SEC to Order Options Markets to Link Up

The Securities and Exchange Commission will order U.S. options markets as early as today to start developing a plan to link electronically, SEC Director of Market Regulation Annette Nazareth said. “We’re not saying how they do it,” Nazareth told reporters at the Security Traders Assn. annual conference in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. Nazareth declined to say when the SEC, which has been pushing for linkage for two decades, would require options markets to complete their plan. The SEC order is meant in part to provide cover for the exchanges, which have said they’re worried market-linking discussions would violate antitrust laws, Nazareth said. The Justice Department is investigating whether the industry has colluded to fix prices. The four options markets--American Stock Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Pacific Exchange and Philadelphia Stock Exchange--had already planned to meet this week in Washington to discuss linkage. Spokesmen for the four exchanges weren’t available for comment Sunday. * The New York Stock Exchange is considering creating a quasi-independent regulatory organization if it becomes a publicly traded company, President William Johnston said. The proposal is intended to address SEC concerns that a for-profit NYSE would have a conflict regulating brokerages that might be competitors.