FIF has restructured its Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) and SEC Rule 606 (606) working groups to be consistent with its other working groups.  Going forward, the work of these groups will be led by co-chairs, with assistance of the FIF Program Office.  FIF anticipates that this restructuring will enhance the existing collaboration and information sharing between members as they deal with the many implementation and interpretative issues surrounding these topics.  We are pleased that the co-chairs are acknowledged as among the best Subject Matter Experts on these topics.  The new co-chairs are:

CAT

• Christopher Bok, OTC Markets Group
• Jeremy Kahn, Jane Street

606

• Mark Davies, S3

• John Jannes, IHS Markit

FIF would like to thank all those who attended the FIF CAT webinar on Thursday, July 23rd. Specific topics included interfirm linkage testing, production timelines, tools made available by FINRA CAT, Industry-centric challenges and operational enhancements.  Panelists included Shelly Bohlin, FINRA CAT; Josh Beaton, Morgan Stanley; Katie Madison, FINRA; Michael Brooks, Oppenheimer; and Gregg Berman, Citadel. Please find the recording of the webinar here.

As FIF's search for a new Director comes to a close, Andy White from Jordan & Jordan has stepped up to become the Interim Director of FIF until the final choice has been made. Andy is a Senior Compliance Executive at Jordan & Jordan and will bring a wealth of knowledge to our working group and committee calls during the next few weeks. As always, FIF will make sure to keep the community informed of any updates, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at fifinfo@fif.com. 

FIF will be hosting a CAT Roundtable on this Thursday, July 23rd at 3:00pm et focused on best practices associated with the upcoming CAT Phase 2a and Phase 2b linkage validations.  The webinar will feature speakers representing several industry and regulatory stakeholders.  Registration is open to both members and non-members. To register, please follow the link here.  

FIF will be meeting with SEC Staff on Wednesday, July 15 to discuss several remaining issues related to the implementation of Rule 606(a) and Rule 606(b).  FIF will discuss the outcome of that meeting during a subsequent meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 16 at 11:00am et.