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By Douglas Gillison and Chris Prentice
(Reuters) -Wall Street's top regulator on Wednesday adopted rules tightening the time-frame for stock trades in an effort to tamp down the kind of risk seen in 2021's GameStop fiasco, when retail investors suffered heavy losses.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also proposed changing rules protecting client assets held by investment managers, a move that could hinder cryptocurrency platforms from serving a key marketplace role.
In a 3-2 vote, the SEC opted to shorten the time between when a securities order is placed and when a trade concludes -something officials say can lessen the kind of "systemic risk" spotlighted in early 2021 when the share price of the consumer electronics retailer GameStop Corp plummeted amid intense market volatility.
Trade groups have broadly welcomed the commission's proposal to cut the so-called settlement cycle to a single business day from two, six years after an earlier SEC rule shortened the period from three days.
But some have complained the commission isn't leaving enough time for them to adjust before the rule takes effect in May 2024. Republican Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda voted against the rule for this reason.
The longer a trade remains unsettled, the more likely a buyer or seller may default — by refusing to pay or to hand over shares sold.
Clearing houses can require trading platforms to offset such risks with margin deposits, costs that can skyrocket during volatility and market stress. High margin deposits caused trading platforms such as Robinhood Markets to block purchases of GameStop's shares in early 2021. The price then plummeted.
A shorter settlement cycle should see fewer defaults, helping cut margin costs and reducing the chances of such a scenario recurring, according to the SEC.
SEC TAKES AIM AT CRYPTO 'CUSTODIANS'
In a 4-1 vote, the commission proposed new requirements for investment advisers, who can only maintain custody of client funds or securities if they meet requirements to protect the assets.
The SEC's draft proposal would expand these requirements to any client assets, including real estate, loan participations and digital assets not currently deemed funds or securities.
Advisers need to hold investors’ assets with a firm deemed to be a "qualified custodian.” SEC enforcement staff have been probing registered investment advisors over whether they are meeting those existing rules when it comes to clients' digital assets, Reuters has previously reported.