying underwriting criteria for certain assets that back securitizations in order to exempt sponsors from risk retention requirements and limiting the imposition of substantive new requirements via guidance or no-action letters instead of by notice and comment rulemaking. For more information, see https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/2017-044856_CAPITALMRKTS_factsheet_v1%20FINAL-FINAL.pdf.

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