FINRA Sets Dates for Resetting Synchronization Tolerances for NMS and OTC Computer Clocks

FINRA announced the effective dates of the approved rule change reducing the synchronization tolerance for computer clocks that are used to record events in national market system ("NMS") securities and OTC equity securities. The synchronization tolerances will be reduced from one second to 50 milliseconds using the National Institute of Standards and Technology atomic clock.

FINRA member firms have (i) six months from the effective date (until February 20, 2017), to apply the new 50 millisecond standard to impacted system clocks that capture time in milliseconds and (ii) eighteen months from the effective date (until February 19, 2018) to apply the new standard to impacted system clocks that do not capture time in milliseconds.