On April 5, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a proposed rule change to extend the pilot program related to FINRA Rule 11892 (Clearly Erroneous Transactions in Exchange-Listed Securities).

In September 2010, the SEC approved, on a pilot basis, changes to the rule that, among other things: (i) provided for the uniform treatment of clearly erroneous execution reviews in multi-stock events involving 20 or more securities, and (ii) reduced FINRA’s discretion to deviate from such standards. Since 2010, FINRA has proposed a series of additional provisions that are currently scheduled to operate for a pilot period that coincides with the pilot period for the Limit Up-Limit Down Plan (including any extensions to such pilot period).

The SEC recently published the proposed Eighteenth Amendment to the Limit UP-Limit Down Plan (Proposed Amendment) to allow the Limit Up-Limit Down Plan to operate on a permanent basis. The rule change is intended to (1) untie the pilot program’s effectiveness from that of the Limit Up-Limit Down Plan, and (2) extend the pilot program’s effectiveness to the close of business on October 18, (which is six months after the expiration of the current pilot period for the Limit Up-Limit Down Plan). FINRA noted that, in connection with the rule change, national securities exchanges also will file similar proposals to extend their respective clearly erroneous execution pilot programs, the substance of which are identical to the rule.

Extending the effectiveness of the rule for an additional six months is intended to provide FINRA and national securities exchanges additional time to consider further amendments to the clearly erroneous execution rules in light of the Proposed Amendment. Assuming the SEC approves the permanent adoption of the Limit Up-Limit Down Plan, FINRA intends to assess whether additional changes also should be made to the operation of the clearly erroneous execution rules. The rule change was effective upon filing.

The text of the rule change is available here.