FIF has formed a CAT Working Group focused on CAT CAIS. We are pleased to announce that Will Leahey of Refinitiv and Jacki Van Moer of Goldman Sachs have agreed to act as Co-chairs for the new FIF CAT CAIS Working Group. The first meeting of this Working Group will be this Thursday, September 3rd at 11 am ET. The invite for the CAT CAIS Working Group meetings has been sent to participants who have previously signed-up for the CAT CAIS Working Group. If you are interested in participating in this Working Group and have not yet signed-up, please update your profile here or email This email...

FIF CAT Committee -  The FIF CAT Committee summarized the FIF CAT Tech Spec meetings of the week and any important initiatives coming out of FINRA CAT. FIF TRACE Working Group - The group focused on FINRA's proposed changes to the TRACE reporting rules that were recommended by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee. The proposed changes would require firms to: (1) identify in TRACE corporate bond trades where the price of the trade is based on a spread to a benchmark Treasury security that was agreed upon earlier in...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the proposed Discretionary Limit, or D-Limit, order type from exchange operator IEX Group as three new exchanges are also slated to launch within the next month. IEX said the purpose of the D-Limit order type is to protect liquidity providers from potential adverse selection resulting from latency arbitrage trading strategies, and to encourage members to submit more displayed limit orders to the exchange.

Swiss exchange operator SIX Group has commenced planning for the integration of the Spanish stock exchange Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) following its €2.8 billion acquisition. SIX stated that the ongoing operational and strategic integration of BME will be a focus for the exchange throughout the rest of the year. “The integration of BME and SIX, two leaders in their domestic financial markets, creates a more diversified group with a strong presence across Europe, making it the third largest European financial market infrastructure group, and the 10th largest globally by revenue,” SIX...

BNY Mellon’s Pershing announced integrations with CAIS and iCapital Network, two prominent alternative investment platform sponsors, through its enterprise-wide Application Program Interface (API) Store. Pershing has offered access to alternative investments through its Alternative Investment Network for more than 10 years, with registered investment advisor (RIA) balances on the network doubling over the past three years. Integrations with CAIS and iCapital are expected to contribute to that growth by automating document workflows between these providers and the Pershing platform. CAIS and...

Regulators have approved a proposal from the New York Stock Exchange to let companies raise capital through direct listings, a decision that creates a less-expensive alternative to the traditional initial public offering. According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the plan for  NYSE to create a new type of direct listing, in which companies can issue new shares. Previously, companies had only been permitted to use the process for existing investors to sell shares. In a direct listing, a company floats its shares on a stock...

FIF is beginning the process of gathering names of members interested in joining discussions focused on the implementation of the CAT CAIS Tech Spec. In order to subscribe to this subgroup, please update your profile here, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for assistance. FIF plans to hold the first meeting sometime next week. 

FIF Front Office Committee - Please find the August Front Office Committee Agenda here. FIF CAT Committee -  The FIF CAT Committee went over summaries of the FINRA CAT Webinar on Industry Member Compliance Report Cards, the FINRA CAT Webinar on Interfirm Linkages, Recently Published Guidance, the FINRA CAT Open Issues List and the week's FIF CAT Tech Spec Working Group meetings FIF SEC Rule 606 Working Group - The group focused on issues with the PDF Renderer and the status of SEC’s progress on this issue, Solicitation of feedback from FIF members on 606(b)(3)...

Miami International Holdings Inc. has received regulatory approval to launch what will be the 16th U.S. stock exchange. The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the option market runner's application to launch an equities exchange. Now, Miami International plans to take the MIAX PEARL Equities exchange live through a phased-in launch with trading expected to begin Sept. 25. In a separate action, Miami International Holdings (MIH), the parent holding company of the MIAX Exchange Group, and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX), a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives...