SEC Trading and Markets Deputy Director Offers Remarks on Decimalization (with Lofchie Comment)

On February 5, the SEC held a roundtable (webcast available here as Part 1 and Part 2) to evaluate the impact of tick sizes on the securities markets. The roundtable consisted of three panels:

• The first panel addressed the impact of tick sizes on small and mid-sized companies, the economic consequences of increasing or decreasing minimum tick sizes, and whether other policy alternatives might better address concerns related to Section 106(b) of the JOBS Act.
• The second panel addressed the impact of tick sizes on the securities market in general, including what benefits may have been achieved and what, if any, negative effects have resulted.
• The third panel addressed potential methods for analysis of the issues, including whether and how to conduct a pilot for alternative minimum tick sizes.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Director of Trading and Markets, James Burns, suggested that a data-driven approach can be developed that will "prove fruitful for addressing tick sizes and that this type of data-driven approach provides a useful template for addressing many of the other complex and pressing market structure issues."

Lofchie Comment: I am certainly in favor of a data-driven approach.

Click here to view speech in full (links externally to SEC website).