On July 12th, the SEC announced proposed rules that would amend and enhance Rule 15c3-3 (the rule that protects a customer’s cash and securities held at a carrying broker-dealer). The rules would require certain broker-dealers to increase the frequency with which they perform customer and broker-dealer reserve computations of the net cash they owe to customers and other broker-dealers (referred to as PAB account holders) from weekly to daily. Performing these computations with increased frequency would better correspond with the inflows, swings, and balances that broker-dealers currently are experiencing in the markets. Under Rule 15c3-3, carrying broker-dealers are required to have a special reserve bank account at a bank that must hold cash or qualified securities in an amount determined by a computation of the net cash owed to the carrying broker-dealer’s customers and PAB account holders. Continue reading "SEC Proposes Amendments to the Broker-Dealer..." »