Paul Atkins, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said his agency will propose a rule change following President Donald Trump's call to switch quarterly earnings reports to a semiannual schedule.

"I welcome that posting by the president, and I have talked to him about it," Atkins said on CNBC's " Squawk Box " Friday. "In principle, I think to propose change in what our rules are now, I think would be a good way forward, and then we'll consider that and move forward after that."

Atkins said if the rule change is approved, it will be left to companies to decide whether they switch to semiannual or stay with quarterly.

"For the sake of shareholders and public companies, the market can decide what the proper cadence is," he said.

Current regulations require publicly t

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