Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994                   TAG: 9401280161
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MARKETS ADVISED TO FINE-TUNE

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Market 2000 study, in the works since 1992, stressed the need to ensure the best deal for investors at the best price - through competition among the exchanges and other market venues.

"The driving force is that we think the interest of customers should always come first and that markets should be designed to make sure that customers get the best price for their securities and the design of the markets should work to their advantage, not to their disadvantage," said Brandon Becker, head of the SEC's Division of Market Regulation, which conducted the study.

To meet their doubled-edged goal of protecting investors while making the markets more efficient - and thus more competitive - the study recommended:

Making more trading data available to the public, including a shift from using fractions to decimals in stock quotations.

Making it easier for New York Stock Exchange member firms to trade NYSE-listed stocks after regular trading hours.

Simplifying procedures for companies to remove their stock from listing on the NYSE.

Requiring better record-keeping and disclosure by the nontraditional trading systems, known as off-exchange or automated trading systems, without imposing the same regulations that monitor traditional brokers.

Overall, however, "the study makes clear that our markets are not in crisis today," the four SEC commissioners noted in their introduction to the 500-page report. There is one vacancy on the five-seat commission.

The report only makes recommendations, which are subject to adoption by the SEC commissioners or the various exchanges.