SEC Directs FINRA and Other SROs to Submit New NMS Plan

The SEC directed FINRA and the equity exchanges (the "SROs") to submit a new national market system plan ("NMS plan") to replace the three current NMS plans. The current plans "govern the public dissemination of real-time, consolidated equity market data for national market system stocks."

The SEC amended a previously issued Order to reflect a D.C. Circuit decision on the SROs' petition objecting to certain governance provisions. The amended Order (i) excludes "non-SRO members on the [NMS's] operating committee," (ii) requires that "action by the operating committee would require a two-thirds majority of the votes allocated to the SROs" and (iii) allows non-SRO members to participate through an advisory committee. Based on the "limited topics addressed" in the amended Order, the SEC maintained that FINRA and the other SROs should be able to use a "substantial portion of the proposed [NMS plan] previously filed" under the SEC's original Order.

FINRA and the other SROs must submit a new NMS plan within 45 days after publication of the amended order in the Federal Register.