A group of nine Senate and House Republicans recently sent a letter to Mark Uyeda, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acting chairman, asking for a comprehensive review of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).
The SEC established CAT to enable regulators to track all order and trading activity throughout U.S. markets for listed equities and options.
The congress members thanked Uyeda and SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce for acknowledging concerns regarding CAT and for taking steps to protect investors’ financial privacy. Concerns include cybersecurity vulnerabilities, inequitable funding structure, and the collection of personally identifiable information (PII) of investors.
“Given these continuing concerns, the commission should launch a comprehensive review that covers all aspects of the CAT,” the letter said. “In doing so, the Commission should take additional steps to pause the CAT’s most controversial elements—not only the collection of customer PII, but also the problematic funding structure that a majority of the current Commission voted against.”
The letter’s signees are U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Senate Banking Committee chairman, and Sens. John Boozman (R-AR), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and John Kennedy (R-LA), U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR), House Financial Services Committee chairman, and Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and Ann Wagner (R-MO).