SEC Adopts Rules to Modernize Key Market Infrastructure Responsible for Collecting, Consolidating, and Disseminating Equity Market Data

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rules to modernize the infrastructure for the collection, consolidation, and dissemination of market data for exchange-listed national market system stocks (“NMS market data”). This infrastructure has not been significantly updated since its initial implementation in the late 1970s. The adopted rules update and significantly expand the content of NMS market data to better meet the diverse needs of investors in today’s equity markets. The adopted rules also update the method by which NMS market data is consolidated and disseminated, by fostering a competitive environment and providing for a new decentralized model that promises reduced latency and other new efficiencies.