The Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) may have a new life under the direct management of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins reveals in his Aug. 10 letter to Robert Walley, chair of the CAT NMS Plan Operating Committee, that many in the securities industry want the SEC to directly control… Read More >>
Why It’s Impossible to Predict the CAT’s Future
If the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) has nine lives like its namesake breed of household felines, it may need one of them as its future is being decided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This massive and costly equities and options tracking and data-keeping system faces a far more complicated landscape than when… Read More >>
The CAT System Faces Scrutiny Again
The controversial Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) will remain under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission even though the SEC recently finalized a set of cost-savings and related measures intended as ways to control the big data surveillance system. The regulator also implemented exemptive relief from certain requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934…. Read More >>
Is the SEC Defanging or Protecting the CAT?
Is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) undercutting or protecting the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) through a new exemption that would allow “natural persons” to sidestep supplying “certain personally identifiable information (PII)” such as names, addresses, and years of birth? CAT is an ambitious and controversial big data, U.S. securities transaction monitoring project that has… Read More >>
Instinet Fined $3.8M for Alleged CAT Reporting Failures
Instinet has paid a $3.8 million fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and settled allegations that the institutional broker failed to fulfill its reporting obligation “timely and accurately” to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) system from June 2020 to the present, according to the self-regulatory organization (SRO). The ambitious, big data, securities transaction… Read More >>
CAT Overseers Shift Key Deadline for Broker-Dealers
A new deadline has been set for a key aspect of the ambitious, big data, securities transaction monitoring project known as the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). The new deadline is intended to help broker-dealers grappling with the inclusion of information about customer accounts, and the deadline extension will give CAT participants more time to deal… Read More >>
SIFMA Praises CAT Compliance Deadline Extension
There’s a twist in the ongoing saga of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) via a new delay that actually has the approval of a key player in the securities industry. To remind you, the CAT system is the result of SEC Rule 613, which requires U.S. securities exchanges and FINRA, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for… Read More >>
Congress Should Rein In Exchanges: SIFMA
SIFMA wants Congress to shake up the legal framework for securities exchanges. This is because some key federal securities laws are preserving advantages for exchanges but may be harming investors, says Ellen Greene, SIFMA managing director, equity and options market structure, in her recent testimony before Congress. But there are ways to fix the situation,… Read More >>
CAT Reporting Teaches Sell Side New Lessons
Despite the pandemic, sell-side firms in 2020 met a very challenging first-round of compliance with the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) trade data surveillance regulatory initiative, learning firsthand that gathering, cleansing, and reporting interfirm transaction data to regulators is much easier said than done. Yet firms are applying lessons learned and more to the CAT deadlines… Read More >>
SEC Amendments Jolt CAT Project
The SEC is proposing amendments to the implementation of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) project that are intended to increase operational transparency and underscore the financial accountability of the market-wide surveillance project that has experienced several delays since its launch. In fact, earlier this year, Thesys Technologies, acting as Thesys CAT, was phased out as… Read More >>
