The SEC extends a deadline for key rule amendments and may be ending the days of tight deadlines.
Grygo is the chief content officer for FTF & FTF News.
“The days of unreasonable deadlines have passed,” declared SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins late last month. The head of the SEC was referring to the commission’s vote to extend the compliance date to June 30, 2026, for the amendments to the broker-dealer “Customer Protection Rule (a.k.a. Rule 15c3-3).”
“This extension will provide more time for broker-dealers to make any necessary systems or operational changes to implement a daily computation requirement and test their new daily processes for compliance,” the SEC noted in its announcement.
But Atkins is also referring to a policy change that is a major shift from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s term, when tight deadlines were set and were rarely adjusted.
Specifically, the SEC adopted on Dec. 20, 2024, amendments that “require certain broker-dealers to increase the frequency of required reserve computations under Rule 15c3-3 from weekly to daily. The compliance date for these required daily reserve computations was originally Dec. 31, 2025,” according to the SEC.
The adopted amendments are:
- “Enhance Rule 15c3-3 — the rule that protects a customer’s cash and securities held at a broker-dealer” — officially increases the frequency from weekly to daily; and
- The other change “Modify Rules 15c3-3 and 15c3-1 … the broker-dealer net capital rule,” would “permit certain broker-dealers that perform a daily customer reserve computation to decrease the required 3 percent ‘buffer’ in the customer reserve bank account by reducing the customer-related receivables charge (i.e., aggregate debit items charge) from 3 percent to 2 percent in the computation,” according to the SEC.
“Generally, carrying broker-dealers must perform the customer reserve computation and make any required deposits into the customer reserve bank account weekly. Similar requirements apply to accounts of other broker-dealers that the carrying broker-dealer carries, known as PAB accounts (i.e., proprietary securities account of a broker-dealer),” the SEC explains.
The bottom line is that broker-dealers have more time to work out these tedious requirements and be confident of their compliance.
Paul Atkins
“By extending this compliance date, we are giving broker-dealers additional time to implement daily computation under Rule 15c3-3,” Atkins announced. “I am pleased the commission agrees that additional time is necessary to allow broker-dealers to avoid operational challenges with meeting the initial compliance date.”
Given all that broker-dealers and others have had to deal with during the first half of this challenging year, I predict the deadline extension and the promise of reasonable deadlines will get a positive reception.
A quick review of the complex changes can be found here: https://www.sec.gov/files/34-102022-fact-sheet.pdf
More information about the amendments can be found here: https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/2025/06/s7-11-23
Need a Reprint?
