More exchanges embrace Sarbox-like rules

The frisson was palpable in Europe when the NYSE-Euronext and Nasdaq-LSE deals were being debated. The big fear--and I mean big--was that any such merger would facilitate the export of Sarbanes-Oxley to Europe. There was much activity to ensure that would never happen. The LSE has gotten some marketing traction out of the issue, to be sure. Despite all this, the clear trend worldwide is to adopt more Sarbox-like conventions. India, Mexico, Israel are just some of the countries moving in this direction. So in some ways, the U.S. is leading the world in the area of governance and shareholder rights. We'll see how all this plays out in Europe. This is a fairly hot topic for the EU, which certainly wants a system that meshes well with the U.S. Stay tuned. I maintain that the "regulatory advantage" touted by LSE's AIM was a bit overblown.

For more:
- here's the Investment Dealers' Digest article (For FierceFinance readers)
- check out FierceSarbox