NYSE, FINRA CONSOLIDATE INSIDER TRADING ENFORCEMENT FOR 10 EXCHANGES

Posted August 13, 2008

NEW YORK – NYSE Regulation Inc. and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have reached an agreement with 10 US exchanges to consolidate surveillance, investigation and enforcement operations concerning insider trading in equity securities.

“This breakthrough agreement will allow NYSE Regulation and FINRA to implement across markets their state-of-the-art insider trading surveillance and investigation programs for all listed securities in the United States," says Richard G. Ketchum, Chief Executive Officer, NYSE Regulation Inc., and Chairman, FINRA. “A focused, consolidated review strengthens our ability to prevent anyone from profiting from insider information.”

NYSE Regulation Inc. will be responsible for NYSE- and NYSE Arca-listed securities, while FINRA will be responsible for Amex- and Nasdaq-listed securities. The participating US market centers are the American Stock Exchange, Boston Stock Exchange, CBOE Stock Exchange, Chicago Stock Exchange, International Securities Exchange, Nasdaq Stock Market, National Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and FINRA.

“While US equity markets have always coordinated very well with each other to detect and investigate insider trading, this agreement takes insider trading surveillance to a new level because it consolidates within FINRA and NYSE Regulation what used to be 11 discrete programs at each market center,” says FINRA Senior Executive Vice President Stephen Luparello. “As a result, potential insider traders, whether acting alone or in concert with others, and regardless of where they trade in the US, will be more readily identified in this new, more unified structure.”

The agreement has been filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and is within the purview of Section 17(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, Section 15 U.S.C. §78q(d), and SEC Rule 17d-2, that allows the SEC to approve plans for the allocation of regulatory responsibility among self-regulatory organizations.