The combined New York Stock Exchange and National Association of Securities Dealers regulatory body will work to ensure the financial services sector is not caught off guard, by measures taken by the bodies to ensure consumers are protected in a rapidly changing environment, according to an NASD official.
“Once the merger takes place, there’s not going to be a dramatic change in the world of the compliance officer,” NASD vice chairman Douglas Shulman said, or the companies they work for; he told the audience at the National Association for Variable Annuities compliance and regulatory affairs conference in Washington on June 27.
When the deal between the NASD and the NYSE closes, it will create a new Securities Industry Regulatory Authority, or SIRA.
Mr. Shulman said those under its jurisdiction won’t notice any changes other than a more coordinated examination force.
“There shouldn’t be any big surprises for you,” he said.
What SIRA will do, he said, is to work towards making its regulation more efficient and flexible. The organization’s “rule book,” he said, will take into account the different business structures and size of firms in applying regulations to them.
Like the industry, Shulman said that regulators are looking at an increasingly changing world and identified some of the trends that will have a major influence on the industry in the future.
He noted the ongoing development of technology, which he said has led to an up-tick in the amount of information investors expect to get and the quality of that information as well.