NYSE Further Amends Proposed Constitution: Individual Investors To Be Represented On Board Of Executives

In a memorandum to New York Stock Exchange members, Interim Chairman and CEO John S. Reed said the Exchange's board of directors yesterday approved further amendments in the new constitution that is pending review by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The board voted:

to add a "representative of individual investors" to the Board of Executives. "A useful additional voice," Mr. Reed said;
to remove the requirement that specialist representatives on the Board of Executives be the chief or principal officer of the specialist firm, thereby increasing the pool of potential candidates. The amendment does require that each person in this category be registered as a specialist and spend substantial time on the NYSE trading floor;
to make clear that standing committees may hire legal counsel or advisors, and that if done these should be different than counsel or advisors that are hired by the NYSE. "A needed governance detail," Mr. Reed said;
and to include in the constitution the four items that were described in the cover letter mailed with the proxy.

Mr. Reed said in the memorandum that the SEC is receiving comment letters on the proposed constitution "and presumably will act on it in December."

John S. Reed memorandum to NYSE members (.pdf)

Details of Additional Amendments to the Constitution (.pdf)