Yesterday, IR Magazine posted an interview with Cromwell Coulson, CEO of OTC Markets Group. Coulson discussed the 10th anniversary of the OTCQX, crowdfunding, ‘red tape’, and the small-cap renaissance.

Below, we have summarized some of the highlight. For more, read “OTCQX: 10 years in the life of ‘a child of the internet age’” 

#QXturnsX:

“The original motivation to launch OTCQX was to offer a platform for companies trading on the firm’s marketplace that weren’t penny stocks or speculative”

“Today, OTCQX is considered an ‘established public market’ by the SEC and has achieved blue sky recognitionin 20 states. But the flat $20,000 annual fee plus $5,000 application fee for listing on OTCQX remains less than half the cost of Nasdaq’s lowest fee“

Red Tape:

Coulson sees the potential cutting back of regulation under the Trump administration as “a great opportunity”.

Coulson says “Regulation is not going away. It’s just about trying to figure out which 10 percent or 20 percent is causing 90 percent of the pain and doesn’t really deliver the benefits.”

“We need to make public offerings cost-effective and competitive for small public companies. It should not be that public companies prefer to raise their capital privately,” says Coulson.

Coulson says “if we get crowdfunding and online securities right, there is going to be a renaissance of small public companies and access to capital.“

Small-Cap IR:

OTC markets is taking a “three pronged” approach to help its issuers with IR.

1. Link with Seeking Alpha.

2. Morningstar ratings.

3. Research marketplace. 

Coulson also says; “We have been talking to some of the trade associations for regional investment bankers in the US and I think part of the regulatory push-back on separating research from investment banking has been a mistake for small and mid-cap companies,” he continues; “Hopefully, some regulatory changes will take place so we can have research be part of the investment banking process.”

Read the full interview HERE.