Opposing the Establishment of a GASB Accounting Support Fee

SIFMA provides comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a notice of filing of proposed rule change relating to establishing a Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) accounting support fee, File No. SR-FINRA-2011-073.  The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA’s) proposal is a result of Section 978 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) requiring a funding mechanism for GASB.  SIFMA believes that FINRA’s proposal is not a fair and equitable manner to assess the GASB Accounting Support Fee and objects to the proposed methodology for assessing the GASB Accounting Support Fee. SIFMA urges the SEC to reject or disapprove the proposed rule change.