FIF Webinar on Electronic Communications Compliance. FIF hosted a webinar on Electronic Communications Compliance on Tuesday May 19. The moderator for the webinar was Holly Dito of Daiwa. The panelists were Meredith Abrams of the Simpson Thacher law firm, Thoreau Bartmann of the K&L Gates law firm, Rajni Chidambaram of Interactive Brokers, and Donald McElligott of Global Relay. FIF would like to thank the moderator and panelists for their participation on the webinar and the informative and timely discussion. Regulatory Implementations Calendar. FIF hosted a joint call for the SEC...

FINRA Margin Rule Amendments; FINRA Proposed Amendments to Short-Interest Reporting. FIF hosted a joint call for the Short Sales / Reg SHO / Short Reporting Working Group and the Compliance and Surveillance Working Group to discuss (i) the SEC’s approval of amendments to FINRA’s margin rules (FINRA Rule 4210), and (ii) a rule filing by FINRA to amend short interest reporting (FINRA Rule 4560; proposed FINRA Rule 4321).  Rule 605 Working Group. The Rule 605 Working Group discussed issues and questions from FIF members relating to the Rule 605 annual notice requirement as applied to...

TRACE / RTRS Working Group. The TRACE/RTRS Working Group discussed a recent rule filing by FINRA to expand the TRACE affiliate indicator to cover transactions with affiliated broker-dealers. The Working Group discussed reporting of the Series (.S) modifier to TRACE. The Working Group discussed a recent call with the MSRB relating to direct reporting of munis. Rule 605 Working Group. The Rule 605 Working Group discussed Rule 605 reporting for not held IOC orders. The Working Group discussed Rule 605 reporting for various customer facilitation and internal execution scenarios. The Working...

Data and Technology Committee. The Data and Technology Committee reviewed capacity, latency and volume data for the prior month for the equity, options, currency, crypto and futures markets. The spotlight presenter was Adrian Griffiths, who discussed the upcoming launch of the MX2 Exchange for options trading. Please find the meeting materials here and the full capacity statistics report here.  Rule 605 Working Group. The Rule 605 Working Group discussed final edits to an FIF letter to the SEC relating to the upcoming Rule 605 amendments. Two FIF members presented to the Working...

Rule 605 Working Group. FIF hosted two calls this past week for the Rule 605 Working Group. The Working Group continued its discussion of the updated Rule 605 FAQs recently published by the SEC. The Working Group discussed at draft FIF letter to the SEC relating to the updated Rule 605 FAQs and the recent exemptive order granted by the SEC.   Front Office Committee. The Front Office Committee reviewed applicable updates and notices from the SEC, FINRA, FINRA CAT and the equity and option exchanges. The spotlight presenter was Dmitri Galinov of 24X Exchange, who discussed the...

Back Office Committee. The Back Office Committee reviewed applicable FICC, DTC, NSCC, SEC, MSRB, OCC, IRS and FINRA updates during the past month. Please find the meeting materials for the 4/14 meeting here.

Rule 605 Working Group. This past week FIF hosted three calls for the Rule 605 Working Group. The Working Group continued its discussion of the Rule 605 FAQs published by the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, and the exemptive order granted by the SEC, on April 1. 24x7 Trading Working Group. The Working Group discussed a comment letter submitted by the SIPs relating to the launch date for extended SIP operating hours. The Working Group discussed the rule filing by NSCC relating to extended trading hours and related notice and FAQ documents published by DTCC. The Working Group...

Data and Technology Committee. The Data and Technology Committee reviewed capacity, latency and volume data for the prior month for the equity, options, currency, crypto and futures markets. The spotlight presenter was John Willock of Blue Ocean, who discussed the current state of overnight market data and planned SIP changes for the upcoming expansion of exchange trading hours. Digital Asset Securities Working Group. Shawn Sloves, CEO of Fundamental Interactions, presented to the Digital Asset Securities Working Group on the Clarity Act and distributed exchanges (DEXs). The Working...

24x7 Trading Working Group. The 24x7 Trading Working Group continued its discussion of a draft FIF letter to FINRA proposing that FINRA provide interpretive guidance and exemptive relief relating to the support of low-touch trading outside of regular U.S. business hours. The Working Group discussed a revised draft issues list relating to the planned expansion of exchange trading, including short sale locate requirements, TRF reporting, off-exchange trading, corporate actions and dividends. Trump Accounts Working Group. The Working Group discussed issues and questions from FIF members...