FINRA Aligns CAT Timestamp Requirements with SEC Relief and Extension to 2030

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is updating Rule 6860(a)(2) so that industry members who use time stamps more granular than nanoseconds must continue to truncate (rather than round) those time stamps at the nanosecond level for Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) reporting. The expiration date for this requirement is now extended from April 8, 2025, to April 8, 2030, aligning with the expiration date for the SEC’s comparable exemptive relief to CAT participants. 

Amended FINRA Rule 6860(a)(2) is deemed effective immediately. In support of FINRA’s request for immediate effectiveness of this extension, the SEC waived the standard 30-day operative delay. The amendment aligns FINRA’s timestamp granularity requirements with those recently addressed by the SEC through exemptive relief.

The full proposed rule change can be found here.