Enforcement of Commission rule 15c3-3 and Obtaining FTR Data
The Commission needs to start obtaining and reviewing “Fails to Receive” data from all market
participants, as in a Freedom of Information Act request, the Commission stated to us that it does
not have, obtain nor maintain this data. Yet the market participants themselves indicate in their
financials that FTRs alone total many billions in mark to market obligations.
Not only does a large number of FTRs indicate a violation of 15c3-3, but it can also indicate a
Ponzi scheme in that it could exceed the financial ability of certain market participants to clear
those FTR liabilities. This could lead to a cascading event where companies fail, ultimately ending at settlement firms, who also would not have enough financial power to handle the
liabilities, bring the entire financial system crashing down. We urge the Commission to start
focusing on Fails to Receive and using them as a tool to enforce 15c3-3.
Enforcement of REG T
It is immediately obvious to anyone who has access to fail data in Pink Sheet and other non NMS
securities, that market participants must be violating REG T on a massive scale. REG T requires
market participants to treat all Pink Sheet and other OTC securities as fully paid for securities in
every respect. This makes holding “Fails to Receive” securities in lieu of the fully paid for OTC
securities illegal. It also makes hypothecating these fully paid for securities from investors
without specific written advanced consent illegal. However, the data suggests that both are
routinely done in OTC securities. The Commission must enforce this provision to ensure the
integrity of the markets. This is another reason for the Commission to obtain “fails to receive”
data, review it, use it as an enforcement tool and make it public
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