The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved an amendment to the National Market System Plan governing the Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT, to adopt a revised funding model, called the Executed Share Model.
Industry groups blasted the plan, calling it unfair to broker-dealers.
The SEC's plan also establishes a schedule for CAT fees for the self-regulatory organizations that participate in the CAT NMS Plan in accordance with the new model.
"Prior to CAT's creation, regulators lacked a consolidated view of the material information of all orders in NMS securities to trace orders from originations, modifications, cancellations, routings, and executions," SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said Wednesday in a statement.
"Today's amendments modify the method by which allowable costs associated with building and operating the CAT are allocated," Gensler said.
He added that he supports the SEC staff recommendation "that the self-regulatory organizations' NMS Plan amendments be approved as I believe they satisfy the requirements under the Exchange Act and the Commission's Rule 608."
The approved amendment, according to the SEC, "establishes a framework that plan participants will use to recover the costs to create, develop and maintain the CAT, including the method for allocating CAT costs among participants and the members of a national securities exchange or a member of a national securities association."
Once the Executed Share Model has been approved, the participants will submit filings pursuant to Section 19(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to impose fees on the industry members, the SEC said.
"Details of the fees, including the budgeted prospective CAT costs and certain of the costs previously covered entirely by the participants prior to the approval of a funding model, will be provided in those Section 19(b) filings submitted by the participants, the SEC said.
The order approving the amendment will be published in the Federal Register. The amendment became effective upon the commission's approval.
CAT is the SEC-mandated central repository of trades, quotes and orders for all U.S. exchange-listed and over-the-counter equity securities and U.S. exchange-listed options contracts across all U.S. markets and trading venues.
As of March 17, investors' personal identifiable information, or PII, became available via the CAT.
