Finra Trade-Surveillance System to Be Revised, Ketchum Says

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulator, is changing the design of a trading-surveillance system that has drawn opposition from brokers, Chief Executive Officer Rick Ketchum said in a speech.

Smaller brokers that don’t use clearing firms will have more flexibility to send trade and commission data to Finra directly or use a contractor, Ketchum said yesterday at the authority’s annual conference in Washington. Trade information about products not held by clearing brokers, such as variable annuities and direct mutual funds, won’t have to be submitted in the early stages of the project, he said.