SEC Proposes Updates to Electronic Recordkeeping Requirements

The Securities and Exchange Commission today published proposed amendments to the electronic recordkeeping and prompt production of records requirements applicable to broker-dealers, security-based swap dealers (SBSDs), and major security-based swap participants (MSBSPs). "This proposal updates an electronic recordkeeping rule adopted in 1997," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. "A lot has changed with respect to database management, among other technologies, in the last 24 years. This proposal would bring the Commission’s rule in line with technological innovation, and I am pleased to support it." The SEC’s broker-dealer electronic recordkeeping rule requires firms to preserve electronic records exclusively in a non-rewriteable, non-erasable format (otherwise known as write once, read many). The proposed amendments would add an audit-trail alternative.