How Global Firms Can Safely Access U.S. Markets

For investment bankers based outside of the U.S., accessing the U.S. capital markets presents a lucrative $115 trillion opportunity in annual securities trading in U.S. equity markets.

This is a potentially huge market for global bankers, but also introduces significant challenges, with respect to regulatory, operational, and financial barriers that non-U.S. bankers generally have in order to access U.S. markets.

This raises a pressing question: "How can non-U.S. firms effectively access the U.S. capital markets?"

Understanding these challenges is essential to making informed decisions that protect and grow your business. This blog post examines the critical barriers faced by non-U.S. bankers and offers a streamlined solution for compliant and efficient access to the U.S. capital markets, enabling you to overcome these hurdles and capitalize on new opportunities.

Chaperoning Pain Points in Accessing U.S. Capital Markets

Non-U.S. firms looking to engage in the U.S. capital markets often face significant regulatory and compliance challenges. These include navigating unfamiliar regulatory frameworks, complex supervision requirements, and adhering to stringent rules for cross-border transactions. To overcome these hurdles, many firms turn to chaperoning solutions that offer a "soft landing" into the U.S. markets under SEC Rule 15a-6, ensuring full regulatory compliance and reducing risks during the entry process.

What is SEC Rule 15a-6?

SEC Rule 15a-6, known as the "Foreign Broker-Dealer Chaperoning Rule," allows non-U.S. broker-dealers and financial institutions to do business with U.S. institutional investors without registering as U.S. broker-dealers. To stay compliant, these foreign firms must partner with a U.S. registered broker-dealer — known as a chaperone — who helps oversee and facilitate their transactions. This rule ensures cross-border deals follow U.S. regulations while giving foreign firms streamlined access to U.S. markets.

Benefits for Global Bankers

For non-U.S. investment bankers and dealmakers, chaperoning provides a streamlined, compliant pathway to access U.S. capital markets without needing to obtain extensive licensing. This allows them to capitalize on U.S. market opportunities and access untapped financial resources for dealmaking, with payments processed directly to their corporate accounts — simplifying financial transactions. This solution helps reduce the burden of regulatory complexities while enabling faster entry into the market.

How can Finalis help you?

Finalis is the leading broker-dealer chaperone service in the U.S. market, currently partnering with over 30 active firms, 150 bankers, and 70 deals in progress.

Our platform offers the most comprehensive and secure tech-enabled registration environment for foreign firms entering the U.S. capital markets. With Finalis, non-U.S. investment banks, placement agencies, M&A advisors and other intermediaries can legally and compliantly engage with institutional buyers, access deal flow, and offer execution services.

The future of chaperoning at Finalis

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The future of chaperoning at Finalis is focused on innovation and scalability. With the growing demand for international transactions and increasing regulatory scrutiny, Finalis is supercharging its platform by integrating advanced AI-driven compliance tools. These enhancements will streamline due diligence, reporting, and real-time regulatory updates, ensuring that clients can remain compliant with evolving rules while expanding their operations globally. Finalis is also poised to further open the U.S. capital markets, enabling global projects to secure funding compliantly and seamlessly.

Ready to get started?

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Book a call with our growth team to begin your journey with the fastest-growing dealmaking platform and unlock new market opportunities.