Thesys Technologies has won the bidding to build a vast Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) tracking transactions as they pass through US equity and options markets.
The CAT will create a single data warehouse to record and store the complete lifecycle of all orders and transactions passing through US trading venues.
The moves to build the database were sparked by the flash crash of 2010, which demonstrated the Securities and Exchange Commission's inability to keep pace with sub-second trading patterns initiated by automated robot traders.
But the regulator only gave the go-ahead to build it in November after a six-year tussle with market participants over the cost and complexity of the proposed model. The participants, collectively called the self-regulatory organisations, have been given responsibility to develop and implement it.
They have now picked Thesys to build and manage the project. The vendor beat off competition from 30 other respondents - including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Google, IBM and SunGard - to a 2013 RFP.
"After careful consideration following a thorough RFP process, a majority of the SROs have selected Thesys to deliver a solution for the CAT, and we're confident in Thesys's management, technology and resources to implement this important regulatory initiative," says the Operating Committee of CAT.