August 1, 2008
The most important aspect of this proposal is the benefit of transparency. For every trade that has a "net" price or some other type of mark-up/mark-down, there should be a means of transmitting this cost as part of the trade information, especially when step-outs are involved. If the clearing broker is provided and can accept this information, they can subsequently disclose this cost to the client, which should be the primary motivation for all parties involved. Thank you.