FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2000-102 SEC to Establish Advisory Committee on Market Information Washington, DC, July 25, 2000 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it is establishing a federal advisory committee to assist it in evaluating issues relating to the public availability of market information in the equities and options markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Market Information will have a broad mandate to explore both fundamental matters, such as the benefits of price transparency and consolidated market information, and practical issues such as the most effective methods of consolidating market data. The committee will be chaired by Joel Seligman, Dean of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and a renowned scholar on securities regulation. Specifically, the committee is expected to address issues such as: (1) the value of transparency to the markets; (2) the ramifications of electronic quote generation and decimalization for market transparency; (3) the merits of providing consolidated market information to intermediaries and customers; (4) alternative models for disseminating and consolidating information from multiple markets; (5) how market information fees should be determined, including the role of public disclosure of market information costs, fees, revenues, and other matters, and how the fairness and reasonableness of fees should be evaluated; and (6) appropriate governance structures for joint market information plans, as well as issues relating to plan administration and oversight. The Advisory Committee will be composed of 20 to 25 members representing a wide range of perspectives, including investors, markets, broker-dealers, vendors and other market participants, as well as the public at large. One of the purposes of the committee will be to further explore the issues raised by the Commission in its December 1999 concept release on the regulation of market information fees and revenues,1 which solicited public comment on the arrangements currently in place for disseminating market information to the public. In particular, the concept release focused on the fees charged for market information and the role of revenues derived from these fees in funding the operation and regulation of the markets. The comment letters received by the Commission in response to the concept release expressed widely varied views on how market information should be made available and who should receive payment for it. Chairman Arthur Levitt said, "Market information is at the core of price transparency and is one of the pillars of our national market system. In light of the fundamental importance of market information and the difficult questions raised by the commenters, I believe it is necessary to explore the issues relating to the public availability of market data in more depth. The Commission will benefit greatly from the expertise of this broad-based Advisory Committee, and I am grateful that such an eminent scholar as Joel Seligman has agreed to lead this important initiative. My hope is that the Advisory Committee will be able to forge a consensus on a range of issues concerning market information, and issue a written report containing its recommendations to the Commission by September of next year." Dean Joel Seligman said, "I look forward to the challenge that Chairman Levitt has presented us. So much has changed in this area of the securities industry: new ways of disseminating quote and last sale information; alternative trading systems; on-line trading; the increased potential of wireless communication; dramatic increases in the volume of trading; and other fundamental factors. The time seems appropriate for a fresh look at the securities industry's consolidated tape and consolidated quotation systems." # # # _______________________________ 1 Securities Exchange Act Release No. 42208 (December 9, 1999), 64 FR 70613 (December 17, 1999).