April 25, 2013
Please incorporate by reference the following comments submitted to the Commission on this subject in prior years:
5/18/2004 Rule/comments S7-10-04
5/17/2005 Letter to Johnathan Katz, Secretary
1/23/2006 Letter to Christopher Cox S7-40-04
1/22/2007 Letter to Nancy Morris S7-24-89
As the Commission will note, I have made numerous comments respecting the discriminatory application of market data fees to online investors, who are using information solely for purposes of managing their own accounts and accessing information, not from Exchange systems but from their own brokers' computer systems.
Also, I have argued that brokerage customers are the source of a large percentage of the data being combined and sold and online customers should not be required to sign subscriber access agreements, unless all customers are required to sign such agreements.
Much time has passed. Competition has generated other non-brokerage sources of real-time information and rebating processes have returned to investors and their brokers
the fee surpluses with most online customers fees being paid by their brokers.
However, Exchanges still obstruct the flow of real-time information to online customers who do not sign a individual subscriber agreement.
Hence, two costly distribution systems are being maintained un-necessarily, one for realtime data and one for data delayed 15-20 minutes. Indeed one could argue that delayed information is mis-information and the delay should be reduced to 01 (one) minute.
To correct this problem, I suggest that The Commission review this delayed information process, recognizing that once information is transmitted over TV, mobile phones etc. it is public information.
Finally, I would recommend that The Commission require that short sales be designated with an asterisk or a minus, so that the public can be aware of potential problems in a company quicker.
Respectfully Yours
Gene Finn
Former SEC Chief Economist (1969-1976) and Former NASD Chief Economist (1983-1995)