NEW RULE LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD.

• Position: Brief Article

To address what it saw as unfair information distribution practices, the SEC's rule on financial disclosure, Regulation FD, went into effect Oct. 23. The rule prohibits companies from giving information to institutional investors and stock analysts before sharing it with individual investors. "Analysts were getting information at closed-door meetings that individual investors were excluded from," says Karen Hanson Wellman, deputy assistant district administrator for enforcement with the SEC's San Francisco District office. "This rule requires companies to make intentional disclosures, simultaneously, to all investors."

Wellman says 5,000 comment letters the SEC received during Regulation FD's review process were strongly in favor of it, particularly those from individual investors. "There were some negative...