Enhancements to the BRASS platform for order management and direct market access help provide sell-side equity trading firms with faster, more efficient access to liquidity while also introducing key capabilities that firms will need to satisfy requirements for RegNMS, which takes effect July 9, 2007. SunGard has also conducted a training and support program to assist its customers in preparing for the upcoming regulation.

RegNMS is designed to modernize the US equity markets and provide greater assurances that investors all have equal access to process, and mandates that trades must all be executed at the best price available. July 9 marks the beginning of the full industry compliance in 250 NMS stocks (100 NYSE, 100 NASDAQ and 50 AMEX). The primary obligation for broker-dealers during this phase is the order protection rule, which requires broker-dealers and market centers to satisfy better priced markets prior to executing an order at an inferior price.

In preparation for this phase, enhancements have been made to BRASS to help provide sell-side equity trading firms with greater flexibility for trade execution, including both automatic and manual execution capabilities. BRASS' order management functionality leverages intelligent quoting to route displayable orders to protected venues, as well as new smart agents that help a firm to access the maximum amount of liquidity while assisting in satisfying a firm's ISO obligations. Enhancements for direct market access help give firms faster, more efficient access to liquidity through the use of smart agents and market access preferences. Firms will also be able to immediately view the protected quantity of a given stock at each price point.

"The implementation of the RegNMS Pilot Phase on July 9 marks one of the most significant and complex industry-wide changes to effect the equity trading business. The new capabilities of the BRASS platform, combined with the extensive customer training and support programrograms that we have conducted over the last year, have prepared our customers well in advance," said Raj Mahajan, president of SunGard's trading business.

To further help firms support their compliance obligations, SunGard offers BRASS EnGard, a Web-based, compliance lifecycle and business management solution for institutional equities trading businesses. BRASS EnGard helps firms automate and manage the compliance lifecycle, including surveillance, internal investigations, documentation and reporting. It helps firms to monitor risk exposure and opportunity cost, to improve workflow and automation of surveillance, and to help streamline their operations.