Arabic version: هيئة الأوراق المالية والبورصات توافق على خطط لتوسيع وصول الأفراد إلى الأسواق الخاصة

According to Cnbc, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved plans intended to widen individual investors’ access to private markets. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said demand for private-market opportunities is growing and that exposure to “one of the great engines of American enterprise” should not be reserved for the wealthiest or those considered the most sophisticated.

The proposals would expand the number and types of ways individuals can qualify as accredited investors. Atkins said one of his priorities is to explore ways to help individual investors participate in private markets while protecting them from bad actors and fraud.

The SEC’s plans also include allowing registered investment advisers to charge performance fees of up to 20% in retail-focused products. That level is comparable to fees historically used in hedge funds and the alternatives sector, and is intended to attract more private-asset managers to the retail wealth market.

The Trump administration has sought to ease regulatory guardrails on private markets and broaden access for ordinary investors. In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” allowing Americans to place more retirement-plan money into private equity and other alternatives.

Retail expansion has also drawn scrutiny over liquidity. Some semi-liquid private-credit business development vehicles received a surge of redemption requests earlier this year as investors sought withdrawals over concerns about risky software debt. Blue Owl Capital paused regular quarterly cash redemptions in its U.S. retail-focused Blue Owl Capital Corporation II fund in February. Blackstone and Apollo also received repurchase requests above their funds’ quarterly limits.