Securities Industry News articles from September 2003

Securities Industry News archives from September 2003

BOX Fuels Internalization Worries.
September 1, 2003... The Boston Stock Exchange's amended proposal for its Boston Options Exchange (BOX) platform has yet to win regulatory approval but it has already heightened industry fears that internalization may be gaining legitimacy. The BOX amendment...

Guvvie Gridlock: FICC reduces outstanding fails on 10-year notes.
September 1, 2003... The Fixed Income Clearing Corp. (FICC) said it had managed to reduce outstanding settlement fails on the May issue of the 10-year Treasury note to $15 billion by Friday. The latest effort on the part of the FICC completes the fourth round...

Smaller Is Better: Amid consolidation, micro-exchanges make return.
September 1, 2003... For every trend, there is a countertrend. That's why boutiques thrive in the era of superstores, minis are sharing the road with SUVs...and why small securities exchanges may be returning at a time when bigger was supposed to be better and more...

Nasdaq Eyes Standards Benefit From FIX Link.
September 1, 2003... Nasdaq's unveiling last week of FIX connectivity ends years of indifference on the part of Nasdaq to the protocol, and while the potential effect on SuperMontage's fading volume remains unclear, most market players contacted lauded the rollout...

New Regulations, Technology Move Russian Mart Forward.
September 1, 2003... It's been five years since the disastrous crash of 1998, and the Russian stock market-once dominated by a small circle of investors-has taken off. "Macroeconomic fundamentals have improved, reforms have progressed and the energy sector is...

Goldman, SLK Support Uniform Trading Rules For Nasdaq Marketplace.(Goldman Sachs & Co and Spear Leeds & Kellogg)
September 1, 2003... Nasdaq petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April to issue uniform Nasdaq trading rules and to order competing markets to shoulder the regulatory burden more equitably. The SEC opened up the petition for comments in May....

Two BondHubs Learn to Co-Exist.
September 1, 2003... In these days of fundamental worship of "brand" and related lawsuits filed over patent, copyright and trademark claims, it may come as refreshing to some that two industry e-bond systems-BondHub and Bond.Hub-have decided that scrapping over a...

Former President Berkeley Out at Nasdaq.
September 1, 2003... Alfred Berkeley, Nasdaq's first president from 1996 to 2000 and vice chairman since, is no longer with the electronic stock market, as the broad restructuring taking place under new CEO and President Robert Greifeld continues to unfold. ...

Axiom Capital Tests Institutional Instant Messaging.
September 1, 2003... Getting a jump on what could be an important new trend, a New Jersey-based technology firm and service bureau called Bon-Trade Solutions last week launched an instant messaging service that avoids the complications surrounding conventional IM...

eSpeed Too Late With Patent Claim?
September 1, 2003... In its response to a patent infringement suit filed by rival eSpeed this summer, BrokerTec claims that the trading protocol covered by the eSpeed patent is "a well-known and long-established protocol used commercially by [interdealer brokers]...

IPC Aids Ford After Blackout.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ford Motor Co.'s Treasury group in Detroit, which relies on trading turret provider IPC to support 50 positions, saw its trading desktop system come back up after the last month's blackout thanks to a Sunday call by an IPC technician. ...

Clearstream Levels Pricing Field for Its Customers.(Clearstream International)
September 1, 2003... Clearstream International plans to do away with sweetheart pricing deals for some of its largest clients. Effective Oct. 1, the international depository will allow all member firms to enjoy the benefits of reduced fees from group rates for...

Automated Messaging Key for Corporate Actions.
September 1, 2003... Before embarking on a project to automate the processing of corporate actions, institutions should remember the ancient Corporate Actions Proverb: "Grant me the serenity to accept complex corporate actions that I cannot automate, the courage to...

State Street Eyes October Consolidation of GSS Staff.
September 1, 2003... Continuing its integration plans with the former Deutsche Bank Global Securities Services (GSS), State Street in October will consolidate 300 of its staffers and those of GSS now scattered among New York City and Jersey City, N.J. offices into...

Switzerland's SegaIntersettle Trims Fees.(SIS SegaIntersettle )
September 1, 2003... In response to higher volumes, Switzerland's central depository, SIS SegaIntersettle will cut its settlement fees for cross-border transactions and custody fees, this month for several Scandinavian and Asian markets. While the new fees...

BBH Expands Communications Hub.(Brown Brothers Harriman uses software from Volante Technologies)
September 1, 2003... Boston-based custodian Brown Brothers Harriman has expanded its Infomediary communications platform using software from enterprise application integration provider Volante Technologies. The upgrade allows foreign exchange and settlement...

Foliage Software, FISD Team Up on MDDL Toolkit.(Foliage Software teams up with Financial Information Services Division of Software & Information Industry Association)
September 1, 2003... In an effort to build traction for the market data definition language, Foliage Software, in cooperation with the Financial Information Services Division of the Software & Information Industry Association, is developing an MDDL toolkit that...

Thomson Adds CheckFree Data to Adviser Offering.(Thomson Financial announced agreement with CheckFree Investment Services)
September 1, 2003... Thomson Financial announced an agreement last week with CheckFree Investment Services, to add CheckFree's separately managed account (SMA) data to Thomson ONE Advisor, the retail and wealth management component of Thomson ONE, which integrates...

CityIQ Proposes Alternatives to Omgeo Databases.
September 1, 2003... London-based consultancy CityIQ is promoting four alternatives for buy- and sell-side firms to using the centralized Alert and SID databases run by Omgeo, relying on the latest version of the FIX protocol, 4.4, and Web services. CityIQ has...

SEC Chairmen on Internalization.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen have consistently opposed internalization because the practice might be harmful to investors-even though that view is not unanimously shared by market participants or unequivocally supported by data....

Maximum Security: Exchanges beef up perimeters in wake of attacks.(Industry Overview)
September 8, 2003... While backup centers and redundant networks have been hot topics since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. exchanges have also devoted significant resources to beefing up the once-lax security at their facilities. In Lower Manhattan, the barricades and...

eSpeed Gets Back on Track.
September 8, 2003... Two years after the tragedy that befell Cantor Fitzgerald and its eSpeed subsidiary, eSpeed is back on its plan to expand beyond its core on-the-run U.S. Treasuries and global government securities, into over half a dozen other products. ...

Firms Look Close to Home for Backup.
September 8, 2003... Financial firms continue to procure backup facilities in and around the New York metropolitan area as business continuity concerns remain high, though some are re-thinking the distances it could take to achieve "full redundancy" in the wake of...

Shareholders to Pay Price In BOTCC-Eurex Venture.
September 8, 2003... The Board of Trade Clearing Corp.'s clearing union with Eurex detailed last week not only represents a change in BOTCC's model, it also may place a heavier burden on the clearinghouse's shareholders. Akin to the sister Options Clearing...

SEC Gives NYSE tight DeadlineTo Answer on Grasso.
September 8, 2003... New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso's $139.5-million compensation package raised many eyebrows. But to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, what Grasso's package raises is serious concern about its source...

New Book Offers Guide to Tax Reclamation.
September 8, 2003... As if there hadn't been enough ink spilled on explaining the complications of the post-trade process, one more book has emerged to shed some light on the intricacies behind the arcane tax reclamation process. Written by Ross McGill, a...

Manifest Seeks U.K. Voting Reform.
September 8, 2003... Manifest, the London-based proxy voting agency, has called for the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the U.K's securities watchdog, to regulate voting by institutional investors. The request follows an investigation by U.K. multinational...

Reuters Eyes TradeWeb in Bid to Grow in Fixed Income.
September 8, 2003... Reuters is in the preliminary stages of talks with fixed-income dealer-to-client electronic trading system TradeWeb about acquiring the company, according to sources. While spokespersons for Reuters and TradeWeb declined to comment, such...

Moneyline Lands Citigroup Biz.
September 8, 2003... In a big win for Moneyline Telerate, Citigroup's global fixed-income division has selected the vendor as its primary market data provider. Under the deal, Moneyline Telerate will support close to 2,000 positions. A spokesman for the...

SEB Moving Trades to Forexster; Bear Stearns on Deck.
September 8, 2003... Sweden-based SEB Merchant Banking is set to become a liquidity provider this fall for Forexster, an auction-based, online foreign exchange trading platform that was launched earlier this year. SEB Merchant Banking is a division of SEB...

PHLX Caps Options Fees Amid Heated Competition.
September 8, 2003... The Philadelphia Stock Exchange wants to cap fees that brokerages pay to trade options on the oldest U.S. exchange, in the latest evidence that competition remains fierce in the options universe. "This is a revolutionary concept in the...

Transparency Spurs bond Innovation.
September 8, 2003... The future of bond trading operations hinges on transparency and straight-through processing (STP) initiatives, according to experts interviewed by Securities Industry News. Yet of the two, transparency has emerged as the greater driver of...

BMA Plan highlights sector's challenges.
September 8, 2003... After heavily promoting the development of a comprehensive, standard master database (SMD) portal of fixed-income, new-issue data to help standardize the bond syndication and trading processes, the Bond Market Association has quietly quit the...

Credit Default Swaps: a Driver for E-Bond Trading.
September 8, 2003... Does the credit derivatives market represent the future of electronic corporate bond trading? The answer to that question is yes, said Rick McVey, CEO of Market- Axess, which has staked its success on trading ever-greater volumes of...

SunGard Set to Launch New Front-End Platform.
September 8, 2003... SunGard is about to launch U2, its new front-end platform that may eventually replace UMA, the IT company's current quote management and market-making access system. "We are very close to launching our new market access platform U2. We're...

FundsHub Outsources Pricing to MoneyMate.
September 8, 2003... J.P. Morgan Chase's FundsHub has outsourced the collection of fund prices to Dublin-based MoneyMate, which has launched the first intraday fund pricing service for U.K. and Continental European investment funds. FundsHub, which provides...

What Nasdaq & NYSE Changed Post-9/11.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Under the guidance of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the NYSE and Nasdaq entered into a pact to trade each other's stocks in the event of a disaster. The NYSE has finished testing its ability to trade the top 250 Nasdaq stocks...

Xcitek Signs J.P. Morgan Securities.
September 8, 2003... Xcitek, the largest provider of corporate actions processing software, has expanded its relationship with J.P. Morgan Securities to install its Xcitek SolutionsPlus (XSP) software package in the firm's Sydney operations. The...

Market Backs Nasdaq FIX Strategy, Fees Plans.
September 8, 2003... Most observers say the fees Nasdaq proposed last week for its recently announced FIX link are reasonable and consistent with what Nasdaq users would otherwise have to pay for computer-to-computer interface (CTCI) connectivity, and that they...

MSRB Scraps Trade-Halt Request.(Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board)
September 8, 2003... The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) said last week that it withdrew its request for emergency trade halt authority, per a request by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), so that the regulators, which were due to rule on...

Buy Side Seeks Auto-Ex.
September 15, 2003... Following buy-side criticism of the New York Stock Exchange's Institutional XPress electronic order execution system and a less-than-enthusiastic reaction to the recently launched LiquidityQuote institutional quote service, the NYSE is...

Nasdaq to Phase Out Workstation II?
September 15, 2003... Nasdaq is planning to phase out its Workstation II terminal and offer a new direct-access front end, which will support the stock market's plan to adopt outbound features, industry sources said. "Nasdaq has decided to develop a new front...

What's Old Is New: Eurex to use souped-up a/c/e platform in U.S. push.
September 15, 2003... Eurex, which has been long in announcements about invading U.S. derivatives markets but short on details, said it would use a loaded version of its scalable a/c/e platform to support its U.S. operations. "For more than three years, we have...

Blackout Inspires Cutting-Edge BCP Innovation.
September 15, 2003... The nation's largest blackout provided an important trial of post-9/11 business continuity plans and technologies, according to experts, with previous innovations like fuel cells and long-distance data replication generating post-power-outage...

Data Aggregation, Systems Key in Quest To Manage Risk.
September 15, 2003... Data aggregation and information systems represent a key cog in risk management, according to a white paper released last month by a joint forum comprising the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Organization of Securities...

BOTCC, CME Backers Debate Split.
September 15, 2003... The divorce between the Board of Trade Clearing Corp. (BOTCC) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is close to being finalized, but that isn't preventing advocates of each side from continuing to defend their positions and resurrect the issue...

Change Remains Constant at Nasdaq.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... This time, it's official: Alfred Berkeley, Nasdaq's first president from 1996 to 2000 and vice chairman since, is no longer with the electronic stock market...although Nasdaq continues to list him among its top executives on its Web site. ...

Bloomberg Rolls Out IM Service With FaceTime's Help.
September 15, 2003... Bloomberg is rolling out a new instant messaging service, called Instant Bloomberg, and has integrated the service with FaceTime's IM Auditor, which also is integrated with the IM services offered by Reuters and Communicator. Bloomberg...

BMA: Projects Could Automate New-Issue Reporting.
September 15, 2003... The Bond Market Association said last week that it was working with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and "others" on projects to resolve the lack of pricing data on new issues of municipal bonds. While the BMA did not describe its...

Amex Consolidates Data into Single Warehouse.
September 15, 2003... Reveleus, a division of Bombay, India-based I-Flex, is announcing today that the American Stock Exchange will create a single data warehouse for market surveillance using the vendor's software. Amex had previously relied on about...

Bank of Bermuda Taps SunGard for Pricing Services.
September 15, 2003... The Bank of Bermuda has chosen SunGard Data Systems' Reech FastVal ASP service to replace a largely manual process in pricing over-the-counter and other exotic derivatives-across equity, fixed-income, foreign exchange and credit asset...

Singapore Exchange Rolling Out E-Trading System.
September 15, 2003... Patsystems, a supplier of screen-based trading technology for the derivatives industry, last week said it had completed the installation of its Electronic Broker System at the Singapore Exchange (SEX) for derivatives trading. The EBS...

Spain to Launch CCP for Bonds.
September 15, 2003... Meff, the Spanish futures and options market, will expand its central counterparty service for derivatives to the government bond market, effective Sept. 18. Spain is one of the last European markets to adopt a central counterparty service...

Pennies for Options Trading and Indexes for All.
September 15, 2003... The International Securities Exchange (ISE) wants to bring decimals to nickel-trading U.S. options markets and end exclusive index contracts-two proposals that, if approved, would hurt its floor competitors. According to industry sources,...

What They Say About Exclusive Index Rights.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Executives at U.S. options exchanges already exchanged heated comments about the merits of exclusive rights for index contracts during on April conference last April. "This exchange has used its own intellectual capital and paid dearly to...

Wall Street Still Wary of Year-Old 10-Gig Ethernet.
September 15, 2003... Last summer, when 10-gigabit Ethernet was first approved, it was an untried and expensive networking technology. While regular one-gigabit Ethernet switches cost about $1,000 each, 10-gigabit Ethernet came in at between $30,000 and $50,000...

A Brief History of Ethernet and Its Networking Role.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Ethernet is a communication method for computer networks that was first invented by Bob Metcalfe in the late 1970s. He called it the "Ethernet" after the mystical ether, which was once thought to fill space and through which light and radio...

CLS Adds Currencies Amid Testing of System Upgrade.
September 15, 2003... The addition of support for four new currencies and progress in testing an enhanced technology infrastructure are signs that the much-touted CLS settlement system for foreign exchange trades is making continued headway. CLS Bank announced...

Canada Moves to Real-Time Settlement Platform.
September 15, 2003... The Canadian Depository for Securities, Canada's central depository, last week said that it has shifted the bulk of Canada's equities onto a new real-time settlement platform, CDSX, with the remaining 1,700 to be shifted in October. The...

BMA, FICC Agree on Cleanup of Failed 10-Year Notes.
September 15, 2003... The Bond Market Association said last week it had reached a formal agreement to use an automated process of the Fixed Income Clearing Corp. (FICC) to identify "round-robin chains" in the cleanup of settlement failures of the May 15, 2013...

Study: Customer ID Rules Boost Voice Authentication.
September 15, 2003... Anti-money laundering (AML) rules for customer authentication required by the controversial USA Patriot Act, as well as security and privacy obligations like HIPPA and Gramm-Leach Bliley regulations, have spurred adoption of voice...

PHLX to Launch Hybrid Trading.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) plans a fall launch of Phl XL, a new hybrid electronic options trading system that promises to deliver the best features of electronic and floor-based trading. Like the Chicago Board Options Exchange...

Merrill Lynch Taps royalblue.
September 15, 2003... Merrill Lynch has renewed and expanded a relationship with sell-side order management system provider royalblue to include U.S. domestic equity trading in addition to international equity trading capability, according to a Royalblue executive....

On Equal Footing: Nasdaq wants to rank ECN orders on par with market-makers.
September 22, 2003... Nasdaq wants to treat orders from low-fee ECNs and market-makers on equal footing, a bold gamble that would streamline SuperMontage's complex model and may lure key players like Instinet. Market participants today can enter orders on...

J.P. Morgan Readies Dallas Backup Site.
September 22, 2003... J.P. Morgan Chase has settled on an existing Dallas facility to back up its government clearing operations, said Alicia Herr, a bank spokeswoman, last week. The Bank of New York-the only other bank to provide processing and settlement in...

ArcaEx Eyes Pacific Exchange Options Deal.
September 22, 2003... With a successful equity rollout under its belt, the ArcaEx exchange may now be mulling a move into options trading-a business that its partner, the Pacific Exchange (PCX), wants to demutualize. The PCX became the first U.S. securities...

Barclays Seeks Global Platform for Fixed Income.(chief information officer Nancy Gloor)(Interview)
September 22, 2003... Barclays Capital earlier this month named Nancy Gloor, formerly a managing director at Goldman Sachs, to the newly created position of managing director and global head of fixed-income technology, as well as CIO for the Americas. Gloor, who...

NFA President Roth: Time to Reexamine Good and Bad of SROs.(National Futures Association )(Transcript)
September 22, 2003... Against the backdrop of the controversy over New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso's compensation, and the questions it raises for self-regulatory organizations in general, National Futures Association President Daniel J. Roth spoke...

New Tome Rips Recent Reuters Decisions.(Breaking News: How the Wheels Came Off Reuters)(Book Review)
September 22, 2003... "Breaking News: How the Wheels Came Off Reuters," a book about the rise and decline of the market data vendor, was released in the United Kingdom last Wednesday and is expected to be available in the United States in November. The book, written...

Eurex Seeking U.S. License for Trans-Atlantic Goal.
September 22, 2003... In a crucial step for its trans-Atlantic strategy, Swiss-German derivatives giant Eurex last week filed for a U.S. market license to trade futures and futures options on highly liquid 2- to 10-year U.S. and European government debt. If...

Voice-Based Identification Sees Time Horizon: Oct. 1.
September 22, 2003... The convergence of privacy and security rules governing customer identity and authentication set to become effective Oct. 1, including anti-money laundering (AML) mandates for verifying customer identity required by the USA Patriot Act, and the...

Reuters Plans to Quicken Pace of Offshore Migration.
September 22, 2003... Reuters-which earlier this year announced it was sending more development-related work offshore, to Bangkok, Thailand-will almost double the number of employees there next year, to 600. Meanwhile, the number of employees in a new Bangalore,...

EMX Turns to Logica as Volumes on System Rise.
September 22, 2003... EMX, the electronic trading messaging service for U.K. investment funds, confirmed last week that it has replaced Fidelity Investments subsidiary MFT as its technology provider with Logica CMG. Market talk of the switch followed the...

Treasury Studies Market Ops Impact of Blackout.
September 22, 2003... The U.S. Treasury Department has embarked on a study of the impact of the nation's largest blackout on the operations of the securities markets, according to Michael A. Dawson, deputy assistant secretary of critical infrastructure protection...

Homeland's Cyber-Center: Bridge to FS/Isac.(U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team working with the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center )
September 22, 2003... The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate's (IAIP's) new cyber-threat and intrusion-detection unit, the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team (U.S.-Cert), announced last week...

SwiftNet FIX Messaging Hub Gains Early Adopters.
September 22, 2003... Swift, the banking and securities industry messaging utility, added more early adopters to its SwiftNet FIX hub this month. San Diego-based Nicholas Applegate, Stockholm-based Enskilda Securities and London's Loomis, Sayles & Co. have joined...

NYFIX Millennium to Launch After-Hours Cross.
September 22, 2003... NYFIX Millennium, the alternative trading system focusing on listed stocks, plans to launch an after-hours cross in the first week of October that will offer continuous matching between 4:02 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. (EST), providing another vehicle...

LatentZero Adds to Links.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... Order management system provider LatentZero will announce today that it has added NYFIX to its list of liquidity providers, according to LatentZero executives. The new interface with NYFIX provides LatentZero's buy-side clients with direct...

ISDA/FpML Joins ISO, Seeks FPL Tie-Up.(International Swaps and Derivatives Association, International Standards Organization, and FIX Protocol Ltd. )
September 22, 2003... In a move to exert more influence on the development of the ISO 15022 messaging standard, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has requested Liaison A status from the Geneva-based International Standards Organization...

SunGard Targets German Market with Forbatec Buy.
September 22, 2003... SunGard Investment Management, a unit of SunGard Data Systems, has expanded its stronghold in the German-speaking market through the acquisition of Forbatec, the country's largest fund administration software provider. Through its V3...

Swift Proceeds With IP Migration; Extension Possible?
September 22, 2003... In a push to ramp up the migration to its new IP-based network, Swift plans to use next month's Sibos conference in Singapore as an opportunity to tout SwiftNet FIN ahead of its year-end 2004 deadline. But industry sources said a fallback plan...

Grasso's Exit May Revive Stand-Alone SRO Debate.(self-regulatory organizations )
September 22, 2003... New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso's resignation last week may breathe new life into the debate about the need for independent market regulators. As self-regulatory organizations (SROs) operating a market, U.S. exchanges face...

NexTrade vs. Instinet Ongoing Despite ProTrader Spinoff.
September 22, 2003... The ProTrader name may no longer be around, but Florida-based NexTrade intends to keep on pressing its $105-million case against Instinet for alleged fraud and trademark infringement. "This has no bearing on the case, which is still going...

HSBC Brokerage Ditches Pershing to Go Self-Clearing.
September 22, 2003... HSBC Brokerage (USA), the New York City-based retail brokerage arm of HSBC Bank USA, confirmed last week that it recently moved its clearing operations in-house from Pershing. HSBC Brokerage had relied on Pershing-now owned by the Bank of...