March 31, 2023

Vanessa A. Countryman
Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-1090

Re: File No. S7-32-22; Release No. 34-96496; Regulation Best Execution,
File No. S7-31-22; Release No. 34-96495; Order Competition Rule,
File No. S7-30-22; Release No. 34-96494; Regulation NMS: Minimum Pricing Increments, Access Fees, and Transparency of Better Priced Orders, and
File No. S7-29-22; Release No. 34-96493; Disclosure of Order Execution Information (the “Proposals”).1

Dear Ms. Countryman:

The Asset Management Group of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA AMG”)2 appreciates the opportunity to provide comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on the four above-referenced Proposals.

We support the Commission’s mission to protect investors; to maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and to facilitate capital formation. Our members share this same mission, both in their fiduciary role, and in attracting and retaining the business of their tens of millions of retail investors – both individually and as fund investors. We strive to treat investors fairly and give them the best chance for investment success. To that end, we value transparent markets, with efficient price discovery, and overall stability and resilience. Given our shared mission with the Commission, coupled with our front-line experience and insight into both specific markets and overall operational functionality, we offer our thoughtful insights to help the Commission deliver needed reforms in an efficient, cost-effective manner, while avoiding unintended adverse consequences.

In general, SIFMA AMG supports the Commission’s efforts to improve our markets through greater disclosure, increased transparency, and greater competition. However, our members have serious concerns about the breadth and depth of the proposed changes. To that end, we request that the Commission share its supporting data to help us to identify the specific market dislocations to be addressed by the Proposals. Again, in our view, reform proposals must carefully target clearly identified issues and must be narrowly tailored to achieve the intended benefit with reasonably appropriate costs all the while avoiding collateral adverse consequences.

 

1 Exchange Act Release No. 96496, 88 FR 5440 (Jan. 27, 2023) (“Regulation Best Execution”); Exchange Act Release No. 96495, 88 FR 128 (Jan. 3, 2023) (“Order Competition Rule”); Exchange Act Release No. 96494, 87 FR 80266 (Dec. 29, 2022) (“Minimum Pricing Increments”); Exchange Act Release No. 96493, 88 FR 3786 (Jan. 20, 2023) (“Order Execution Information”).

2 SIFMA AMG brings the asset management community together to provide views on U.S. and global policy and to create industry best practices. SIFMA AMG’s members represent U.S. and global asset management firms whose combined assets under management exceed $45 trillion. The clients of SIFMA AMG member firms include, among others, tens of millions of individual investors, registered investment companies, endowments, public and private pension funds, UCITS and private funds such as hedge funds and private equity funds.