SEC chair moves to boost IPO momentum: ‘Make it cool to be a public company’

SEC Chair Paul Atkins urged reforms to make public listings more attractive, identifying three barriers—lengthy disclosures, securities litigation (he backed allowing state-permitted bylaws for arbitration and loser‑pays fee shifting and said SEC staff will not block IPOs for including them), and activist investor politics—and said related proposals could take most of next year to move through the regulatory process. The push comes as IPO activity has rebounded in 2025: S&P reports 102 U.S. IPOs in H1 versus 78 a year earlier, Q2 saw 59 IPOs raising about $15 billion (up from 45 and $11.2 billion in Q1), and EY notes Q3 included 23 U.S. deals of $100m+ with five IPOs topping $1bn; technology, media and telecoms accounted for roughly one‑third of deals and more than half of proceeds. If enacted, the regulatory changes Atkins proposes could lower costs and litigation risk for issuers and help sustain the current IPO revival into 2026, but the outlook depends on the pace and scope of rulemaking and whether disclosure burdens and governance risks are meaningfully reduced.

Analysis

At the AICPA conference SEC Chair Paul Atkins urged reforms to make public listings more accessible, identifying three issuer obstacles: lengthy, expensive disclosures; securities litigation; and what he termed "politicized shareholder activists." He explicitly supported allowing companies, where state law permits, to adopt bylaws mandating arbitration and "loser pays" fee-shifting and said SEC staff will no longer block an IPO solely because such measures are included, adding, "If the state allows it, then that will be fine with us." Atkins expects related policy proposals to take most of next year to move through the regulatory process.

The regulatory push is coinciding with a material IPO rebound in 2025: S&P reports 102 U.S. IPOs in H1 2025 versus 78 in H1 2024, Q2 had 59 IPOs raising about $15 billion (up from 45 IPOs and $11.2 billion in Q1), and EY notes Q3 included 23 U.S. deals of $100 million+ including five IPOs each raising over $1 billion. Technology, media and telecommunications accounted for roughly one-third of transactions and more than half of total proceeds, and overall 2025 deal count and capital raised have already surpassed full-year 2024.

If enacted, the proposals could materially reduce disclosure and litigation costs for issuers and help sustain IPO momentum into 2026, particularly benefiting sectors that attracted the most capital this year. The immediate statement that SEC staff will not block IPOs over such bylaws lowers a procedural hurdle, but final market impact depends on state-law variance, the detail of any rulemaking, and potential investor pushback.

Investors should therefore track the pace and scope of SEC rulemaking and monitor issuance quality and governance responses as leading indicators of whether the 2025 revival becomes durable into 2026.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Consider selective allocation to high-quality 2025/2026 IPOs—especially in TMT where about one-third of deals generated more than half of proceeds—while prioritizing companies with clear paths to profitability and conservative governance structures
• Monitor SEC rulemaking and state-law developments on arbitration and loser-pays provisions and be prepared to increase exposure modestly if final rules materially reduce litigation risk and issuance costs
• Maintain disciplined underwriting and secondary-market assessment: avoid indiscriminate participation in frothy deals and require expanded due diligence on disclosure quality given the administration's focus on reducing disclosure burdens
• Hedge governance and reputational risk via position sizing or defensive instruments and be prepared to reallocate capital if activist backlash or adverse legal outcomes create volatility