Mar. 31, 2023
Dear Civil Servant, As an individual retail investor, I value the efforts being made to increase market competition and transparency, and I am delighted to offer my opinions on these suggestions. I hope that the suggested improvements to the market structure will be carried out successfully and honestly. Brokers act as agents for their clients, owing them a responsibility of best execution drawn from fiduciary duties and common law agency principles. It's time for the SEC to start enforcing the best execution rule, even though FINRA already has one in place. Even though I agree with the Best Execution criterion, I don't believe "conflicted orders" belong in it. As long as payment for order flow remains a practice, brokers with conflicts of interest will continue to send orders wherever they stand to gain the most profit. Due to concerns about conflicts of interest, PFOF has been virtually prohibited in the United Kingdom. I would want to see a similar regulation enacted in the United States. Although PFOF was not expressly prohibited in the UK, it was stated in the guidance that it did so because it constituted a conflict of interest. Some market makers were reminded that PFOF is inconsistent with the best execution when they developed their own definitions of PFOF arrangements. In order to assess the effects of not charging commissions on member firms' order-routing methods and decisions, as well as other parts of their operations, FINRA has started a targeted inquiry. According to FINRA, it will inform member companies of its findings at a later time. This information should be made available to the public as soon as practicable. Thank you, An individual investor