BROKER-DEALER -

SEC Adopts Transaction Fee Pilot for NMS Stocks -

On December 19, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had voted to conduct a Transaction Fee Pilot in national market system (NMS) stocks, following a recommendation from the Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee. The SEC is initiating the Pilot to study the effects of exchange transaction fee and rebate pricing models on order routing behavior, execution quality and market quality generally, and to assess whether further regulatory action is required in this area.