Category: Featured News

The New York Stock Exchange may be 224 years old, but it is now using 21st century technology.

The rules for NYSE mobile phone use have now changed. Brokers can use their personal mobile devices on the trading floor in Manhattan. This decision is a significant one and is meant to address a problematic issue.

The decision was made following a hectic day last Friday when a communications breakdown occurred.

That day, the results of the Brexit were announced, and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The landline service to brokers failed. That said, not all brokers had NYSE mobile phone approval. The brokers were not allowed to use their mobile devices without that specific authorization. Following that communications disaster, personal mobile phones can now be used.

This NYSE mobile phone decision may be a temporary one, according to a regulatory filing.

A statement from the NYSE read “Communications with customers is a vital part of a floor broker’s role.” It also added “Brokers who do not have exchange authorized and provided portable phones should be permitted to use personal cell phone devices, in lieu of the non-operational wired phone lines.”

This indicates that the authorized mobile devices and provided portable phones are the preferred methods. However, should those become non-functional or unavailable, then personal mobile phones become an allowable alternative. It is also the only option for many brokers at the moment as the outage was a lengthy one.

At the time of the writing of this article, the NYSE was still working with its phone carrier. The hope was that the floor brokers’ telephones would be working again soon. The outage that brought about this change in NYSE mobile phone regulations did not impact the “designated market makers.” They are the overseers of the floor for stock trades.

Should this regulation remain as a kind of back-up plan for brokers it could help to avoid the type of communication struggle they faced last Friday. Many consider this move to use personal mobile phones a step in the right direction to catch the New York Stock Exchange up to the current century.

According to Bank of America research, consumers are increasingly prepared to adopt this technology.

If Bank of America is correct, American mobile payments will be commonplace very soon. Their research suggests that consumers in the United States are increasingly ready to use this technology.

Mobile wallets are nothing new in the United States but they have yet to take off among most people.

Bank of America conducted a survey to gauge consumer opinions regarding American mobile payments. What they found was 40 percent of respondents were actively seeking out mobile wallets or already had them. This is a sizeable increase over last year’s figure. In 2015, only 34 percent of respondents felt the same way.

Clearly, there was a sharp increase in the number of actively interested Americans. This interest level is considered to be an important indicator of willingness to adopt the technology. That said, the respondents didn’t stop at simply looking into mobile payments technology.

The American mobile payments interest could move forward rapidly starting very soon.

The research determined that 57 percent of Americans would be willing to try or are already using a bank peer to peer (P2P) money transfer app.Also, 62 percent are already using mobile as their main banking method or would be willing to try it.

The active mobile app user numbers also climbed. Forty eight percent of respondents were using mobile banking apps in 2015. This year, that figure increased to 54 percent. Furthermore, Millennial interest in these mobile banking tools is very evident. That generation represents a growing proportion of shoppers as a whole. This makes their opinions on such matters highly significant.

Millennials use their smartphones more than any previous generation. In fact, 39 percent say they would prefer to interact with their mobile phones than anything or anyone else. This included their significant other! American mobile payment have the potential to become very important to this generation. Moreover, since they are one that is about to become the most important group of consumers, this information is important. After all, no matter what previous generations think, it is the Millennial opinion that will soon hold the most weight.