The NYSE Group today announced agreements with Kestrel Technologies and Townsend Analytics, offering issuers, market professionals and investors additional ways to access NYSE Bonds(SM) platform through multiple front-end platforms, pending SEC approval.
“These strategic agreements give investors greater connectivity and wider access to the NYSE Bonds platform currently in development,” said John A. Thain, NYSE Group CEO. “This further supports our goal to offer the broadest range of products with the highest level of transparency and accessibility for all market participants.”
Using the design of the current NYSE Arca all-electronic trading platform, NYSE Bonds(SM) will provide more efficient and transparent trading in corporate debt issues for NYSE members entering orders in bonds listed on the Exchange. Pending SEC approval, the system will be expanded to include the corporate debt of all NYSE-listed equity issuers and their wholly-owned subsidiaries. Once approved, this exemption will expand the number of eligible bonds from approximately 1,000 today to as many as 6,000 in the future.
About e-Channel Manager™
Kestrel’s e-Channel Manager™ connects the Exchange with virtually any trading system and provides real-time links between the member firms front- and back-office systems, as well as any ECN and data source. It is a robust, modular connectivity suite, which facilitates real-time enterprise risk management and provides complete price transparency of global financial instruments.
About Kestrel Technologies
Kestrel Technologies is a leading provider of solutions for fixed income trading, portfolio and risk management, and market connectivity. Kestrel’s fixed income trading solutions are used by many of the world’s largest securities firms, including Primary U.S. Government bond dealers, institutional asset management firms, and hedge funds. Its multi-currency, distributed platforms enable both buy- and sell-side clients to publish orders, execute transactions, measure performance and manage risk in all securities markets anywhere in the world. Kestrel is headquartered in New York and has development offices in Burlington , Vermont , and Quincy , California .
About RealTick®
RealTick, created by Townsend Analytics, is the electronic trading industry’s premier multi-asset, multi-broker, and multi-route direct-access trading platform. RealTick delivers real-time market data, news and analytics; sophisticated trading tools; unrivaled access to brokers, exchanges and ECNs; and risk management tools to institutions, broker-dealers and individual investors. RealTick’s advanced technical design is supported by state-of-the-art data centers and a redundant network for market data and orders.
About Townsend Analytics (TAL)
Townsend Analytics has been changing the way the world trades since 1985. The Chicago-based company created many technology innovations that are now considered standards in the financial services industry. These include the first real-time financial software under Microsoft Windows®; the first product to provide real-time streaming data over the Internet; the first integrated solution for NASDAQ trading rooms; and the first Windows-based direct-access trading solution. Townsend Analytics also developed Archipelago and the Archipelago Exchange, the nation’s first all-electronic, fully open exchange. The firm has engineered direct-access solutions for money managers, asset managers, hedge funds and mutual funds worldwide. The firm’s four main lines of business include Trading Services, Content Services, Exchange Services, and Risk Management Services. Townsend Analytics, Ltd. is a wholly owned, independently-operated subsidiary of Lehman Brothers (ticker symbol: LEH).
About NYSE Group, Inc.
NYSE Group, Inc. (NYSE:NYX) operates two securities exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and NYSE Arca, Inc. (formerly known as the Archipelago Exchange, or ArcaEx®, and the Pacific Exchange). NYSE Group is a leading provider of securities listing, trading and market data products and services. In the third quarter of 2006, on an average trading day, 2.2 billion shares, valued at $80.1 billion, were traded on the exchanges of the NYSE Group.
The NYSE is the world’s largest and most liquid cash equities exchange. The NYSE provides a reliable, orderly, liquid and efficient marketplace where investors buy and sell listed companies’ common stock and other securities. On September 30, 2006 , the operating companies listed on the NYSE represented a total global market capitalization of $23.0 trillion.
NYSE Arca operates NYSE Arca, Inc., the first open, all-electronic stock exchange in the United States , and has a leading position in trading exchange-traded funds and exchange-listed securities. NYSE Arca, Inc. is also an exchange for trading equity options. NYSE Arca’s trading platforms provide customers with fast electronic execution and open, direct and anonymous market access.
NYSE Regulation, an independent not-for-profit subsidiary, regulates member organizations through the enforcement of marketplace rules and federal securities laws. NYSE Regulation also ensures that companies listed on the NYSE and NYSE Arca meet their financial and corporate governance listing standards.
For more information on NYSE Group, go to: www.nyse.com.
