Financial Experts Anticipate Options Industry Regulations in Wake of Current Financial Crisis
Traders Already Working to Meet Expected Requirements
(Austin, TX) - October 23, 2008
Using standardized metrics developed by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), S3 Matching Technologies has delivered the first publicly available reporting solution supporting SIFMA’s recommendations. Currently there are no mandated SEC reporting requirements for options best execution. Organizations such as SIFMA and S3 are proactive in providing consistent surveillance and reporting by way of greater and more detailed best execution quality statistics. These firms continue to strive towards a ‘best practice’ solution as a way to further promote customer confidence in the listed options markets.
“The options trading business is well aware of its need for rigorous self-examination and reporting,” said John Standerfer, Vice President of Financial Services for S3. “The reason the industry has done so well in terms of performance for investors is because it is constantly developing its own stringent standards of excellence. And transparency is the secret to avoiding problems.”
Analysts have turned their focus to the options market in the wake of the SEC’s rule to end aggressive, naked short selling of securities. Short selling was believed to have further weakened many major financial institutions that had invested deeply in the unregulated credit markets by purchasing bundled, sub-prime mortgages and other unsecured assets. The collapse of Wall Street giants and the public bailouts has prompted political support for new regulations on the financial services industry.
“We’ve been providing an options best execution and reporting product since 2005,” said Rod Taylor, President of Financial Services at S3. “SIFMA’s standards of excellence have helped guide the refinement of our products and services. We believe we are helping to create a very strong and secure options market that anyone can invest in with great confidence.”
SIFMA’s options trading recommendations on monthly reporting standards were issued in April of this year and options exchanges are expected to begin complying with them before 2009.
About S3 Matching Technologies (www.S3.com)
S3 is an Austin, Texas based company focused on providing data quality management software for the IT, telecom, financial services, and healthcare industries. S3 invented TeraMatch®, an algorithmic matching engine which uses rules-based scoring based on industry-specific best practices. S3’s solutions are deployed as a managed service.