The Inside Secret: What Made 13% of Large Broker-dealers Jump on CAT?

Recent conversations concerning the impending Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) legislation have revealed some interesting insights into why a small percentage of large broker-dealers are well on their way to having compliance systems in place to manage their reporting obligations. CAT, as you may know, is the SEC’s Rule 613, that will allow regulators to trace U.S. equities and options data across an order’s life cycle. The deadline for large-broker dealers to begin reporting to the CAT Processor is November 15, 2018.

So, here’s the interesting point. According to a poll taken during a recent FIS webinar on the topic, 13 percent of large broker-dealers queried said that they had already appointed a CAT compliance officer, and were well on their way to installing a reporting solution. Why the urgency? What’s in the soup that everyone else is missing?

The answer is in the data validation solution required to comply with CAT. In order to manage the vast amounts of information necessary to meet SEC Rule 613, one must create a massive, incredibly secure data lake, with a powerful, front-end processing engine to conveniently integrate, aggregate, analyze, prepare, submit, correct and archive the information for as long as the law requires. It means embracing big data as a way of life. It means no more spreadsheets. No more siloed information. It means a single version of truth for a trading entity unlike anything ever seen before.

Never mind that the reason it’s coming your way is because the SEC wants an easier way to track trades. The main reason to get on board is the engine behind the legislation. An engine that can be retooled to perform incredible data-mining forensics, run “what-if” scenarios, facilitate predictive analytics and actually drive business value, no matter what business – or continent – you happen to be in.

So, while you can no longer be among the first 13 percent of large broker-dealers who are out in front of the industry, emplacing a powerful CAT solution for business reasons bigger than CAT itself, you can be among the first 20 or 30 percent, if you get started now. Talk to FIS, and learn what it takes to jump on the big data wave, for CAT’s sake, fast.