FIF has announced the fourth webinar in its series of eight. The webinar series has included three webinars thus far addressing the implementation considerations of the 898-page Rule. The panel discussions so far have focused on the rule overview, core data, consolidated market data, governance and pricing. The 4th panel is scheduled for Tuesday March 9 at 3 pm ET. This panel will focus on competing consolidators and will feature Scott Parsons of Exegy, Kerry Baker Relf of Refinitiv and a third panelist to be named later. Please register for this webinar here. After registering, you will...

At the request of FIF Members, FIF has created a Working Group to focus on interpretive and operational questions relating to Regulation SHO and potential areas where FIF Members might want to seek interpretive guidance. In order to join this group, update your working group subscriptions in your profile here: https://fif.com/index.php/profile. If you're having trouble, or forgot your password, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for assistance. If you have any specific issues or questions relating to Regulation...

During October 2018, FIF Members presented recommendations to the SEC staff for the modernization of Rule 605. These recommendations, which were developed through the FIF Rule 605 Working Group, were focused on updating Rule 605 to reflect market changes since the adoption of Rule 605 in 2000.  At the request of FIF Members, on February 25 FIF held a meeting for the FIF Rule 605 Working Group to discuss reviewing and updating these recommendations. The Working Group reviewed the proposals from October 2018 and agreed to proceed with updating the recommendations to present to...

On March 2, the FIF TRACE Working Group will meet to review a draft comment letter on a rule proposal by the Federal Reserve to expand TRACE reporting to certain depository institutions that are not broker-dealers. The comment letter is focused on the potential impact for broker-dealers that currently report to TRACE.

On February 25, FIF Members participated on a call with FINRA CAT and the Plan Participants to discuss CAIS reporting for authorized traders. Also, on February 25, the FIF CAT Co-Chairs participated on a call with FINRA CAT to discuss proposed Phase 2d changes relating to partial cancels, net price orders and the opening and closing of IDQS quotes.

A FIF Member has requested feedback from other FIF Members on the question below. If you have any information on this question, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Are member firms currently going through, or have gone through, the application process with ASIC regarding a foreign Australian Financial Services (AFS) License? The member firm is currently going through the application process and has a question regarding board member background checks. The member firm uses a background check vendor. The...

Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq Ventures and Band of America Merrill Lynch have invested $14 million in US start-up alternative trading system (ATS), PureStream Trading Technologies. The funding will support the upcoming launch of the ATS in the US, which aims to re-engineer the price and liquidity discovery process for institutional traders using open-ended liquidity transfer rates, such as those found in data networks. According to a story in The Trade news, the trading venue is expected to launch in the second quarter of this year – subject to regulatory approvals – and will enable institutional...

Displayed share at IEX Group has risen from 10% to 30% of total trading volume since it introduced a new order type last year, which the exchange said has demonstrated improved execution quality. IEX Exchange fully launched its D-Limit, discretionary limit order type, on October 1 last year after receiving approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a story in MarketsMedia news, Ronan Ryan, co-founder and president of IEX Group, said that the venue’s machine learning signal seeks to predict how the market is going to move in the next fraction of a second. D-Limit...

FIF CAT Tech Specs Working Group. The CAT Tech Specs Working Group reviewed and discussed new FAQ B71 relating to the TTS, TTF, TTO, TTU, FUT, TTSO, OPT and CMPX handlingInstructions. The Working Group reviewed and discussed the FINRA CAT Technical Specification Working Group call held on February 16. The Working Group continued its review of the Phase 2d CAT Technical Specifications and Reporting Scenario documents issued by FINRA CAT on February 5, including changes relating to route modification and cancel events, order identifiers for internal route events, the reporting of the number...