Data security, regulation spark investor confidence in US stock exchanges

Data security and regulatory oversight are the top factors contributing to rising investor confidence in U.S. stock exchanges, according to a Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) pulse poll released Tuesday.

Seventy percent of investors responding to the CAQ’s 2014 Main Street Investor Survey, which was released Oct. 9, said they have a great deal, quite a bit, or some confidence in stock exchanges. That was a jump of 15 percentage points from the 2013 survey.

“Our survey indicates extraordinary growth in investor confidence in stock exchanges,” CAQ Executive Director Cindy Fornelli said in a news release. The subsequent pulse poll released Tuesday “shows that the factors behind this increase go well beyond market performance.”

The CAQ is affiliated with the AICPA.

In the pulse poll of 375 investors, respondents said the following key factors are very important to investor confidence in exchanges:

• The security of the data that move through the exchanges (75%).
• The regulatory oversight of the major exchanges (59%).
• The longevity/stability of these exchanges (58%).
• How well stocks are performing on major U.S. exchanges (48%).
• The public companies that are traded on these exchanges (42%).
• The prestige of these exchanges (28%).

Investors are defined in the survey as adults over age 18 who are primary decision-makers in households with $10,000 or more in investments.

—Ken Tysiac (ktysiac@aicpa.org) is a JofA editorial director.