December 17, 2021

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

Re: SR-CTA/CQ-2021-02 (Release No. 34-93615); SR-CTA/CQ-2021-03 (Release No. 34-93625); S7-24-89 (Release No. 34-93618); S7-24-89 (Release No. 34-93620)

Dear Ms. Countryman:

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”)1 and its Asset Management Group2 respectfully submit this letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) to comment on the above-referenced proposals to amend the Consolidated Tape Association (“CT”) Plan and Consolidated Quotations (“CQ”) Plan (the “CT/CQ Plans”), and the Nasdaq Unlisted Trading Privileges Basis (“UTP”) Plan (collectively, the “Plans”).3 These proposals would amend the Plans to adopt fees (“Fee Proposals”) for the receipt of the expanded consolidated market data for national market system (“NMS”) stocks required to be disseminated under the Commission’s Market Data Infrastructure Rule (“Infrastructure Rule”) and to implement the non-fee-related aspects (“Non-Fee Proposals”) of the Infrastructure Rule (collectively, the “Proposals”).4

As discussed below, SIFMA strongly opposes the Proposals and urges the Commission to disapprove them as they contradict the Commission’s direction in the Infrastructure Release and

 

1 SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks, and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s nearly 1 million employees, we advocate for legislation, regulation and business policy, affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.

2 SIFMA’s Asset Management Group (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. For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org/amg.

3 See Release No. 34-93615 (November 19, 2021), 86 FR 67800 (November 26, 2021) (SR-CTA/CQ-2021-02); 34-93625 (November 19, 2021), 86 FR 67517 (November 26, 2021) (SR-CTA/CQ-2021-03); 34-93618 (November 19, 2021), 86 FR 67562 (November 26, 2021) (S7-24-89); 34-93620 (November 19, 2021), 86 FR 67541 (November 26, 2021) (S7-24-89).

4 See Release No. 34-90610, 86 FR 18596 (April 9, 2021) (File No. S7-03-20) (“Infrastructure Release”).