[ by Howard Haykin ]

FINRA will roll out 2 new data delivery services for Trace Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE), effective 6/10/13.  The changes are reflected in amendments to FINRA Rule 7730.

Background Information.   Currently, through the FINRA Automated Data Delivery System ("FINRA ADDS") - a secure website - member firms can access TRACE trade journal files for a specified date (transaction reports) for their respective market participant identifiers ("MPIDs"),  

• FINRA ADDS provides a report - a file containing all transaction reports to which the MPID was a party on a specified date - to an MPID in response to the MPID’s request.
• The MPID also may request “reject” files - i.e., transaction reports submitted by the MPID that were not accepted by the system due to missing or inaccurate information.
• The transaction report date of the file requested must be within 30 calendar days of the date of the request.
• FINRA ADDS service is free, with no limits on the number of requests for reports that a firm may make or number of firm personnel associated with a specified MPID who may submit such requests.

What's Changing.   In response to requests from firms for increased flexibility to access more of a firm’s TRACE transaction history, FINRA has established 2 additional, optional data delivery services - both of which are fee-based:  (i) TRACE Data Delivery Plus;  and, (ii) TRACE Data Delivery Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

1.  TRACE Data Delivery Plus allows an MPID subscriber to:

• download reports on demand for transaction reports and reject files to which the MPID was a party that were reported or rejected more than 30 calendar days prior to the date of the MPID’s request -- i.e., transaction data not available through the free FINRA ADDS service -- and within the prior 2 calendar years;  and,

• obtain automated daily delivery of the subscriber’s TRACE transaction reports and reject files to the FINRA ADDS website (eliminating the need for the user to submit file requests).

Once a firm subscribes to the optional service, FINRA will assign the subscriber to one of 4 tiers based on the TRACE transactions reported in the previous year to which the MPID was a party.  A subscriber will be charged a variable monthly fee based on:

(1)  average number of transactions per month to which the MPID subscriber was a party that was reported to TRACE in the prior calendar year;  and,

(2)  number of FINRA ADDS reports received in a given month for transaction reports and reject files that were reported or rejected more than 30 calendar days prior to the date of the MPID’s request --  i.e., transaction data not available through the free FINRA ADDS service  (Plus reports).

2.  TRACE Data Delivery Plus (SFTP) allows an MPID subscriber with automated interface to:

• retrieve - without sending a request - its prior day’s TRACE transaction reports and reject files daily from FINRA ADDS.

The fee for the optional service is $200/month, plus a one-time $250 set-up fee.

FINRA Contacts.   Direct questions to:  Marie Griffin, Product Manager, Transparency Services, (202) 728-8207; or,   Noah Egorin, Director, Firm Compliance Tools, (202) 728-8068.

For further details, go to:   [ FINRA RegNote 13-9, February 2013 ].