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The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA) has designated the NASDAQ Global Large Mid Cap Index (Nasdaq:NQGLMCI) as an alternative index to allow member firms to calculate position limits on conventional equity options on foreign listed securities. Beginning June 27, member firms may use securities in the NASDAQ Global Large Mid Cap Index for purposes of position limit and quote criteria, pursuant to FINRA Rule 2360.
The NASDAQ Global Large Mid Cap Index is part of the NASDAQ Global Index Family, which provides a transparent, rules-based benchmark for institutional investors. This family is specifically designed to meet the needs of institutions that are facing continued demands to track the global equity market. The NASDAQ Global Large Mid Cap Index is a free-float adjusted market capitalization-weighted index designed to track the performance of securities in the NASDAQ Global Market Index (Nasdaq:NQGI) that comprise the large- and mid-cap segment of companies. Securities in the NASDAQ Global Large Mid Cap Index are evaluated semi-annually in March and September to allow for continued and correct representation of the changing global equity markets.
FINRA's addition of NASDAQ's Global Large Mid Cap Index through Regulatory Notice 13-20 can benefit traders by increasing competition among index providers. Before designating the NASDAQ index, FINRA previously designated only the FTSE All-World Index to calculate OTC option position limits for foreign listed securities. In addition to increased competition, this change may allow members to use higher position limits on conventional equity options overlying a broader range of foreign securities.
"Through increased competition, FINRA member firms that buy data to monitor securities in these indexes will benefit from having an additional option which has the potential to lower pricing," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "This announcement comes when the index industry is undergoing a transformation and investors are looking at a number of different index providers based on overall value. This designation by a highly-regarded regulator such as FINRA comes as we have developed our index business – NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes – into a premier, world-wide index operator."
The NASDAQ Global Index Family represents more than 98% of the global equity investable marketplace and consists of more than 24,000 indexes. The family covers more than 9,000 securities with a combined float-adjusted market capitalization of over $37 trillion and consists of global securities broken down by market segment, region, country, size and sector.
For more information about FINRA's designation, visit http://www.finra.org/web/groups/industry/@ip/@reg/@notice/documents/notices/p269886.pdf
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