SEC Amends Guidance on Quotations for Over-the-Counter Securities

The SEC has issued a final rule, Publication or Submission of Quotations Without Specified Information, which amends regulations in Rule 15c2-11 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with respect to the “publication of quotations for [over-the-counter (OTC)] securities in a quotation medium other than a national securities exchange.” The amendments in the final rule “are designed to modernize the Rule, promote investor protection, and curb incidents of fraud and manipulation by, among other things: requiring information about issuers to be current and publicly available for broker-dealers to quote their securities in the OTC market; narrowing reliance on certain exceptions from the Rule’s requirements, including the piggyback exception; adding new exceptions for the quotations of securities that may be less susceptible to fraud and manipulation; removing obsolete provisions; adding new definitions; and making technical amendments.”

For more information, see the press release and statements by SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, Commissioners Elad L. Roisman and Hester M. Peirce on the SEC’s Web site