U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signals possible compliance date adjustments after court upholds Regulation NMS access fee cap amendments

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s chair issued a statement following a U.S. court of appeals opinion on the Commission’s 2024 Regulation NMS reforms, welcoming the court’s denial of the challenge to the amendments that reduce access fee caps for protected quotations. He indicated that SEC staff will evaluate whether adjustments to the compliance dates for the access fee caps and minimum pricing increments are needed to address potential uncertainty created by the litigation. The 2024 rulemaking amended, among other provisions, Regulation NMS Rules 610 (access fee caps) and 612 (minimum pricing increments for quotations and orders for certain NMS stocks). The Commission previously stayed Rules 600(b)(89)(i)(F), 610(c) and 612 pending completion of judicial review, while not staying amendments to Rule 610(d), Rule 603(b), and the definitions of odd-lot information and round lot in Rule 600(b). The stated compliance date for Rule 612, Rule 610, and the round lot definition is the first business day of November 2025 (November 3, 2025), and for odd-lot information it is the first business day of May 2026 (May 4, 2026); the SEC has also received requests for a temporary two-year exemption from mandating dissemination of certain odd-lot information.