On September 14, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White gave a speech titled “Equity Market Structure in 2016 and for the Future” at the annual Security Traders Association Market Structure Conference in Washington, DC. Among the highlights from the speech, Chair White stated that:

• the proposal to amend SEC Rule 15b9-1 to require all registered dealers to join the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) would be finalized in the “near future” and the next step is to clarify the “dealer/trader” distinction;

• the SEC, FINRA and the exchanges are assessing the special characteristics of exchange traded products to determine if changes are needed to limit up/limit down;

• the staff is developing a new rule designed to enhance recordkeeping and related requirements that also addresses the confidentiality of proprietary trading information;

• the staff will make a recommendation to the SEC concerning a potential pilot to lower caps on access fees;

• before settling on a proposal for an anti-disruptive trading rule, the Chair has asked the staff to publish its work on disruptive trading practices for public consideration and comments; and

• Reg SCI participants should work to (1) improve processes for making changes to systems to account for human errors; and (2) diversify electrical, telecommunications and other infrastructure support as well as the geographic location for systems.

For more details, the full text of the speech is available here.