NYSE Group Inc. and United States financial regulator NASD announced yesterday that they have signed a letter of intent to consolidate their member regulation operations. The new self-regulatory organization will be the private-sector regulator for securities brokers and dealers in the U.S.

“On behalf of NASAA, I congratulate NASD and the NYSE on taking a significant step toward streamlining broker-dealer regulation and increasing our nation’s competitiveness in international markets. I trust their mission of investor protection will continue unabated and NASAA stands ready to assist the new combined self-regulatory organization toward accomplishing this goal,” said Joseph Borg, president of NASAA and director of the Alabama Securities Commission.

“This new entity makes sense as the financial services industry increasingly becomes more global in scope,” Borg added. “Today’s announcement serves to underscore the important grassroots investor protection role of state securities regulators. As the combined resources of the regulatory arms of the NASD and NYSE concentrate on international competitiveness and creating efficiencies in national markets, state securities regulators will continue to focus our energies on serving as the local cop on the beat protecting millions of Main Street investors, the backbone of the American economy.”

“The state-federal-industry regulatory relationship has a proven record of serving investors well. With more than 100 million investors relying on our securities markets to meet their financial goals – and on regulators to keep those markets well-policed – we will continue to work together to ensure that this complementary regulatory relationship remains as seamless as possible,” he concluded.