HISTORIC NEWS
THE END OF AN ERA - OTCBB GONE FOREVER
In an unpublicized move, FINRA owned Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) is closed for good. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a non-profit organization, had been trying unsuccessfully to sell the OTCBB since 2009. On July 27, 2014, FINRA quietly filed with the SEC a proposal to delete rules relating to OTCBB thus ceasing OCTBB operations. The OTCBB was retired on November 17, 2014.
An announcement at finra.org claims that “information currently available on OTCBB.com will become available on the Finra.org website.” Our investigation found no individual stock trade or reporting information available. When pressed, an un-named source at FINRA confirmed that the OTCBB is out of business for good.
Sources indicate the SEC release of October 7, 2014 states: “FINRA proposed to adopt rules: (1) governing the treatment of quotations in OTC equity securities by member inter-dealer quotation systems and addressing fair and non-discriminatory access to such systems; (2) requiring member inter-dealer quotation systems to provide FINRA with a written description of quotation-related data products offered and related pricing information, including fees, rebates, discounts and cross-product pricing incentives; (3) expanding the reporting requirements related to quotation information in OTC equity securities; and (4) deleting the Rule 6500 Series and related rules and thereby ceasing operation of the OTCBB.” (See SEC Release No. 34-72575; File No. SR-FINRA-2014-030)
The FINRA rule release request succeeded in eliminating the OTCBB and imposes governing regulations on the remaining inter-dealer quotation system namely, the OTC Markets comprised of the OTCQX, OTCQB, and Pinksheets (www.otcmarkets.com).
The OTCBB was the sole exchange for fully-reporting over-the-counter stocks until OTC Markets Group introduced their OTCQX and OTCQB exchanges in 2010.
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