NYSE Euronext has altered its emergency back-up plan for equities trading in the case of emergencies that would shutter its Manhattan trading floor.
The plan would transfer trading in NYSE-listed stocks to the exchange operator’s all-electronic market, Arca, and is subject to approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the exchange’s website. The new proposal would make it easier for broker-dealers to adjust their computer systems.
According to Reuters, NYSE has had a contingency plan in place since 2009, which has never been used, that would also use Arca as a backup for the NYSE. The new plan, however, would reduce the amount of coding changes that broker-dealers would need to make to their computer systems in advance of an emergency.
The revamped plan comes after the markets were closed for two days last October when Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeast coast, flooding parts of lower Manhattan and shuttering much of the trading firms located there.
The SEC has proposed a rule that would require entities such as exchanges, which are “essential to the smooth functioning of the U.S. securities markets,” to have comprehensive technology plans and procedures in place.
