Listen to Peter Horowitz now

Peter Horowitz, managing director, BearingPoint, says that in 2006 forward thinking firms that tackled regulation and compliance challenges in 2005 will be executing initiatives that improve profit margins and marketshare, including platform rationalization to reduce operating costs, globalization and reference data upgrades. IN addition, Horowitz says that the NYSE is actually "catching up" with the rest of the industry with its Hybrid model and that the NYSE will have challenges when it comes to giving equal access to liquidity to all participants (specialists on the floor and electronic order flow). Meanwhile, firms will focus on alternative investment products to improve profit margins, but will be hampered by older legacy systems that are not flexible enough to handle the newer products types.

Background Music "Classic Sidewalk Stroll" Courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca, under Creative Commons License