NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ)

We have self-regulatory organization obligations and also operate a for-profit business, and these two roles may create conflicts of interest.

We have obligations to regulate and monitor activities on The Nasdaq Stock Market and ensure compliance with applicable law and the rules of our market by market participants and Nasdaq-listed companies. The SEC staff has expressed concern about potential conflicts of interest of “for-profit” markets performing the regulatory functions of a self-regulatory organization. While we outsource the majority of our market regulation functions to NASD, we do perform regulatory functions related to our listed companies and our market. In addition, as part of our application for exchange registration, we have agreed that 20% of the directors of our exchange subsidiary will be elected by members of the Exchange rather than the equity holders of the subsidiary. Any failure by us to diligently and fairly regulate the Exchange, to fairly and accurately enforce the rules of the Exchange, to maintain a fair and orderly trading marketplace, to detect and correct aberrant market activity or to otherwise fulfill our regulatory obligations could significantly harm our reputation, prompt SEC scrutiny and adversely affect our business and reputation.

We have self-regulatory organization obligations and also operate a for-profit business, and these two roles may create conflicts of interest.

We have obligations to regulate and monitor activities on The Nasdaq Stock Market and ensure compliance with applicable law and the rules of our market by market participants and Nasdaq-listed companies. The SEC staff has expressed concern about potential conflicts of interest of “for-profit” markets performing the regulatory functions of a self-regulatory organization. While we outsource the majority of our market regulation functions to NASD, we do perform regulatory functions related to our listed companies and our market. In addition, as part of our application for exchange registration, we have agreed that 20% of the directors of our exchange subsidiary will be elected by members of the exchange rather than the equity holders of the subsidiary. Any failure by us to diligently and fairly regulate our market or to otherwise fulfill our regulatory obligations could significantly harm our reputation, prompt SEC scrutiny and adversely affect our business and reputation.

We have self-regulatory organization obligations and also operate a for-profit business, and these two roles may create conflicts of interest.

We have obligations to regulate and monitor activities on The Nasdaq Stock Market and ensure compliance with applicable law and the rules of our market by market participants and Nasdaq-listed companies. The SEC staff has expressed concern about potential conflicts of interest of “for-profit” markets performing the regulatory functions of a self-regulatory organization. While we outsource the majority of our market regulation functions to NASD, we do perform regulatory functions related to our listed companies and our market. In addition, as part of our application for exchange registration, we have agreed that 20% of the directors of our exchange subsidiary will be elected by members of our exchange rather than the equity holders of our subsidiary. Any failure by us to diligently and fairly regulate our market or to otherwise fulfill our regulatory obligations could significantly harm our reputation, prompt SEC scrutiny and adversely affect our business and reputation.

We have self-regulatory organization obligations and also operate a for-profit business, and these two roles may create conflicts of interest.

Pursuant to the Exchange Act, we have obligations pursuant to delegated authority from our SRO, NASD, to regulate and monitor activities on The Nasdaq Stock Market and ensure compliance with applicable law and the rules of our market by market participants and Nasdaq-listed companies. The SEC staff has expressed concern about potential conflicts of interest of “for-profit” markets performing the regulatory functions of a self-regulatory organization. While we outsource the majority of our market regulation functions to NASD, we do perform certain regulatory functions related to our listed companies and our market. In addition to the risk of overly aggressive regulation, potential conflicts of interest could also result in overly lenient regulation, motivated by a misplaced attempt to increase trading volume and revenues. In either case, any failure by us to diligently and fairly regulate our market or to otherwise fulfill our regulatory obligations could significantly harm our reputation, prompt SEC scrutiny and adversely affect our business. The SEC recently issued a concept release relating to the efficacy of the self-regulation system, including the inherent tensions in the SRO model. The SEC has also recently proposed new rules with respect to SROs. The proposed new rules would, among other things:

Any rule making that may result from this release could have a material effect on the operation of our business, financial condition and operating results.