Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently testified to congress about the need for "comprehensive reform" in the financial system. Among some of the specifics he asked for are a regulator to oversee the financial system and hedge funds needing to register with the SEC.
The question of how this affects investor relations is more unclear of course. Changes like these probably will have little to no effect on short term IR practice. However, if the financial system is stabilized that is always good for firms looking to participate in the capital markets.
This raises the question of whether reforms more directly related to the practice of investor relations are coming. My guess is that we won't see any major changes for a while in reporting rules. There is just too much on the plate of regulators nowadays. Rather, news such as this needs to be most importantly viewed in terms of what this does for investor confidence.
It seems that the recent trouble caused by AIG and the over-leveraged investment banks has created an appetite for more regulation in the markets. Perhaps the recent uptrend in stock prices can be viewed somewhat as an agreement with Mr. Geithner's position.
Personally, I welcome changes like this. The sooner confidence can be restored, market efficiency will improve and the investor relations challenges facing many small pubic companies will become that much more manageable. Now is as good a time as ever to confront those challenges head-on.
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