On September 14, 2012, the SEC issued an order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings to the New York Stock Exchange LLC (NYSE) and NYSE Euronext. According to the Order: "When Congress mandated a national market system ('NMS') for trading securities in 1975, it emphasized that consolidated data 'would form the heart of the national market system.'... Accordingly, exchanges are required to send their best-priced quotations (or "quotes") and trade reports to be included in the consolidated feeds.... [T]o preserve the integrity of the consolidated feeds, a Commission rule--Rule 603(a) of Regulation NMS--requires that exchanges distribute market data on terms that are 'fair and reasonable' and 'not unreasonably discriminatory.' ... Over an extended period, NYSE violated Rule 603(a) in connection with the release of certain data through two proprietary feeds.... NYSE violated Rule 603(a) of Regulation NMS and the record retention provisions of Section 17(a)(1) of the Exchange Act and Rule 17a-1 thereunder. NYSE Euronext, which supplied the personnel responsible for these systems and compliance issues, caused the violations."

On September 14, 2012, the SEC announced that it brought first-of-its-kind charges against the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") and its parent company NYSE Euronext for compliance failures that gave certain customers an improper head start on trading information. SEC Regulation National Market System prohibits the practice of improperly sending market data to proprietary customers before sending that data to be included in what are known as consolidated feeds, which broadly distribute trade and quote data to the public. This ensures the public has fair access to current market information. According to the SEC's order, NYSE violated this rule over an extended period of time beginning in 2008 by sending data through two of its proprietary feeds before sending data to the consolidated feeds. NYSE's inadequate compliance efforts failed to monitor the speed of its proprietary feeds compared to its data transmission to the consolidated feeds. Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, NYSE and NYSE Euronext agreed to a settlement. Accordingly, the SEC's order censures NYSE, imposes a $5 million penalty, and requires both NYSE and NYSE Euronext to cease and desist from committing or causing any future violations. Additionally, NYSE and NYSE Euronext are required to retain an independent consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of their market data delivery systems to ensure that they comply with Rule 603(a).