February 8, 2022
I am a retail investor and I am in favor of this rule.
Over the past year numerous accounts have been researched and published, both in corporate media outlets and within various internet forums, that market regulations are largely ignored by primes, market makers, BD's, hedge funds, etc. The leaders of these firms view the fines that are occasionally levied, typically years after the infractions actually occurred, as simply a cost of doing business.
The lack of transparency in reporting, unchecked leverage in the markets, lack of enforcement of existing regulations, and the paltry fines levied when enforced, have created a situation where all retail investors and pension/non-pension retirement fund holders/managers have been not playing on a level field, and that's putting it mildly.
The US equities market is broken. Most of us doubt new rules will suddenly encourage compliance amongst the institutional abusers of the current rule sets and lax enforcement regimes. Consistent rules violators need to face real consequences, everything from loss of licenses to operate up to and including significant risk of imprisonment. The consequences need to be significant and enforcement regimes need to make the threat real.
Heres a quote the SEC should become well acquainted with: When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountableif there are no consequencesthat poor performance becomes the new standard.
Due to the lack of real consequences for the majority of the financial services firms operating in the US crime, gross negligence, and misreporting is the standard. Fiduciary responsibility has become a punch line to a bad joke.
We, the citizens of the US, hope that these are the first legitimate and real steps towards stemming systemic corruption and unchecked rampant criminal activity within the markets. I remain highly skeptical, but will continue to hope for a better future for my children and grandchildren.