U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins announced that he intends to leave the SEC following the end of his term.

Appointed in August 2002 for the first of two terms, he plans to stay until his successor is appointed and takes office. During his almost six years in office, Atkins has advocated greater transparency and cost-benefit analysis in the SEC rulemaking process. He has championed rulemaking designed to make disclosure documents for mutual funds and corporations more straightforward and user-friendly, foreign investment more accessible to U.S. investors seeking to diversify their portfolios, and raising capital easier for small businesses.

The SEC noted that Atkins has reached out to foreign regulators, companies, and investors to understand their perspectives, to address their concerns, and to foster cooperative enforcement efforts for the protection of investors worldwide. During his tenure as a commissioner, he has traveled to Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, Mexico, and South America. His efforts have led to significantly increased cooperation with foreign regulators and financial organizations and to a rationalization of SEC regulations so that they coordinate effectively with rules of other countries. These efforts have helped to encourage foreign companies to invest, as well as list their securities, in the U.S., it said.

“Over the course of two decades, Commissioner Atkins has worked energetically to ensure that the administration of the nation’s securities laws is fair, efficient, and transparent,” said SEC chairman Christopher Cox. “He has worked with five chairmen to advance the causes of investor protection and the improvement of our capital markets… And as a result of his exceptional devotion to ensuring that the costs of regulation are kept in line with its benefits, the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 has been rationalized with benefits for investors and companies alike.”