SEC’s Potential Surveillance Tool Takeover Poses Budget Problems, Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law spoke with partner Carolyn Welshhans about the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) review of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) and the potential costs if the agency takes control of the market surveillance database.

Carolyn noted that moving the CAT to the SEC would not eliminate the significant costs associated with operating the system and submitting required data.

“There’s going to be costs to get it up and running at the SEC, and then on top of that, what are the ongoing costs? There will be ongoing costs to the industry, even if the SEC is running it, to submit the data,” Carolyn said, adding that although many broker-dealers have already built the infrastructure needed to respond to CAT reporting requirements, the system will remain an ongoing expense for the industry.

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