Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins said Monday that he has directed agency staff to conduct "a comprehensive review" of the Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT — including the costs of the system as well as the reporting requirements and scope of what is collected.
The CAT "has drawn significant scrutiny," and "has quite an appetite for data and computer power, with costs rising to nearly $250 million a year," Atkins said at The SEC Speaks conference, held by the Practising Law Institute. "These costs are divvied up and eventually, one way or another, fall on the shoulders of investors."
The financial services industry and Congress, Atkins continued, "have rightly pushed back on the seemingly endless cost increases and the risks of storing so much sensitive data together. Much of the increases are due to changing demands for information and access."
CAT tracks orders and trades and was conceived by the SEC after the 2010 "flash crash."
Crypto Plans
Atkins also said that "it is a new day" at the SEC, and that he has directed staff across the commission's policy divisions to begin drafting rule proposals related to crypto. SEC staff, he said, "continue to 'clear the brush' through staff-level statements."
For example, the Division of Trading and Markets issued a set of FAQs on May 15 that addressed broker-dealer and transfer agent questions.
"While the views of the staff are not rules or regulations of the commission, they can provide useful insights for the public," Atkins said. "Ultimately, the commission is, of course, responsible and must itself squarely address these issues to ensure that the public has clear rules of the road."
Atkins referred to his recent comments at the Crypto Task Force roundtable, in which he said that he'd like the agency "to allow SEC registrants to custody and trade both securities and non-securities under one roof."
Added Atkins: "Enabling this reality could reduce costs for investors while allowing non-security trading to enter a regulated environment at the federal level expeditiously. This would be an initial step towards the possibility of eventually achieving a 'super-app' reality."
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