The upcoming amendments to SEC Rule 15c2-11 provide an exception from the issuer information requirements that allows for the display of an unsolicited customer order where the customer is not an insider or affiliate of the issuer. FIF members that are retail brokers have identified challenges in complying with this exception. If you are interested in participating on a call on this topic with other FIF members, please send a note to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

On August 10, 2021, FIF sent a survey to FIF members on Rule 605 for options. This is an opportunity for FIF members to provide input to the SEC before the SEC issues a rule proposal in this area. FIF requests that members provide their survey responses by end-of-day today. All responses are anonymized. The FIF Rule 605 Working Group will meet on September 14, 2021 to review the FIF member responses.

On September 23, 2021 at 11am ET, the FIF Reg SHO/Short Interest Reporting Working Group will discuss any final changes to the draft FIF comment letter on FINRA Regulatory Notice 21-19, “FINRA Requests Comment on Short Interest Position Reporting Enhancements and Other Changes Related to Short Sale Reporting”. The Working Group also will review draft requests for interpretive guidance relating to Short Interest Reporting.

FIF CAT Committee. The CAT Committee reviewed upcoming key dates for CAT, including testing and go-live for Phase 2d. The Committee reviewed FINRA CAT Alert 2021-03 relating to the transition to Phase 2d. The Committee highlighted the FINRA CAT business clock synchronization survey. The Committee reviewed the current issues of focus for CAT transaction reporting. The Committee reviewed the most recent set of updates to the Full CAIS Technical Specifications. The Committee reviewed the current issues of focus for CAT CAIS. FIF CAT Tech Specs Working Group. The CAT Tech Specs Working Group...

State Street Corporation and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for State Street to acquire BBH’s Investor Services business, including its custody, accounting, fund administration, global markets and technology services, for $3.5 billion in cash. Following the transaction, BBH will continue to independently own and operate its separate Private Banking and Investment Management businesses. The parties are targeting year-end 2021 to complete the acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Upon...

Cboe Europe, the pan-European exchange operator and subsidiary of Cboe Global Markets, Inc. announced the successful launch of Cboe Europe Derivatives ('CEDX'), a new Amsterdam-based futures and options marketplace. CEDX opened for trading on Monday, September 6, offering futures and options based on Cboe Europe single country and pan-European indices, and successfully executed and cleared its first trades. Contracts traded on CEDX are cleared at EuroCCP, Cboe's pan-European clearing house, allowing customers to benefit from efficiencies in trading and clearing. CEDX plans to add futures...

Nasdaq announced the launch of Nasdaq Data Link, a cloud-based technology platform that empowers all segments of the investing public with a comprehensive suite of core financial, fund and alternative data. The platform connects the global financial community to the information needed to generate alpha, manage risk and gain transparency into public and private markets. Nasdaq’s acquisition of Quandl in 2018 accelerated its vision to unify access to a broad portfolio of data and insights from across Nasdaq’s businesses and network of global partners, empowering users to efficiently discover...

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc (ICE) and ADP announced the launch of a new data service that helps investors better understand and assess the economic stability and creditworthiness of fixed income issuers in the U.S. municipal bond market. The new service links aggregated and anonymized human resources and compensation data from ADP directly to more than one million municipal bonds covered by ICE’s reference data service. This can allow municipal bond investors, and other market participants, to assess a wide range of dynamics that could impact a municipal issuer and supplement their...

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced the launch of its Sponsored General Collateral (GC) Service, a new offering from its Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) subsidiary. The new Sponsored GC Service allows Sponsoring Members and their Sponsored Member Clients to submit triparty repo transactions executed on a general collateral basis across U.S. Treasury securities, agency debentures and agency mortgage-backed securities collateral to central clearing. Users benefit from a reduction in operational and counterparty risk, potential balance sheet and capital...