U.S. regulators are altering plans for a multibillion-dollar consolidated computer system to monitor trades across several trading venues - i.e., stock exchanges and other markets - to blunt criticism that the project would be expensive and to speed the system's implementation. SEC Concession. In one compromise under consideration by the SEC, firms would not be required to report comprehensive trading information to the Commission in real time, as originally proposed.  The financial industry welcomes that concession and experts acknowledged that change would would make the system significantly cheaper. Regulators recognize that, while the system would be slower than they had hoped, they're still way ahead of the game - in terms of where they were in May 2010, when the Flash Crash occurred.  Eventually, the regulators would receive all the information that is needed to better understand market disruptions, like the May flash crash.

"We're going to be rational here because it's really important to get this basic structure in place sooner than later." - - SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro.

Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT. The SEC  first proposed the system, about a month after the May 6th "flash crash," which saw the DJIA collapse more than 1,000 points before rebounding. The SEC and other regulators are designing the system so that they can reconstruct stock trades - something that caused them fits in 2010.  Eventually, those same systems could be expanded to fixed-income, futures and other markets. As Ms. Shapiro enters the last year of her current term as head of the SEC, she insists that completing the system is one of her highest priorities.  The SEC originally estimated its costs at about $2.1 billion annually, borne by the financial industry.  SEC officials so far have declined to provide cost estimates for the scaled-back system. In the coming months, more information, proposals, and a detailed blueprint will be made available - and at that time project configurations are likely to change further. For more details, go to [WSJ, 2/9/12].