From Scott Cutler:

I am pleased to announce that Knight Capital has decided to transfer its common stock listing from the NASDAQ Stock Market to the New York Stock Exchange, effective May 25th. This is the eighth announced or completed transfer this year, representing nearly $30 billion in market capitalization. In addition, Knight will simultaneously cross-list its common stock via Fast-Path on the Paris market of NYSE Euronext.

Knight is a global financial-services firm providing market access and trade-execution services, and a leading source of liquidity in U.S. equities. We believe Knight Capital’s decision to move to the NYSE is a powerful endorsement of our unique market model and leadership in the exchange space. Furthermore, Knight Capital’s cross-listing in the Euronext market demonstrates how we are uniquely able to help companies expand their reach to our global capital markets. We have 47 companies that are currently cross-listed on our NYSE and NYSE Euronext markets.

This and other recent transfers, as well as the events of the past week, clearly demonstrate the value of our market model. We are working to ensure that all markets and exchanges operate with the appropriate controls and in a more coordinated fashion.

We have a very simple business: helping companies leverage our market, brand and network to advance their global business objectives.

From Scott Cutler:

I am pleased to announce that Knight Capital has decided to transfer its common stock listing from the NASDAQ Stock Market to the New York Stock Exchange, effective May 25th. This is the eighth announced or completed transfer this year, representing nearly $30 billion in market capitalization. In addition, Knight will simultaneously cross-list its common stock via Fast-Path on the Paris market of NYSE Euronext.

Knight is a global financial-services firm providing market access and trade-execution services, and a leading source of liquidity in U.S. equities. We believe Knight Capital’s decision to move to the NYSE is a powerful endorsement of our unique market model and leadership in the exchange space. Furthermore, Knight Capital’s cross-listing in the Euronext market demonstrates how we are uniquely able to help companies expand their reach to our global capital markets. We have 47 companies that are currently cross-listed on our NYSE and NYSE Euronext markets.

This and other recent transfers, as well as the events of the past week, clearly demonstrate the value of our market model. We are working to ensure that all markets and exchanges operate with the appropriate controls and in a more coordinated fashion.

We have a very simple business: helping companies leverage our market, brand and network to advance their global business objectives.

From Scott Cutler:

Given our leadership role in the financial markets, we believe it is our responsibility to be effective instruments in promoting issuer views to advocacy groups, regulators and key governmental officials. In this spirit, we have been working with the SEC toward a regulatory structure which provides more harmonized and centralized market surveillance. We believe this structure is better for the U.S. markets and promotes more confidence and protection to issuers and investors.

I’m pleased to report that earlier this week we made a joint announcement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Subject to review by the SEC and final agreements, FINRA will assume responsibility for performing the market surveillance and enforcement functions currently conducted by NYSE Regulation.

Since FINRA provides regulatory services to multiple national exchanges, the agreement further addresses gaps in regulatory coverage and moves toward a unified system of regulation. This will allow FINRA to take a more holistic, cross-market approach to regulation that will better enable them to detect problematic activity across multiple markets and financial products.

Access our complete press release.

From Marisa Ricciardi:

As our CEO Duncan Niederauer recently said, “Success is a function of the ability to innovate while staying focused on the customer.” The CEOs featured in our 2Q issue of nyse magazine emulate this strategy and serve as a testament to the impressive and diverse leadership that make up the NYSE Euronext community.

For example, one might not expect the head of an energy controls conglomerate to be a champion for reduced consumption and efficiency, but Honeywell International Inc.(HON) CEO David Cote is on a crusade to stop global warming and is making sure the products Honeywell develops reinforce his cause.

Brazil’s economy has provided fertile soil for growth. As the largest IPO of 2009, Santander Brasil (SAN) plans to keep on growing, dedicating nearly 70% of proceeds to opening 600 new branches, thousands of ATMs and increasing consumer lending over the next four years.

Domino’s (DPZ) passing of the guard is a case study for why succession plans are crucial. On the company’s 50th anniversary, it celebrates a time-tested brand while welcoming a new CEO and new pizza recipe. Caution to reader: this article will make you hungry!

With healthcare top of mind and in the headlines, our feature story on CareFusion (CFN) couldn’t be more timely. CEO David Schotterbeck discusses how the company’s focus on eliminating medication errors and hospital-acquired infections is helping caregivers and patients, and ultimately customers’ bottom lines.

You can find these stories and many more at http://www.nysemagazine.com

Happy reading,
Marisa Ricciardi

From Scott Cutler:

NYSE Euronext has been advocating on behalf of our issuers with policy makers in Washington to support sensible financial regulatory reform. I am writing today to provide an update on one such priority because we have reached a critical point in the legislative process.

The U.S. Senate is currently debating S. 3217, the “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010,” and soon will consider a very important amendment that could provide relief for small businesses from overly burdensome compliance costs of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Senators Landrieu (D-LA) and Hutchison (R-TX) will offer amendment #3785 to the bill that would exempt public companies with less than $150 million in public float from complying with Sarbanes-Oxley’s outside audit requirements. The amendment also would require the SEC to study whether the exemption threshold should be higher. I encourage you to call your home state Senators and urge them to support the Landrieu/ Hutchison amendment because it will promote small business growth, encourage job creation and spur entrepreneurship. If you don’t have their number, you can call the Capitol operator at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators.

NYSE Euronext has actively supported efforts to increase this compliance threshold because it has imposed a disproportionately larger cost burden on smaller public companies with little corresponding benefit. Recently Duncan Niederauer, our CEO, authored an editorial on this topic in Politico, a Washington-based political newspaper, which you might find interesting. In fact, we have advocated that Congress enact more meaningful Sarbanes-Oxley reform by exempting companies below $1 billion in market capitalization, but we appreciate that lawmakers recognize how burdensome this requirement is and we are committed to working with the Senate Small Business Committee to conduct a future series of hearings to shed new light on the impact this requirement has on our listed companies. Continuing the dialogue on this and other issues important to you is our priority in Washington.

From Scott Cutler:

NYSE Euronext has been advocating on behalf of our issuers with policy makers in Washington to support sensible financial regulatory reform. I am writing today to provide an update on one such priority because we have reached a critical point in the legislative process.

The U.S. Senate is currently debating S. 3217, the “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010,” and soon will consider a very important amendment that could provide relief for small businesses from overly burdensome compliance costs of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Senators Landrieu (D-LA) and Hutchison (R-TX) will offer amendment #3785 to the bill that would exempt public companies with less than $150 million in public float from complying with Sarbanes-Oxley’s outside audit requirements. The amendment also would require the SEC to study whether the exemption threshold should be higher. I encourage you to call your home state Senators and urge them to support the Landrieu/ Hutchison amendment because it will promote small business growth, encourage job creation and spur entrepreneurship. If you don’t have their number, you can call the Capitol operator at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators.

NYSE Euronext has actively supported efforts to increase this compliance threshold because it has imposed a disproportionately larger cost burden on smaller public companies with little corresponding benefit. Recently Duncan Niederauer, our CEO, authored an editorial on this topic in Politico, a Washington-based political newspaper, which you might find interesting. In fact, we have advocated that Congress enact more meaningful Sarbanes-Oxley reform by exempting companies below $1 billion in market capitalization, but we appreciate that lawmakers recognize how burdensome this requirement is and we are committed to working with the Senate Small Business Committee to conduct a future series of hearings to shed new light on the impact this requirement has on our listed companies. Continuing the dialogue on this and other issues important to you is our priority in Washington.

Charles Schwab Corporation just announced it is transferring the listing of its common stock to NYSE from Nasdaq on 5 March, using its current symbol, SCHW.

The press release quotes Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger: “Today, the NYSE is the listing home to so many household names in financial services, joining them will place us in a natural comparative set.” Makes sense. The company is a leading provider of financial services for individual investors, independent investment advisors and employers. Leaders in financial services (and just about every other field) list with us.

The release also says Schwab has more than 300 offices and 7.7 million client brokerage accounts, 1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 722,000 banking accounts, and $1.42 trillion in client assets. That’s real size.

Me, for a long time I’ve liked their ads, particularly the simple, direct, open, conversational, human-voice quality of the Talk to Chuck campaign. So to Schwab, I say welcome to the Big Board, happy to have you join us. Looking forward to talking to Chuck.

Today is International Corporate Philanthropy Day, and President Obama has written a note in support of the initiative. There’s a significant celebration of the day taking place, both in form and substance.

The fun part: members of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) rang today’s NYSE Opening Bell (disclosure: NYSE Euronext is a member of this good organization).

I asked my colleague Steven Wheeler, our director of Corporate Giving, Archives and Education, for his take on this morning’s event:

Today’s Opening Bell event was an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the ways in which businesses can make a difference in their communities around the globe.

Corporate-giving officers from eight CECP member companies were present to highlight innovative corporate philanthropy programs and activities that are helping to make the world a better place. For instance,

· ITT Corporation is working to bring clean water and sanitation to communities in emerging countries.

· General Mills has launched a joint venture with CARE to support the education and economic development of women in Malawi.

· The Intel Education Initiative uses technology to improve teaching and learning, and aims to promote mathematics, science, and engineering education.

· Bloomberg enables its employees to double the impact of their own contributions of dollars and volunteer time to charitable through its Employee Matching and Dollars for Your Hours programs.

A fuller description of these initiatives and many more can be found at the CECP website.

Thanks, Steve. There’s more — a part-fun, part-substantive part: CECP members are holding a tweet-up, announced here, in connection with their big conference today. Companies are tweeting what they’re doing to mark the day.

And of course, a substantive part, among other programs taking place today: the CECP is releasing a new report,

“Measuring the Value of Corporate Philanthropy: Social impact, business benefits, and investor returns,” that assesses current practices and measurement trends in corporate philanthropy. This report, which focuses on three primary conversations — between giving practitioners and grantees, between giving practitioners and the CEO, and between the CEO and investor community — clarifies the demands for evidence of the social and business benefits of corporate giving and identifies the most promising steps forward for practitioners.

That sounds like an interesting approach — measurement would go a long way toward informing those conversations and the decisions that result from them.

So props to the CECP for doing a good job of highlighting and advancing this important work today. After all, you’ve really gotta work to get on the public radar, because you’re competing for public mindshare, and at this time of year in particular, the public’s mind tends to wander toward, well, other things.

Here’s something I didn’t know: from India’s Business Standard yesterday –

Indian ADRs on NYSE Euronext trade at 10% premium

The bonding between Indian companies and NYSE Euronext has got further reinforced with the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of these companies listed on the global stock exchange commanding an excellent average premium of 10.2 per cent over their underlying ordinary shares in the domestic market in 2009, an exchange release said.

Ten out of 13 Indian companies listed on NYSE Euronext platform trade in the form of ADRs on NYSE Euronext markets. These companies include Dr. Reddy’s, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), Patni Computer Systems, Mahindra Satyam, Sterlite Industries, Tata Communications, Tata Motors and Wipro.

The other three companies – Genpact, WNS and Yatra Capital – are traded in the form of ordinary shares. The combined market capitalization of all 13 Indian companies listed on NYSE Euronext as of December 31, 2009 was at $111 billion, a gain of $57 billion over prior year.

Access to various strata of investors at the global level provided an unbeatable edge for these ADRs enabling these companies to set new benchmarks for others to follow. The premium growth trail continued to pick up year after year, over the last three years. From 5.1 per cent of average premium in 2007, they together scaled to 6.1 per cent the next year, only to take a leap to 10.2 per cent of average premium in 2009.

Prominent among the gainers was, the US-dollar denominated ADRs of HDFC Bank, listed on NYSE, gained 82.2 per cent, compared to 70.4 per cent gain in their underlying rupee-denominated shares during the year. ADRs of Dr Reddy’s posted a gain of 147 per cent against 143.5 per cent in its underlying shares. India’s second largest bank, ICICI Bank ADRs also edged above its underlying.

“NYSE Euronext has provided us with a leading presence and outstanding visibility in the global markets, and we look forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary of NYSE listing in October 2010. Besides enhancing our brand in key regions, the NYSE listing has given us access to a more diverse base of global investors to meet our growing capital needs,” said Mr. Suresh Senapaty, Chief Financial Officer, Wipro Limited. “And since IFRS is now accepted in the U.S., our listing and compliance requirements have been simplified, saving us considerable time and money.”

Stock premium, enhanced brand, simplified listing and compliance requirements, lower costs — it adds up to a compelling story for why these Indian issues have chosen to list here.

Welcome to Wednesday, folks. Three of the many important things that happened on this date in history (hat tip: New York Times): industrialist Thomas Watson, who built IBM, was born on this date in 1874; President Nixon embarked on his historic trip to China on this date in 1972; and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day was born 38 years ago today. There’s a lot more on the first two items at the Times link; the third might not be in the same category, but hey, I have “American Idiot” on my mp3, not old Richard Nixon speeches. There’s a time and place for everything, right?

…will be the ones that aren’t there. They’re the commercials that Pepsi is not running. No matter whether you watch the Super Bowl for the game or the ads or ignore the whole thing, you have to give props to Pepsi. The company has taken the millions it otherwise would have spent on Super Bowl commercials and plowed the money into a community program, the Pepsi Refresh Project. And I mean community in two senses of the word: the projects are designed to help neighborhoods and the larger world around us, and they’re initiated by the online community pitching and voting on their proposals on the project’s Web site.

The project allows people to suggest and vote on projects for Pepsi to fund to help the community. Grants are made for projects at levels from $5,000 to $250,000, Look at the diversity and originality of the ideas on the current 10 most popular ideas at the $5,000 level: ship Girl Scout cookies to troops overseas; help the elderly take care of their pets; provide a baby-care package to help expectant parents in need; a store and classroom deveoote to homemade goods; create a classroom science lab of i-Pod Touch units; an all-girl club that promotes self esteem in an impoverished area; improve the conditions in a boys group home; lead a cross-country bike trip and build houses along the way; recycle t-shirts into shopping bags to raise money for rescued animals; and clean up the littered streets of Nashvile with student lead help.

Here is Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi talking about the program during her visit to New York Stock Exchange last week, on Bloomberg TV (hey Bloomberg, how about an embed button?) and on CNBC. The concept is so — well, fresh — that it seems like the interviewers are struggling a bit to to get it.

In one stroke, Pepsi uses its marketing dollars to improve the planet a bit, engage its customers and the general public, gain lots of reputational benefit, and I’m sure, provide a source of great pride and engagement for its employees.

Super Bowl commercials can be clever. Or not. Marketers are always talking about the difficulty of making their message stand out above the noise and clutter of today’s media saturation. What could be more clever, farther apart from the crowd, than this idea? Thanks, Pepsi, for showing us how it’s done.