NASD OK changes to join with NYSE

WASHINGTON - Members of NASD have approved bylaw changes needed to combine with NYSE Group Inc. and form one organization to regulate U.S. securities brokers and dealers, NASD said Sunday.
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Consolidating the self-regulatory functions of NASD, formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers, and NYSE into one entity will help end duplication, reduce costs and make U.S. markets more competitive, NASD said in a news release.

"The securities industry has embraced replacing an outdated regulatory structure with one that better serves firms and investors in a fast-changing marketplace," said NASD Chairman and Chief Executive Mary L. Schapiro.

About 83 percent of the 5,058 NASD firm eligible to vote did so during the 33-day election period that ended Friday, and 64 percent supported the bylaw changes, NASD said. The
Securities and Exchange Commission must also approve the changes.
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Plans for the new self-regulatory organization, which will be named later, were announced in November. It will become the single regulator for the country's nearly 5,100 broker-dealers that had been part of NASD. About 200 of those firms also are members of NYSE and have been regulated by both organizations.

Supporters of a single regulator include SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, but not everyone agrees. The president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association has said combining the two regulators is "anti-investor" because it eliminates choice, and others have said the terms of the merger would harm small firms within NASD.
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