Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White said Tuesday that she will meet Sept. 12 with leaders of the exchanges and other self-regulators "to accelerate ongoing efforts to further strengthen our markets" following last week's technical glitch that paralyzed trading on the Nasdaq.
The meeting, to be held at SEC headquarters in Washington, will address "the market data dissemination system involved in last week's halt as well as other critical market systems and infrastructure issues," according to SEC spokesman John Nester.
White said on Aug. 23 that while the technical glitch that paralyzed trading on the tech-heavy Nasdaq for hours was "resolved before the end of the day" the previous day, the incident was "serious."
White said that the malfunction should "reinforce our collective commitment to addressing technological vulnerabilities of exchanges and other market participants." The SEC, she said, "is determined to enhance the safeguards necessary for strong market systems."
White said she would "work to advance rules that the commission proposed earlier this year regarding new standards for the trading and other systems that are central to the integrity of our markets."
Nasdaq OMX issued a statement Thursday stating that it became aware that price quotes were not being disseminated by the Securities Industry Processor (SIP), which consolidates and disseminates all prices for the industry.
The exchange said it issued the halt in order to protect the integrity of the markets. Nasdaq said it wouldn't be canceling any open orders, but that customers could cancel orders if they wanted to.
"In the first 30 minutes, technical issues with the SIP were resolved," Nasdaq said. "For the remaining period of time, NASDAQ OMX, other exchanges, regulators and market participants coordinated with each other to ensure an orderly reopening of trading in NASDAQ-listed securities."
