NASD to Hire EDS to Manage Market Systems

In a move to help its regulators keep up with rapidly changing markets, the National Assn. of Securities Dealers said Wednesday it is hiring Electronic Data Systems Corp. to run its market-watching computer systems.

Under a 10-year contract worth as much as $2 billion, EDS will assume the development and management of the systems that NASD’s subsidiary, NASD Regulation, uses to police the Nasdaq Stock Market, 5,500 broker-dealer firms and 600,000 securities brokers across the country.

Mary L. Schapiro, president of NASD Regulation, said the goal is to equip the organization to carry out its surveillance and record-keeping mission even as trading hours are extended, sophisticated new products and systems are introduced and the markets become bigger and more global.

One of the first results investors might see from the alliance is an improved ability to get information about brokers over the Internet.

Many records currently are available only by mail.

Other technology projects to be unveiled this year include a pilot program under which brokerages may file financial reports and other documents over the Internet.

An important benefit of the deal is supposed to be cost savings: an estimated $500 million throughout the term of the contract, NASD officials said.

The NASD-EDS venture, dubbed NasTech, will operate from NASD’s existing technology center in Rockville, Md. More than 350 NASD technology workers will become EDS employees, and EDS will manage an additional 350 consultants.

EDS, founded in 1962 by former presidential candidate and ex-IBM salesman H. Ross Perot, is now the No. 2 U.S. computer-services firm by revenue.