In the News

Slow Down: A Republican House Financial Services member urged Gary Gensler to take a look at a new analysis that “directly contradicts” some of the justifications for his overhaul of stock trading rules.

Mike Lawler wrote to the SEC chief this week, flagging Bloomberg Intelligence reports that conclude retail traders are getting “superior execution quality.” Gensler has long fretted that the current set-up where brokers are paid to send investors’ orders to market makers creates a conflict of interest and drives up costs.

The New York congressman suggested the data should spur the agency to “revisit the justification for, and the economic analysis underlying, the proposals and either withdraw or re-propose them.”

While the SEC has approved one plank of Gensler’s market structure overhaul, three controversial proposals remain pending, including one that would set a federal best-execution standard and another that would require retail trades to be sent to auctions.