Notice of Filing of Amendment to the NMS Plan Governing the CAT to Further Reduce the Costs of the Consolidated Audit Trail

Summary

SIFMA provided comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the proposed amendment (“Proposal”) ¹ to the CAT NMS Plan (“Plan”) filed with the SEC by the Participants in the Plan to further reduce the costs of the CAT, including by codifying in the Plan the cost savings already achieved via the Commission’s September 2025 exemptive relief order (“2025 Cost Savings Exemptive Order”). ²

Excerpt

Overall, SIFMA acknowledges the efforts made in the Proposal and recognizes the positive steps it represents toward addressing cost concerns associated with the CAT, as it is designed to reduce CAT costs in ways that do not result in increasing Industry Member net compliance and operational costs to achieve such costs savings. This has been the framework under which SIFMA has evaluated prior CAT cost savings initiatives to determine whether those initiatives result in reducing Participant CAT costs while increasing Industry Members CAT compliance costs or creating new inefficiencies. We note, however, that the cost-saving measures set forth in the relief largely codify the Commission’s 2025 Cost Savings Exemptive Order. We reiterate that the 2025 Exemptive Order should represent only a first step, and that more substantive, material reforms and cost-savings measured must be pursued expeditiously, including as part of the Commission’s comprehensive CAT review.

Moreover, while SIFMA recognizes the Proposal’s positive steps to reduce CAT costs, SIFMA members have certain concerns related to the Proposal that we address in more detail below. Our biggest concern relates to the Proposal’s unanswered question regarding how the SEC and the Participants as self-regulatory organizations (“SROs”) are planning to request from Industry Members the identity of persons engaged in potentially problematic trading activity if the Proposal is approved and the Customer Account Information System (“CAIS”) database is eliminated from the CAT. While SIFMA has long been concerned about the CAT’s collection and storage of complete personally identifiable information (“PII”) for all investors, which this Proposal is designed to further address by eliminating CAIS, the Proposal does not address how regulators would request the targeted identity of a person in connection with an investigation emanating from CAT surveillance if CAIS no longer fills that function. ³