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New Penny Stock Listing Rules Require Executive Certifications

By John Kester
Reporter
May 2, 2014, 4:09 PM ET
http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2014/05/02/new-penny-stock-listing-rules-require-executive-certifications/

Chief executives and chief financial officers of some U.S.-listed penny stock companies are set to start signing off on their corporate information, signaling a corporate governance upgrade for some of the nation’s tiniest companies.

Due to new listing standards implemented by OTC Markets’ Venture Stage Marketplace this week, the companies, which include early and development-stage firms, will be required to have their executives certify annually that their results are up-to-date in order to stay listed on that exchange. Those companies will also need to trade at a minimum of $0.01 per share, and make more information available to investors.

CEOs and CFOs of large public companies have had to sign certifications on corporate results since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

OTC is implementing the new requirements “to improve transparency” and keep out businesses especially prone to involvement with “nefarious” characters, the company said in an e-mail to listed companies. It aims to emulate similar venture exchanges in Canada and London that specialize in listing early-stage companies.

Some OTC companies wanted to trade on an exchange with “moderately high standards,” OTC said. The company still operates its Pink exchange which has no listing standards.

More than 3,000 securities trade on the OTC’s Venture Stage Marketplace, and the exchange is removing companies that don’t meet the new requirements.

The $0.01 minimum share price is designed to eliminate those companies most prone to “stock fraud schemes or promotions,” OTC said. “Any company that has traded below a penny for any length of time is not creating value for its shareholders,” it said.

Write to John Kester at [e-mail].

http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2014/05/02/new-penny-stock-listing-rules-require-executive-certifications/