FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission logo adorns an office door at the SEC headquarters in Washington, June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. brokers should not be forced to sign an agreement that could make them liable for breaches of a massive new industry trading database that they have no control over, a leading financial industry trade group told regulators on Wednesday.
Brokers must soon begin sending sensitive information derived from their clients’ trades to a new database called the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) that the Securities and Exchange Commission tasked exchange operators and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) with building and operating.
But before they begin sending the information, the brokers must sign an agreement that limits the financial liability of the exchanges and FINRA, collectively called self-regulatory organizations (SROs), to $500 per reporting firm if there is a breach of…
