NEW YORK -- More pressure for public debate on trading reform has been directed at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Times reported Monday. The change concerns the extent to which investors should receive the best price for stocks on offer anywhere on U.S. markets.
The draft proposal required the best-priced order to buy or sell on any individual market should trump a less attractive order on another market.
But a second-best order could be ignored in favor of a less attractive one elsewhere, as long as this was the other market's best order. SEC officials are said to be proposing this so-called "price protection" should be afforded to all displayed orders.
The Wall Street securities firm Bear Stearns is calling on the SEC either to drop the "very significant" change or make it public and allow more time for comment.
"We believe that this development is highly material and has not been subject to adequate public debate and vetting," the firm said in a letter to the SEC.
The five SEC commissioners are due to vote on the reforms Dec. 15.
