SRO Reform

Self-regulatory organizations (SROs) are an integral component of the financial regulatory framework.

SROs are primarily responsible for establishing the standards under which their members conduct business and for monitoring the ways their members conduct business. They are overseen by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

SIFMA continues advocating for Congress and the SEC to:

1. Limit the SRO status of exchanges so that exchanges would act as SROs only for their markets;
2. Codify the judicial construct that exchanges can only claim regulatory immunity when engaged in regulatory functions;
3. Prohibit exchanges from creating rule-based limitations on liability;
4. Expand the representation in the governance of NMS Plans;
5. Require exchange market data filings to go out for notice and comment prior to SEC approval of them, consistent with the standard for such filings prior to the Dodd-Frank Act; and
6. Develop legislation that would codify the separation of exchanges’ commercial and regulatory functions.