FINRA Fines Firm for Market Data Display Deficiencies

According to the AWC, the firm displayed incomplete market data on its trading platforms, to customers who had not purchased real-time data through subscriptions or on-demand snapshots. For these customers, the firm showed a stock’s last sale price without the corresponding volume, market identification, or national best bid and offer. FINRA found that the displayed data was delayed by 15 minutes and did not reflect real-time prices, sizes, or market identifications as required. FINRA noted that the firm later began providing all customers with a real-time consolidated display containing all required market data elements at the point of order entry.

FINRA found that the firm failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to ensure compliance with market data display requirements. FINRA stated that the firm had no supervisory framework or procedures in place for several years and did not conduct reviews of its order entry points during that period. Although the firm later implemented procedures to review its trading platforms, those reviews were incomplete and failed to cover all order entry points until the firm expanded its process to include them.