SEC Chair White Statement on Meeting With Leaders of Exchanges

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2013-178

Washington D.C., Sept. 12, 2013 —

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White today issued the following statement after meeting with leaders of the equities and options exchanges, FINRA, DTCC, and the Options Clearing Corporation.

Chair White called the meeting immediately following the August 22 interruption in the trading of NASDAQ-listed securities.

"Our securities markets are strong and work effectively for millions of investors and businesses. The orderly functioning of those markets and the robustness of our market infrastructure are vitally important to our nation´s economy. That is why we hold ourselves to very high standards.

"Today´s meeting was very constructive. I stressed the need for all market participants to work collaboratively – together and with the Commission – to strengthen critical market infrastructure and improve its resilience when technology falls short. To that end, I asked those at the meeting to work constructively with the Commission staff as we continue to consider ways to enhance the integrity of market systems. They pledged to do so and I expect other market participants will do so as well.

"In short order, I also want those at the meeting – with the input of other market participants – to identify a series of concrete measures designed to address specific areas where the robustness and resilience of market systems can be improved, including the systems that were at the core of last month´s trading interruption. The investing public deserves no less."

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Next Steps

The relevant parties in consultation with other market participants will: Provide comprehensive action plans that address the standards necessary to establish highly resilient and robust systems for the securities information processors (SIPs), including testing standards and disclosure protocols.

Identify and provide assessments of the robustness and resilience of other critical infrastructure systems.
Provide SIP plan and/or rule amendments addressing the issuance, effectiveness, and communication of regulatory halts.
Review their rules relating to the trade break process and procedures to reopen trading following a trading halt, and provide amendments to those rules as necessary.
Provide rule amendments to implement "kill switches" that would allow exchanges to shut down trading in the event of technological failures, and review and consider other potential risk mitigation mechanisms.