Brokerage

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new market access rule, set to go into effect on July 14, has brokers scrambling to comply with a set of regulations many feel are too confusing, and are also likely to be more expensive than originally anticipated.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is unlikely to take action any time soon on two of the most important outstanding rule proposals affecting the options industry. According to Heather Seidel, an associate director in the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, the...

Chris Concannon, a senior executive with market maker Virtu Financial and former head of transaction services at Nasdaq OMX Group, recently addressed the topic of high-frequency trading at Sandler O'Neill + Partners' annual global exchange and brokerage conference. Here's what he had to say on pick-offs, future algorithms and minimum quote duration.

Much of the talk these days in Canada's financial industry centers on the battle being waged for the Toronto Stock Exchange, between the London Stock Exchange and the Maple Group bank consortium. But behind the headlines, an arguably more consequential meat-and-potatoes drama is taking place, as Canada's stock market rushes helter-skelter into the electronic era.

ConvergEx is still searching for that pot of gold. Formed five years ago and built up through numerous acquisitions, ConvergEx is struggling to make a profit. The industry downturn and charges related to the firm's several acquisitions have conspired to keep its aggregate net...

Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group is not commenting on its previously announced acquisition of certain assets related to the OTC Bulletin Board from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Last September, the brokerage announced it would acquire certain OTCBB assets from FINRA, but did not specify the nature of the assets, the price nor its intentions.

Flush with cash but uneasy about the future, many companies are looking to buy back their own stock, providing one bright spot for brokers who have seen volumes decline in recent years. Though trading in general is down, buybacks have been on the rise since 2010.

The recent boom in exchange traded funds is likely to continue, as institutional investors are finding new uses for the instruments, according to a recent report from Greenwich Associates. ETFs are often thought of as passive investments, but many institutions Greenwich surveyed said they now use them for active exposure to domestic and international equities.

Bowing to industry requests, the Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed implementing parts of the market access rule. But the ban on "naked access," the main thrust of the new regulation, will still go into effect as planned on July 14.

The percentage of high-touch and research-driven trades rose last year, but the Street also felt the pain of a 12 percent drop in commissions, according to a recent Greenwich Associates study of the buyside.