On December 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a staff report (the “Report”) on the definition of “accredited investor” set forth in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directs the Commission to review the accredited investor definition as it relates to natural persons every four years to determine whether the definition should be modified or adjusted. Staff from the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Economic and Risk Analysis prepared the Report in connection with the first review of the definition.

The Report examines the history of the accredited investor definition and considers comments on the definition received from a variety of sources, including public commenters, the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee and its Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. The Report considers alternative approaches to defining “accredited investor,” provides staff recommendations for potential updates and modifications to the existing definition and analyzes the impact potential approaches may have on the pool of accredited investors.

The primary recommendations of the Report are:

• The Commission should revise the financial thresholds, requirements for natural persons to qualify as accredited investors and the list-based approach for entities to qualify as accredited investors.
• The Commission should revise the accredited investor definition to allow individuals to qualify  as accredited investors based on other measures of sophistication besides their net worth and income.

The Report suggests detailed alternate approaches to implementing these recommendations.

The Commission is inviting members of the public to provide comments on the accredited investor definition, generally, and specifically on the staff recommendations contained in the Report, although a deadline for submitting comments has not been set.