April 14, 2007
I feel that if the NASD merger takes place in its present form of limiting the board members that each member can vote on is going to stack the voting against the small Broker Dealers of this country. Small by my definition is not the 100 Rep firms, but the mainstreet firms that have 1 to 10 Reps. We are the ones who know our clients, meet them on the street, in the grocery stores, etc. everyday and have the best interest of the client at heart.
The NASD thinks we are a nuisance to the industry and all the rules and regulations to "protect" the investor are heavily weighted toward eliminating the small firms by escalating the cost of doing business which can more easily be assorbed in the larger firms. If the larger firms have representation of 2/3 of the board, their goal can be to eliminate the small firms and they will be able to accomplish that.