Products January 7, 2002

NASD Lifts Lid on Bond Reporting System

July 1, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The National Association of Security Dealers (NASD) has officially launched its new corporate bond reporting system, offering plan sponsors and other institutional investors access to more transparent bond pricing information.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

Traders in the high-yield secondary corporate bond market now have a new reporting system by which they can report all eligible transactions for eventual distribution to the investing community and the public.

TRACE’s unveiling means NASD’s FIPS product – the prior high-yield debt reporting system – is being retired as of Monday.

TRACE is the vehicle through which NASD members can meet their reporting requirements as part of rules approved in January 2001 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Under SEC rules, all US brokerage firms are required to report eligible secondary market, over-the-counter transactions in corporate bonds to TRACE. Relevant trade data will be available from vendor services to the trading community and the public.

Some data will also be available at NASD’s website http://www.nasd.com .