New regulations, combined with the proliferation of new technologies, are changing the way financial intermediaries interact and at the same time creating greater efficiencies in world financial markets. In the United States, the phased introduction of Reg. NMS starting in June, 2006, will alter price discovery and market-making procedures, allowing investors to access best price and to execute trades with greater facility than ever before. Concurrently, the expansion of electronic markets and the introduction of a hybrid market structure on the New York Stock Exchange will make markets more and more transparent and accelerate the entire transaction process.

Many investors and financial intermediaries will be challenged by the advent of this new National Market System, which will bear little resemblance to the system that exists today. In order to adapt effectively, various types of market participants will require extensive information about how securities markets will function in the future. To address these and related information needs, PIN has scheduled a major three-day conference — The NMS Forum — to be held in Phoenix, Arizona in September, 2006.