The Arbitration and Litigation Committee of the Securities Industry Association (SIA)* provides comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a proposed rule change relating to motions to decide claims before a hearing on the merits, SR-NASD-2006-088.  The proposal would provide that motions to decide a claim before a hearing should only be granted “in extraordinary circumstances.” SIA believes that the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Code of Arbitration Procedure should neither encourage or discourage dispositive motions, and shares the significant concerns they have over the proposal.

*SIFMA is the product of a merger between the Securities Industry Association (SIA) and The Bond Market Association (TBMA) in 2006.