SEC Adopts Amendments to Enhance Retail Investor Protections and Modernize the Rule Governing Quotations for Over-the-Counter Securities

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, an important component of the over-the-counter (OTC) market regulatory structure. The amendments are designed to modernize the rule, which was last substantively amended nearly thirty years ago, including to recognize advances in communications technologies. The amended rule enhances disclosure and investor protection in the OTC market by ensuring that broker-dealers, in their role as professional gatekeepers to this market, do not publish quotations for an issuer’s security when current issuer information is not publicly available, subject to certain exceptions. “These retail investor-focused improvements to Rule 15c2-11 are long overdue,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.