Wall Street Gets Billed for Ancient Audit Trail Leftovers
Published Date: 5/12/2026
Notice
Summary
BOX Exchange is setting new fees for industry members to cover leftover historical costs from the National Market System Plan for the Consolidated Audit Trail. These fees, called Historical CAT Assessment 1A, will collect about $39 million that wasn’t billed before. The new charges take effect right away, so affected members should be ready to pay up soon!
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
New $0.000002 CAT Assessment Fee
If you are an Industry Member acting as a CAT Executing Broker (CEBB or CEBS), the Exchange will charge a Historical CAT Assessment 1A at a fee rate of $0.000002 per executed equivalent share to recover $38,964,855.34 of historical Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) costs. CAT Executing Brokers should expect their first invoice in June 2026 based on May 2026 transactions.
Participants' One-Third Covered by Loan Cancellation
The Participants (national exchanges) will not be invoiced for the Historical CAT Assessment; instead, Participants' one-third share of Historical CAT Costs will be satisfied by cancellation of loans the Participants previously made to the Company on a pro rata basis. Participants will also remain responsible for certain Excluded Costs as described in the filing.
Buyer/Seller Split of Remaining $38.96M
The remaining $38,964,855.34 of Historical CAT Costs 1 will be recovered equally between CAT Executing Brokers for the Buyer (CEBBs) and CAT Executing Brokers for the Seller (CEBSs), with each side collectively responsible for $19,482,427.67. This allocation is part of the Historical CAT Assessment 1A implementation.
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