Apr. 20, 2022
To whom it may concern, As a retail investor, I was shocked and disappointed to read about the changes being proposed in SR-NSCC-2022-003. The creation of “Securities Financing Transactions” to avoid FTDs is nothing more than a scheme to allow abusive short selling, share rehypothecation, and FTDs to continue unabated. If a short seller never has to actually buy in because he can utilize SFTs to “cover” his position, there is no incentive for that short seller to play by the rules and short responsibly. This is yet another attempt by Wall Street to keep the retail investor at a massive disadvantage in equity markets. If I would be required to cover a short position by actually buying shares on the lit market (I don’t have access to dark pools like Wall Street does), so should a hedge fund or bank. Having one set of rules for the wealthy elite and another for the common man is the antithesis of the spirit of fraternity and opportunity this country was founded on. Michael Thellmann Oklahoma City, OK