The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday finalized rules relating to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) which would allow it to delist foreign firms from American exchanges if they fail to observe U.S. accounting rules and comply with requests for information from regulators. The bipartisan legislation was signed into law by former President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2020, and would see foreign companies delisted from U.S. exchanges if they fail to comply with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) audits for three consecutive years. It was adopted after Chinese regulators repeatedly blocked overseas regulators, including PCAOB, which was created in 2002, and SEC, from inspecting full audit reports of publicly traded companies headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, citing national security and privacy. “The purpose is not to de-list any company, but to persuade China to allow the audit oversight that U.S. investors need, and the U.S. investors get when investing in U.S. companies or …