Statement from NYSE Chairman and CEO Dick Grasso, April 25, 2002

The initiative announced today will help strengthen investor confidence in the integrity of a process that is critical to the efficient functioning of equities markets. It is a clear signal to America's 85 million individual investors that their confidence and participation in our markets represent a national asset that is essential to America's leadership in the world arena.

There is no room in financial markets, nor in financial intermediaries, for those who would put their own interests ahead of those of their customers.

I congratulate New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt for their leadership in addressing this important issue. We look forward to launching this partnership and are confident that the public interest will be served.