SIFMA today issued the following statement from president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. on the order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reduce operating costs of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT):
“SIFMA believes the exemptive relief issued today by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which allows for immediate implementation of much needed changes designed to save millions of dollars in annual operating costs of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), is a long overdue step in the right direction. We have long held the view that ever-increasing CAT costs, lacking any transparency or accountability, is one of many festering problems with the CAT and we commend the SEC for leadership in trying to rein them in. We also agree with the Chairman that more work needs to be done, including further reducing costs, eliminating investors’ personally identifiable information (PII) and establishing rational governance. We thank the Chairman for his leadership on this issue and look forward to continued engagement on this issue.”
