SEC opens access to financial data

In an effort to boost investor access to issuers’ financial disclosure, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released tools for developers to help collect and utilize data from regulatory filings.

The SEC released application programming interfaces (APIs) that aggregate data from financial statements for the first time.

The regulator said the tools will make it faster and easier for developers and others to access corporate data from quarterly and annual reports, among other filings.

“These new APIs make important information about public companies more accessible and usable than ever before,” said Jed Hickman, director of the SEC’s EDGAR (electronic data gathering, analysis and retrieval) Business Office.

The availability of APIs will also enable developers to create apps for retail investors.

“This marks another important milestone in the SEC’s continuing efforts to facilitate innovation and make financial disclosure data accessible to all market participants,” Hickman added.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.