(Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rescheduled a Wednesday public meeting at which officials were due to vote on proposed new rules requiring more traders in U.S. government bonds to register with the agency, it said on Tuesday.
The proposal, part of a wider SEC effort to make the $26 trillion Treasury market more resilient, has faced opposition from industry representatives who say that the rule, as written, could reduce liquidity by making it more costly for some investors to participate.
The five-member commission will now meet on Feb. 6 instead of Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. eastern time, a notice posted to the agency’s website said. The meeting time had been adjusted twice already.
An SEC spokesperson said the commission only votes when officials believe a rule is ready. “In this case, we’re taking a few more days,” the spokesperson said.
The proposal aims to expand the definition of a dealer to include traders who meet certain thresholds in activities conducted “as part of a regular business.” That would require them to register with the SEC, become members of securities exchanges and comply with related securities laws.
SEC officials say such traders provide an increasingly important share of the market liquidity traditionally provided by SEC-registered brokerages but can lack the protections that come with registration and support market resiliency.
(Reporting by Douglas Gillison; Editing by Richard Chang)
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