The Untold Story of Underwriting Compensation Regulation

Abstract

The Article examines the regulation of underwriting compensation by the Financial Industry Regulation Authority. Although the regulation dates back almost 50 years and impacts virtually every U.S. public offering of securities, its propriety has received zero attention from legal scholars. The Article fills the gap in the literature. In that regard, it provides a history and overview of the regulation and critiques its policy justifications. The Article finds the justifications deficient and the regulation’s costs conceivably quite large. Consequently, it contends that the regulation should be abolished.

Keywords: Underwriting Compensation, Corporate Financing Rule, FINRA

JEL Classification: K2, K22