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The Guide to the Consolidated
Audit Trail (CAT)

Navigating compliance with the CAT (and other global regulations)

The SEC’s Rule 613 of Regulation National Market System (NMS), which establishes the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), is an ambitious data management plan for auditing the trading patterns of the entire US market. Exegy’s Guide to the Consolidated Audit Trail helps you craft a compliance plan that matches your firm’s needs.

A Global Perspective

The CAT is part of an ongoing global emphasis on investor protection and market transparency. The Guide to the Consolidated Audit Trail puts the CAT in perspective, showing how firms can keep abreast of different regulatory systems. From Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements to the EU’s GDPR and MiFID II development, we look at the increasing regulatory demands on financial services firms.

A Complex CAT Rollout

The Guide to the Consolidated Audit Trail looks at the road leading to the establishment of the CAT. It also explores the discussions that have helped shape it—from setup to data security to funding ongoing database management.

As firms ramp up their compliance efforts, there are many factors to consider—not just the type of data being collected, but the expanding infrastructure requirements of this and other global regulations.

Compliance and Analysis—Your Data Can Do Both

Beyond expanding data infrastructure for reporting to CAT, acquiring historical recordings for auditing can serve other valuable purposes. Analyzing recordings for best execution instills confidence in both compliance and trading strategy teams. Comparing recordings to internal trade data during trade performance analysis delivers even greater value for the trading team. This cross-functional outlook on historical market data resources can help stakeholders better prepare for compliance and enable market-wide analyses.

Exegy has extensive experience providing high-precision historical market data. In fact, we’re the vendor entrusted with providing market data to FINRA CAT LLC for the Consolidated Audit Trail.

The Guide to the Consolidated Audit Trail can help your firm ensure that it is keeping up with regulatory requirements, while getting the most value from historical data. To take the next step, fill out the form below to receive a download of the guide.

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