Joe Mecane Interviews SEC’s Brett Redfearn at the 2018 STA Conference

Citadel Securities Head of Execution Services, Joe Mecane interviewed the SEC’s Director of Trading and Markets, Brett Redfearn, at this year’s Security Traders Association (STA) conference in Washington DC. Mecane and Redfearn touched on a variety of market structure topics, including the proposed transaction fee pilot, the upcoming Market Data and Market Access roundtable, and fixed income market structure.

STA is a premier event that focuses on U.S. equity market structure and brings together hundreds of market participants, including representatives from the buy side, sell side, exchanges and regulators. A number of Citadel Securities team members attended this year and other speakers included FINRA CEO Robert Cook, TD Ameritrade CEO Tim Hockey, and NYSE CEO Stacey Cunningham.

Joe Mecane kicked off the discussion by asking Redfearn to summarize the SEC Division of Trading and Markets’ key achievements over the past year. Redfearn explained that his division ultimately aims to protect investors and ensure fair orderly markets, adding that all of its efforts and proposals over the past year were designed with this in mind.

Redfearn also explained that the Division’s work reflected the views and opinions of market participants. When asked about why the rebate component of the transaction fee pilot was important, Redfearn underscored that a number of asset managers had written letters to express support for having a zero rebate bucket included in the pilot, noting that it was “essential” and “integral” to its success. He also said that the Division had received multiple petitions to address the issue of market data, prompting a roundtable meeting on the issue and potential solutions in late October.

In conclusion, Redfearn urged the industry to provide as much feedback as possible on issues across all areas of the market, adding that open communication with market participants helps the Division “get things right” when it comes to market structure.