On April 11, 2023, the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) issued a public comment on four proposed rules promulgated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“the SEC”). The four proposed rules target national market system (“NMS”) stocks by (1) expanding disclosures of order execution information (“Rule 605 Proposal”);[1] (2) amending minimum pricing increments, access fees, and transparency requirements (“Regulation NMS Proposal”);[2] (3) enhancing competition for certain orders (“Order Competition Proposal”);[3] and (4) establishing a duty of best execution for certain market participants (“Best Execution Proposal”).[4] The DOJ’s comment warns the SEC of the possible negative interactions between the four proposed rules and the antitrust dangers of issuing the rules all at once.Continue Reading DOJ Antitrust Division Cautions SEC on Proposed Equity Market Restructuring

On June 22, 2020, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, head of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, and Jay Clayton, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) concerning “Cooperation with Respect to Promoting Competitive Conditions in the Securities Industry.”
Continue Reading SEC and DOJ Adopt Memorandum of Understanding to Formalize Interagency Cooperation in the Securities Industry