The conventional wisdom in America these days is that US financial markets are overregulated, overlitigated and generally unable to compete in a world where companies and investors have lots of choices.

Everyone from Alan Greenspan to the US Chamber of Commerce has recently urged change, and earlier this week the Securities and Exchange Commission took a big step towards rendering US markets more attractive to foreign companies by making it easier for them to escape compliance with the restrictions imposed by Messrs Sarbanes and Oxley.