The SEC on Tuesday approved establishing a single database for all U.S. equity and options trading.
The database, called the consolidated audit trail, would contain information supplied by self-regulatory organizations — registered equity and options exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority — and broker-dealers on a range of elements that would show the lifecycle of every order and transaction in the U.S. equity and options markets, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a news release.
Information to be supplied to the database will include identification or the customer submitting the order; the broker routing or executing the order; and the order’s date and time, price, size and type.
The proposal had originally been submitted by the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Bats Global Markets and FINRA under the SEC’s Regulation National Market Structure. The proposal was posted for public comment in April.
The repository would be operated by the self-regulatory organizations with an advisory committee comprising broker-dealers, investors and regulatory experts. Based on comments received by the SEC, an institutional investor representative will be included on the advisory committee.
Within two months, self-regulatory organizations must select a plan processor to build and operate the consolidated audit trail, the SEC said, and self-regulatory organizations will be required to begin reporting to it within a year, followed by large broker-dealers within two years and small broker-dealers within three years.
