ASA Calls on SEC to Challenge Monopoly Interests in Market Structure Proposal

WASHINGTON – Ahead of a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) equity market structure reforms, the American Securities Association (ASA) called on the SEC to challenge monopoly interests and improve transparency for national securities exchanges.

“The SEC has perpetuated an equity market structure that protects the monopoly profits of national securities exchanges and saddles market participants with unreasonably high costs to access trading, connectivity, and data feeds,” said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. “We look forward to continuing to work with the SEC and Congress to advance needed modernization reforms that prioritize investor protection and return competition to our capital markets.”

ASA has been at the forefront of advocacy on equity market structure enhancements. In October 2023, ASA released a statement on the SEC’s proposal prohibiting national securities exchanges from offering volume-based transaction pricing in connection with the execution of agency-related orders in NMS stocks and submitted comments to the SEC on that proposal earlier this year.

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American Securities Association, based in Washington, DC, represents the retail and institutional capital markets interests of regional financial services firms who provide Main Street businesses with access to capital and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. ASA’s mission is to promote trust and confidence among investors, facilitate capital formation, and support efficient and competitively balanced capital markets. This mission advances financial independence, stimulates job creation, and increases prosperity. The ASA has a geographically diverse membership of almost one hundred members that spans the Heartland, Southwest, Southeast, Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States.