Mr. Bannister will report to Douglas H. Shulman, NASD's President of Regulatory Services and Operations while based in London.
"Nick's vast knowledge and extensive experience with international markets adds an important dimension to our capabilities, and will enable NASD to participate more directly and fully in providing regulatory expertise and services to leading markets around the world," said Shulman. "With financial markets becoming more interconnected, his appointment will be an important step in reaching our goal of being more engaged in international efforts to create global market integrity."
Shulman continued, "There are many important developments in market and regulatory regimes taking place in the global securities arena, and investors will be well served by NASD's involvement as capital markets are developed and strengthened."
"As the world's leading private sector securities market regulator, NASD plays a vital role in ensuring market integrity," said Bannister. "My primary objective will be to participate in strengthening securities regulation globally, and to ensure that NASD's experience and expertise is available to market regulators and participants in key markets around the world."
Mr. Bannister comes to NASD after spending his entire professional life in the securities business, most recently as Chairman of the Wholesale Banking division of ABN AMRO in North America. He was appointed to the board of ABN AMRO NA Company, which controlled the Bank's overall US operations, and was responsible for a staff of 4,000 and all product lines within the wholesale division. Additionally, he oversaw and managed the integration of ING Barings' U.S. business, which included Furman Selz. Earlier, Mr. Bannister was the Head of Global Sales at UBS Ltd., and held positions at Warburg Securities, Alex Brown & Sons and Lazard Brothers.
NASD is the leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory services, dedicated to bringing integrity to the markets and confidence to investors through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. NASD touches virtually every aspect of the securities business - from registering and educating all industry participants, to examining securities firms, enforcing both NASD rules and the federal securities laws, and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and member firms. For more information, please visit our Web Site at www.nasd.com.
