Dark pool reporting for US venues regulated as alternative trading systems (ATS) will begin the week starting 12 May the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the body running the program, has confirmed to theTRADEnews.com.
The first reports will cover the week starting 12 May and will be submitted by ATSs to FINRA by 28 May, and made public the following Monday, 2 June, meaning the buy-side will for the first time have access to accurate dark pool volume data.
FINRA has confirmed these dates that were initially listed in a February regulatory notice. The revised plan submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mooted a possible start date of April.
Reports will be delivered with a two-week delay for liquid names and a four-week delay for illiquid names, to avoid any impact on stock prices.
The SEC in January approved the FINRA plan to mandate ATS reporting on a security-by-security basis after informal reporting through broker Rosenblatt Securities and research consultancy TABB Group was weakened when Credit Suisse decided to pull its support.
Any venue that has submitted a Form ATS to the SEC will be required to report volume data on national market system securities, OTC equity securities or any debt security subject to FINRA’s Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine, or TRACE, rules.
Last month, Joe Gawronski, president and COO of Rosenblatt Securities, told theTRADEnews.com that dark pool reporting would empower asset managers to better assess broker practices.
“This will give the buy-side more data from which to judge sell-side order routing practices by showing execution volumes of all ATSs,” Gawronski said, adding that FINRA should extend the universe of venues covered to include internal pools operated by wholesalers and pools in which brokers operate as a single market maker.
As part of the plan, ATSs will transition to a reporting regime based on unique market participant identifiers from 10 November that will further streamline the reporting process.