Washington, D.C., December 15, 2015 – The Equity Markets Association, a cooperative whose mission is to regularly provide policy makers, regulators and market participants with perspectives on important issues that impact the equity markets, launched today. The initial members of the Association are Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, the primary exchange venues in the United States for the listing and trading of approximately 5,000 public companies. In conjunction with the launch, the Association released its inaugural white paper focused on the role equity markets play and a discussion of key market structure issues.
The Association, based in Washington, D.C., is led by former Congressman Mike Ferguson of Ferguson Strategies, and Michael Williams of The Williams Group.
Serving in Congress from 2001 to 2009, Ferguson represented New Jersey’s 7th District and served on the Energy and Commerce Committee and House Financial Services Committee. He also worked on the drafting of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
In addition to holding senior public policy roles for Credit Suisse and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Williams served as Special Assistant to the President and Staff Director for Legislative Affairs during the Clinton Administration, where he was a key member of the White House team responsible for developing and implementing the Administration’s agenda on financial services, tax and international trade legislation.
“This Association will be an important voice on issues that impact the nation’s capital markets,” said Ferguson. “Exchanges play a unique role in the capital markets and EMA will now provide policy makers with exchange perspectives on important issues impacting investors, issuers and equity market intermediaries.”
“Exchanges are economic engines of our economy, vital to growth and job creation,” said Williams. “The EMA will allow us to share deeper insights with opinion leaders regarding the operation of the capital markets in the context of policy and regulation.”