On March 14th, the SEC voted to propose new Rule 610T of Regulation NMS to conduct a Transaction Fee Pilot in National Market System (NMS) stocks. This pilot would subject stock exchange fee pricing (such as “maker-taker” fee-and-rebate pricing models) to new temporary restrictions across three test groups. It would also require the exchanges to prepare and publicly post data pertaining to the pilot study. According to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, the pilot is “...designed to generate data that will provide the Commission, market participants, and the public with information to facilitate an informed, data-driven discussion about transaction fees and rebates and their impact on order routing behavior, execution quality, and market quality in general.” The information gathered from this pilot study may elucidate the effects of transaction-based fees and rebates while allowing for an evaluation of any potential regulatory action, including possible changes to Rule 610(c) of Regulation NMS.

On March 14th, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to the public liquidity-related disclosure requirements as they apply to certain open-end investment management companies. These amendments would replace a pending requirement that funds publicly provide the aggregate liquidity classification profile of their portfolios quarterly on Form N-PORT.

On March 12, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.1 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release introduces new form types SF-1MEF and 486BXT and contains various changes and corrections to other forms.

On March 6th, the XBRL US Domain Steering Committee, approved and posted a new XBRL US reference document for a 30-day review period, the Taxonomy Approval Metrics & Process (TAM).

On February 12th, the SEC released a notice to N-CEN and N-PORT filers to remind them of the temporary final rule which requires funds in larger fund groups (for example, fund groups with $1 billion or more in net assets) to maintain in their records the information that is mandated to be included in Form N-PORT in lieu of filing this form via EDGAR. The temporary final rule applies until April 1, 2019. Of key importance, the information the funds in larger fund groups maintain in their records will be subject to examination by the Commission. New Forms N-PORT and N-CEN were adopted by the SEC on October 13th, 2016 in an effort to enhance transparency and modernize reporting requirements for registered investment companies.

On January 25th, the SEC’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) introduced its Diversity Assessment Report for Entities Regulated by the SEC, which is designed to help regulated entities conduct voluntary self-assessments of diversity policies and practices.

The SEC’s Office of Financial Management Filing Fees announced the release of the web-based Registration Fee Estimator 1.2. Included in this release are all effective fee-bearing form types.