The July 3 rd target date was always considered to be aggressive. The original plan was to complete testing by late May and then assess the industry's readiness. We expect this logical approach to carry forward regardless of the implementation date. Market data and infrastructure readiness are critical components of a successful conversion. The projected message growth brought upon by bifurcation of thousands of securities possibly occurring in September will requires all upgrades to be completed and tested by August.
Market data vendor upgrades to their users are still in the stages of planning and installation.
Dividend adjustment processing of open orders by the firms would be complicated by the fact that some securities are trading in decimals and others are in fractions. In summary, we believe that our ability to ascertain systems needs, the relatively short time frame, and the potential threat to investor confidence would make full decimalization for only the listed market by September 4 ill advised. The development of a method of distinguishing the thousands of securities trading in decimals versus those trading in fractions. Software enhancements to perform the necessary edits that have to be built to recognize which securities are trading in fractions vs. decimals by exchange. Upgrades to the infrastructure at firms, vendors and the clearing corporations must be in place and tested.