Changing Industry talk at the SIA
(This story was originally published Monday. The Securities Industry Association's annual meeting begins Wednesday evening.)
NEW YORK -- Wall Street was not what Bob Dylan had in mind when he sang the tune, but if there's one thing securities industry veterans can agree on these days, it's that the times are a-changing.
And how. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market are thinking about becoming for-profit companies and offering investors the chance to buy shares. Internet investing, once derided as a fad, has become more and more popular.
Electronic stock-trading systems have emerged as a major force by offering alternative trading venues to traditional stock markets and pioneering the lengthening of trading hours. Even stock prices are set to get a facelift with the coming change to quoting prices in decimals instead of fractions.
"I've been in the industry for over 20 years and I've never seen anything like the amount of change that is going on now," said Donald Kittell, the executive vice president of the Securities Industry Association, a trade group.
Starting Wednesday evening, Wall Streeters will have a chance to ponder all of this at the SIA's annual meeting, to be held at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. For the more than 700 people expected to attend, the gathering will offer an opportunity to get an update on the hot issues of the day, to network, and maybe even sneak in a few rounds of golf and tennis.
"It's probably the largest conference for the securities industry. Historically, it's one the CEOs of all the firms (have) attended," said Bernard Madoff, the chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and a SIA board member for the past six years. "It's also an opportunity for everyone to meet."
The SIA has drawn up an agenda that is mindful of the changes its constituents are facing. NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso is scheduled to speak, as is Richard Ketchum, the president of Nasdaq's parent, the National Association of Securities Dealers. Also speaking will be the securities industry's top regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt.
Running With The Bull Market, And Other Issues
David Pottruck, the president and co-chief executive of online brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. (SCH), will talk about the impact the Internet has had on investing - and what Wall Street must do to adapt. Expert panels will discuss the rise of electronic communications networks, or ECNs, as well as plans that firms are making for the millennium, decimalization and next-day trading settlement, or T+1.
The long-running bull market, the driving force behind the changes now roiling Wall Street, won't be forgotten at this year's conference where Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) stock market strategist Abby Joseph Cohen will speak. Among other conference highlights, AT&T Corp. (T) Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Armstrong will give a non-industry view that the SIA said can sometimes be a refreshing thing.
Finally, SIA directors are expected to promote Legg Mason Inc. (LM) President and Chief Operating Officer James Brinkley to SIA chairman from chairman-elect. Brinkley will succeed SIA Chairman Roy Zuckerberg, a former Goldman Sachs vice chairman. A chairman-elect to replace Brinkley next year will be picked, along with other officers.
For the SIA, the current Wall Street turbulence has meant an increased profile. The organization was formed in 1972, created by the merger of two older industry groups, the Association of Stock Exchange Firms, founded in 1913, and the Investment Banker's Association, born a year earlier.
With some 100 staffers working out of offices in New York and Washington, and an annual budget of about $30 million, the SIA bills itself as the glue that joins "the shared interests of more than 740 securities firms to accomplish common goals."
There seems to be no shortage of goals. The SIA has helped lead the charge on Y2K, decimalization and T+1. In the past, said Raymond Mason, chairman and chief executive of Legg Mason and a former SIA chairman, broad industry issues were addressed by the stock exchanges. However, he said, with these organizations and the financial industry undergoing changes, the SIA has become "the only one that can speak for the industry" as a whole.
To do so, the SIA relies on help from its constituents. About 60% of its budget is funded by dues paid by member firms, said SIA executive Kittell, with the balance coming from fees charged for various events and publications. In the case of a large, complicated project such as Y2K, in which the SIA helps gather information and pulls the industry together, Kittell said his organization will go out and solicit extra contributions.
Aside from spearheading technology-intensive projects, the SIA has also kept an eye on other issues. This week's conference will include a speech on race relations by Julian Bond, the chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The SIA will also distribute a "resource guide" on diversity, which Kittell said is designed to help securities firms cater to diverse markets and to recruit and retain minority employees.
-Gaston F. Ceron; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5234
gaston.ceron@dowjones.com
-Allison Bisbey Colter and Lynn Cowan contributed to
this article. |
