Amex Advances Hybrid Trading Plan

The American Stock Exchange said yesterday that it filed with the Securities and Exchange its plans for a hybrid structure that would combine electronic and floor-based trading.

Amex has been working towards the hybrid since 2003. Its 2006 rollout would be concurrent with new market regulations, Reuters reported.

"This is the highest priority that we have," said Antoine Shagoury, executive vice president and chief information officer at Amex. "It is what we have committed to as a strategy, as a future. We are evolving our market, and this is a very significant milestone for us."

But the new way does not mean death to floor trading, he added.

"We are committed to the floor, and the floor is very much part of our future and our strategy," he said. "We are giving the tools for the participants on our floor to compete across the market," Shagoury said.

The new system is expected to attract more customers from competitors, like the New York Stock and Exchange and the Nasdaq. The new system is called AEMI (pronounced "Amy") and stands for the Auction and Electronic Market Integration platform. Shagoury said AEMI is more than halfway complete.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.