SEC VOTES FRO NEW RULE FOR LARGE TRADER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The following is an excerpt from the SEC website: Washington, D.C., July 26, 2011 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted unanimously to adopt a new rule establishing large trader reporting requirements to enhance the agency’s ability to identify large market participants, collect information on their trading, and analyze their trading activity. The new rule requires large traders to identify themselves to the SEC, which will then assign each trader a unique identification number. Large traders will provide this number to their broker-dealers, who will be required to maintain transaction records for each large trader and report that information to the SEC upon request. “May 6 dramatically demonstrated the need to enhance the SEC’s ability to quickly and accurately analyze market events. The large trader reporting rule will significantly bolster our ability to oversee the U.S. securities markets in a time when trades can be transacted in milliseconds or faster,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “This new rule will enable us to promptly and efficiently identify significant market participants and collect data on their trading activity so that we can reconstruct market events, conduct investigations, and bring enforcement actions as appropriate.” The new rule has two primary components: First, it requires large traders to register with the Commission through a new form, Form 13H. Second, it imposes recordkeeping, reporting, and limited monitoring requirements on certain registered broker-dealers through whom large traders execute their transactions. The new rule will be effective 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register."