Exchanges unite to combat insider trading

NEW YORK, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A new era in the effort to stop insider stock trading began Wednesday when 10 U.S. exchanges merged their monitoring and investigative units.

Under the agreement, the private Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will keep an eye out for insider trading activity involving Amex- and Nasdaq-listed securities, The Washington Post reported. The New York Stock Exchange Regulation will scrutinize NYSE- and NYSE Arca-listed stocks, no matter which U.S. exchange handles the transactions, the newspaper said.

The arrangement is meant to eliminate duplicative efforts, said Richard Ketchum, chief executive of NYSE Regulation and chairman of FINRA.

"I think we all recognize that in a world of electronic trading, where there are more venues and more opportunities where people may be able to hide their activity, consolidating the review of insider-trading activity was critical," Ketchum said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will accept public comment on the exchanges' proposal for three weeks.