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The Data Coalition and seven other financial and technology organizations today sent a letter to the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives requesting that the committee convene a hearing on the need for regulatory agencies to modernize the way they collect information from public companies, banks, markets, and financial firms.

Today the Data Coalition announced its 2017 Policy Agenda, which summarizes advocacy priorities for the start of the Trump Administration and the 115th Congress. The Coalition, which represents 36 leading technology and consulting firms, is the nation’s only open data trade association.

In April, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a 341-page Concept Release exploring the future of corporate disclosure in the United States. Yesterday the Data Coalition responded. This is the Coalition’s third major appeal for the SEC to transform its disclosure system.

Today the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is allowing public companies to file their financial statements in the inline XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) open data format, effective immediately.

This brand-new video explains how the Financial Transparency Act (H.R. 2477) will transform financial regulation - and bring powerful new tools for the investors, companies, and researchers who use the valuable data collected by financial agencies.

Why does the Data Transparency Coalition support the adoption of consistent data formats, such as XBRL, throughout regulatory reporting? If regulatory agencies standardized the information they collect, software could automate reporting, replacing layers of lawyers with lines of code - and the cost of compliance would drop. This is already happening in the Netherlands. Here's how.

Washington, D.C. - Financial expert Allan Mendelowitz today estimated that if U.S. financial regulatory agencies adopted consistent data formats for the information they collect, instead of using today’s document-based reports, a typical large investment firm could save "20 to 30 percent of operating expenses, or $200 to $300 million annually,” with similar savings across the whole financial industry.

Last spring, we celebrated when Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. Mike Quigley, and several other bipartisan cosponsors introduced the Financial Transparency Act (H.R. 2477). The Financial Transparency Act, now cosponsored by nearly 30 Members of the House of Representatives.

The SEC has invited government, industry, and the public to submit comments on how the agency can improve the effectiveness of its corporate disclosure system. Our Coalition submitted a sixteen-page formal comment letter on October 29, 2015. Our prescription to fix the SEC’s disclosure system can be summarized in two words: structured data.

Open data experts from across the country convened in Washington, DC last week for Data Transparency 2015. The program, featuring more than 50 speakers, focused on the need for standardization and publication of government data. If Pope Francis-induced traffic kept you from trekking downtown for DT2015, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with the top 5 takeaways.