NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that they have completed the previously announced agreement under which FINRA will assume responsibility for performing the market surveillance and enforcement functions currently conducted by NYSE Regulation. The agreement is effective immediately.
Under the agreement, FINRA will assume regulatory functions for NYSE Euronext's U.S. equities and options markets – the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca and NYSE Amex. FINRA currently provides regulatory services to the NASDAQ Stock Market, NASDAQ Options Market, NASDAQ OMX Philadelphia, NASDAQ OMX Boston, The BATS Exchange and The International Securities Exchange.
"Consolidating our surveillance and enforcement functions with those performed by FINRA for other markets is an important step toward creating a consistent and completely integrated approach to regulation," said NYSE Euronext COO Lawrence Leibowitz.
"This agreement is a significant step in addressing the fragmented trading environment, which has eroded the ability of regulators to get a complete picture of market activity" said Richard Ketchum, FINRA's Chairman and CEO. "It will allow FINRA to better capture and analyze data that can help us detect problematic trading activity across multiple markets and financial products. This more holistic, unified approach to regulating trading goes a long way toward strengthening our ability to protect investors – and has multiple benefits for the markets."
"Today's agreement advances the integration of regulatory services under FINRA that began with the consolidation of NASD and NYSE's member-firm regulation that created FINRA in 2007," said James Duffy, Interim CEO of NYSE Regulation and a member of the FINRA Board of Governors.
NYSE Euronext, through its subsidiary NYSE Regulation, remains ultimately responsible for overseeing FINRA's performance of regulatory services for the NYSE markets. It also retains staff associated with rule interpretations, and oversight of listed issuers' compliance with the NYSE markets' financial and corporate-governance standards. The agreement involves approximately 225 staff, most of whom are being transferred to FINRA.