The Nasdaq OMX Group said on Wednesday that it planned to set aside as much as $40 million to settle disputes by investors over issues caused by technical glitches in Facebook’s initial public offering.
Under the terms of the plan, Nasdaq will make the money available to its member firms, rather than investors directly. About $13.7 million will be paid in cash, pending review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, while the remainder will be credited to member firms to reduce trading costs.
The long-awaited plan is meant to help quell investor anger over the flawed debut of Facebook on May 18. Errors in Nasdaq’s systems first led to delays in setting an opening price for the social networking giant, and then prevented some traders from knowing for hours whether their orders had been confirmed.
For days afterward, investors claimed that they still didn’t know how many Facebook shares they held, while others argued that the technical problems left them holding stock that had quickly plummeted in value on Friday and days afterward.
Nasdaq has claimed that its technical errors had concluded by 1:50 p.m. on the first day of trading, and that it wasn’t responsible for the company’s stock slide past that. But many investors and people involved in the I.P.O. process still claim that the stock market’s errors spooked investors and created a climate of fear that inhibited trading.
To qualify for Nasdaq’s plan, members must prove they were directly harmed by the glitches that erupted before trading started at 11:30 a.m. on the first day of trading.
And the program applies only to certain kinds of trades, including sale orders priced at $42 or less that did not execute or were carried out at lower prices and purchases that were priced at $42 but were not immediately confirmed.
Claims will be evaluated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Nasdaq also said that it had hired I.B.M. to analyze its computer systems in the wake of the Facebook glitches.
Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/nasdaq-sets-aside-40-million-to-settle-facebook-trading-claims/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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