Stock Exchanges Fire CAT Contractor After Delays
FINRA is said to be taking control of the Consolidated Audit Trail project.
Stock exchanges are poised to appoint a new processor to build the Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT, which will track market trading activity.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the stock exchanges intend to fire the contractor they hired in 2017 to build CAT, Thesys Technologies LLC, in “the latest sign of trouble” for a project that’s a year behind schedule.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, according to the Journal, will be appointed to take the reins from Thesys.
Spokespeople for the self-regulatory organizations shared in a statement Friday with ThinkAdvisor that “CAT NMS LLC can confirm that it is transitioning the CAT project to a new plan processor.”
The current plan processor, Thesys CAT LLC, “is providing necessary services through the transition period. CAT NMS thanks Thesys CAT for its support to date, and is in the process of choosing a new plan processor.”
In transitioning the project, the SROs are “evaluating the impact the transition will have on current industry member implementation dates,” and anticipate that initial testing of data ingestion will begin in late 2019, and that “the current Industry Member Technical Specifications will continue to provide the basis of such reporting.”
Further updates, they said, will be provided “in due course.”
Meanwhile, the SEC said Tuesday that it has hired Manisha Kimmel to coordinate the SEC’s oversight of the self-regulatory organizations’ creation and implementation of the CAT.
As senior policy advisor for regulatory reporting, Kimmel, who reports directly to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, will also work closely with the Division of Trading and Markets and other divisions and offices on the CAT and other regulatory reporting matters, the agency said.