Once an Indian investor’s money reaches the United States and is used to buy a stock or an ETF, the regulatory environment shifts.

From that point onward, the investment sits inside the US financial market system.

And the primary regulator overseeing that system is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC was established in 1934, after the market crashes and financial scandals that led to the Great Depression. Its mandate was straightforward: restore trust in financial markets by ensuring transparency and fair practices.

In many ways, the SEC plays a role similar to SEBI in India, but within the US market ecosystem.

The SEC regulates several key parts of the securities market, including:

• Public companies that issue shares to investors
  • Stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ
  • Investment funds, including mutual funds and ETFs
  • Brokerage firms and other market intermediaries

One of the SEC’s most important responsibilities is enforcing disclosure standards for listed companies.

Public companies in the US are required to regularly publish detailed information about their business and financial performance. This includes quarterly and annual filings such as:

• Form 10-K – the annual financial report
  • Form 10-Q – quarterly financial updates
  • Form 8-K – disclosures about major events affecting the company

These filings contain audited financial statements, management discussions, risk disclosures, and other information that investors use to evaluate a business.

Because these disclosure rules apply uniformly across the market, investors anywhere in the world can access the same information when analysing US-listed companies.

The SEC also monitors market integrity. It investigates insider trading, accounting fraud, market manipulation, and other violations of securities laws.

What the SEC does not do, however, is guarantee investment outcomes.

A company can still perform poorly. Stock prices can still fall. Entire sectors can go through long cycles of underperformance.

The SEC’s role is to ensure that the rules of the market are followed and information is disclosed properly, so investors can make decisions based on transparent and reliable data.

Alongside the SEC, there is another institution that plays a very important role in the US regulatory structure — particularly when it comes to brokers and brokerage firms.

That is FINRA, which oversees the conduct of broker-dealers operating in US markets.