The special relationship stockbrokers enjoy with the companies whose stock is the bread and butter of their business is under attack. Rules passed this week in the US will bar companies from disclosing material information selectively to brokerage analysts and institutional investors unless they simultaneously make the information available publicly.

In addition, any information accidentally disclosed would have to be published, probably within 24 hours, to the public in general.

The changes proposed by the all-powerful Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledge the power of information and the need for its wider dissemination in a world where day trading and execution-only trading mean individual investors are making decisions for themselves on the value of companies and their stock. In such an environment, the more traditional relationship between companies, analysts and institutional investors are no longer appropriate. The present rules were put in place at a time when all trading was done through stockbrokers, who provided a full advisory service to private clients.

SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, who put forward the changes, said: "If investors see a stock's price change dramatically - but are given access to critical market-moving information only much later - we risk nothing less than the public's faith and confidence in America's capital markets."

There are times the SEC gets a lot of stick over its rules. Even in this instance, the changes have been fought tooth and nail by the Securities Industry Association, a leading industry group in the US. It's nice to know that even in the US, where the market is king, the regulator can still stand up for the little people against industry self-interest. Lessons here for our own financial services regulator, should one ever emerge?