FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 99-47 SEC Continues Effort to Increase Competition in Post-Trade Information Processing Washington, DC, May 7, 1999 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today took further action in its continuing effort to increase competition among services transmitting post-trade information between broker-dealers and institutional customers. The Commission approved proposed rule changes filed by the New York Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers, and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board under which qualified electronic trade confirmation vendors may provide confirmation and affirmation services for institutional trades. "The Commission is committed to making post-trade processing as fast and as safe as possible. Today's actions will encourage competition in the field of post-trade information processing on terms that are consistent with the Commission's obligation to ensure the safety and soundness of the national system for the clearance and settlement of securities transactions. In addition, these actions will greatly contribute to the Commission's goal of shortening the settlement cycle for securities transactions from three days to one day and will help the industry achieve straight through processing," said Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, the NYSE, NASD, and MSRB's confirmation rules required their members to use the services of a registered clearing agency for the electronic confirmation and affirmation of institutional trades. The Commission worked with these entities and industry representatives to expand the scope of the SROs' confirmation rules. This cooperation facilitated the drafting of the revised confirmation rules that were approved today. The Commission also approved an application filed by Thomson Financial Technology Services, Inc. that will allow it to provide a comparison service that matches the trade data of broker- dealers and their institutional customers. The application was filed in response to the Commission's conclusion that entities that provide trade matching services are "clearing agencies" under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. # # #