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Non-Tech : Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joseph Silent who wrote (3259)	8/9/1999 12:33:00 AM
From: Gary Korn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10027

NEW YORK, July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Drawing rave reviews from its initial users, BRUT's (The BRASS Utility) revolutionary new equity market access system, UMA, has helped boost the leading ECN's volume by more than 30% since its introduction last month. Licensed from Automated Securities Clearance Ltd., Universal Market Access (UMA) system allows traders to access liquidity from a single easy to use display, reunifying the marketplace. ``UMA has quickly become an integral part of a trader's desktop, providing direct access to the Nasdaq stock market via BRUT,' said Brian Hyndman, President of BRUT. ``It is a tool that allows a trader to view market activity take action in a number of stocks simultaneously and send orders on a real-time basis to broker/dealers. The system's sweep functionality and ability to unify what was a fragmenting equity market is the key to its success.' UMA offers instant access to Nasdaq quotes and the BRUT book as well as join the inside market anonymously using BRUT. The system lets traders set up a list of stocks by sector, industry, activity level or alphabetically, providing for quick and efficient order execution on a group of stocks. UMA connectivity to broker/dealers allows buy-side firms to electronically send both listed and Nasdaq orders to brokers and receives execution reports back on a real-time basis. The BRASS Utility, L.L.C. (BRUT), headquartered in New York City, is a leading electronic communications network (ECN) and one of nine ECNs approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission to act as an order display alternative. BRUT is majority owned by Automated Securities Clearance Ltd. (ASC). ASC operates BRASS (Brokerage Real-Time Application Support System) which provides the Nasdaq trader everything he or she needs to operate electronically. BRASS is the industry standard, serving over 3000 desktop terminals in roughly 175 brokerage firms representing over 50% of Nasdaq volume. Goldman Sachs, Knight/Trimark Group (Nasdaq: NITE - news), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER - news) and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (NYSE: MWD - news) maintain minority equity interests in the BRUT ECN. (NITE owns 14% of BRUT)

To: Joseph Silent who wrote (3259)	8/9/1999 9:52:00 AM
From: LLCoolG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10027

It's already posted numerous times. If they can garner enough market share to make their trades instantaeneous--great. But they will have to make a spread somewhere to generate the revenue required to cover expenses and make a profit. I don't see how they can do this at all, just like I find it hard to believe that e-commerce companies like Amazon will ever, ever make any margin. Plus, do you really think that the companies like Goldman and Morgan will standy idly by and let ECNs, with this no profit business model take away business from traditional market shares? I would think you would see massive consolidation in the ECNs, catalyzed by the big Houses, and ECN use strictly confined to very liquid, large NASDAQ stocks. In this way, any regulators can be satisfied that "most efficient" trading is provided to customers, while at the same time providing the liquidity necessary to protect consumers on all other fronts. The ECN thing is overblown, and it will play out the next year. NITE is gold, regardless of what all conspirators and people with way too much time on their hands think. The underwriters are loading up. G