Stock Exchange Files New Fees for Old Audit Trail Costs
Published Date: 5/27/2026
Notice
Summary
The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) is setting new fees for industry members to cover some leftover historical costs from the National Market System Plan for the Consolidated Audit Trail. These fees apply to costs from before 2022 that weren’t fully billed before. If you’re part of the industry, expect these charges to kick in right away and help wrap up past expenses.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
$39M Outstanding CAT Costs To Recover
LTSE will recover $38,964,855.34 of historical Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) costs incurred before January 1, 2022 that were not invoiced under Historical CAT Assessment 1. The remaining amount will be charged collectively to Industry Members: CEBBs are responsible for $19,482,427.67 and CEBSs are responsible for $19,482,427.67.
Per-Share Historical Fee Rate Set
The Operating Committee set the Historical CAT Assessment 1A fee rate at $0.000002 per executed equivalent share. For each transaction, the Historical CAT Assessment is calculated by multiplying the number of executed equivalent shares by one-third and then by the Historical Fee Rate.
Fees Charged to CAT Executing Brokers
Historical CAT Assessment 1A will be charged to each CAT Executing Broker (CEBB and CEBS) for applicable transactions in Eligible Securities, as identified in CAT Data fields (e.g., Equity Order Trade, Option Trade, TRF/ORF/ADF transaction events).
Filing Is Immediately Effective
LTSE filed the proposed rule change on May 15, 2026 and the notice is one of immediate effectiveness; the Historical CAT Assessment 1A fees may be implemented right away to begin recovering the outstanding historical costs.
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