ASA Urges SEC to Halt Collection of Personally Identifiable Information Through CAT

America’s retail investors never wanted to send their personally identifiable information to an unregulated third-party.

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) today commended the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for moving administration of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) away from an unregulated third-party and into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). ASA also urged the SEC to utilize this period of change as an opportunity to better tailor the CAT and halt the collection of personally identifiable information from virtually every American investor.

“America’s retail investors never wanted to send their personally identifiable information to an unregulated third-party like Thesys, but that doesn’t mean FINRA should move forward to create a one-stop shop for cyber criminals,” said Chris Iacovella, CEO of the American Securities Association. “The SEC should take this as an opportunity to implement a CAT capable of needed market surveillance without collecting and jeopardizing the data security of virtually every American investor.”

ASA strongly supports the ability of the SEC to surveil markets and protection investors—including the creation of the CAT—but believes this goal can be achieved without sacrificing retail investors’ data security and privacy.

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