Merger, Electronic Trading Roil NYSE's Tech Landscape

Technology professionals involved with the New York Stock Exchange - both staff members of parent NYSE Group and other firms - are feeling the effects of a landscape unsettled by implementation of electronic trading and the proposed merger with Euronext.

If it's completed, analysts expect the merger to result in layoffs at the exchange since Atos Euronext - the joint venture which manages Eurnoext's technology - is considered the stronger technical player, according to Financial News. Recently, two senior technology executives at NYSE Group resigned: Mike Cormack, executive vice president for electronic trading and new products, will step down sometime during the coming months, and Marianne Brown, chief executive of NYSE's technology subsidiary Securities Industry Automation Corp., will depart on Oct. 20.

Meantime, Van der Moolen Specialists, one of seven specialist firms at the NYSE, may cut up to 100 U.S. employees - fully half its workforce here - as the exchange makes more use of electronic trading, reports InvestmentNews. Quoted in the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, U.S. Chief Executive Robert Fagenson said the firm wants to measure the impact of the new trading model over the next two months before making final decisions.