SEC Approves Pilot NASD Alternative Display Facility - Sets Meeting To Consider SuperMontage Conditions

The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved a proposal by the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. to operate the Alternative Display Facility (ADF) on a pilot basis until April 24, 2003, for Nasdaq securities only. The ADF is intended to satisfy a statutory requirement under the federal securities laws that the NASD encourage fair and informative quotations by its members and is a precondition to the operation of Nasdaq's next generation trading platform known as SuperMontage.

In its order approving the SuperMontage, the Commission conditioned the launch of SuperMontage on, among other things, the implementation by the NASD of a facility that "permits NASD members to comply with their obligations under Commission and NASD rules … without participating in the Nasdaq execution facility." The Commission will consider the extent to which the preconditions of SuperMontage have been satisfied at an open Commission meeting currently scheduled for Aug. 12, 2002.

Copies of the proposal can be obtained by contacting the SEC's Public Reference Room, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549-0609 or by accessing the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.