FINRA Chief Wants SEC To Consider Separate HFT Licensing

Everyone from the Securities and Exchange Commission to the FBI and the Department of Justice is investigating high frequency trading (HFT) these days to decide whether the tactics used harm the market, involve fraud, or otherwise need to be regulated, partially in response to new public awareness of the practice from Michael Lewis’ highly critical bestseller Flash Boys. At a recent speech at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) annual conference, FINRA chief executive Richard Ketchum pushed for a small but significant change in current policy.

“I think...