[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Sterling Trader, the Chicago-headquartered broker-neutral, independent service bureau, announced that Sterling Trader will offer the SMARTS Broker SaaS surveillance solution to buy-side customers to monitor trading activity for a variety of malicious trading behaviors—including layering, spoofing and insider trading—as well as to detect suspicious activity across trading venues and prevent market abuse.

“Speed to market and SMARTS Broker‘s cross-market functionality was very important in our decision to partner with NASDAQ OMX,” said Stephen A. Sierszulski, Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Trader. “There is strong demand from our buy-side customers for a surveillance solution that’s quick-to-market and one which robustly monitors trading activity for better transparency. We're proud to be able to offer SMARTS Broker to these customers, and foresee great demand as they look to further strengthen their surveillance responsibilities and keep pace with existing and future regulatory demands.”

SMARTS Broker will provide analysis and sophisticated alerts for various forms of market abuse, including insider trading, market manipulation, violations of order handling rules and irregular trading patterns by automated and high frequency trading platforms.

“We‘re very pleased to be supporting Sterling Trader and their buy-side customers’ surveillance and compliance initiatives through this partnership,” said Paul McKeown, Vice President of Market Technology, NASDAQ OMX. “The opportunity to address the growing surveillance and compliance needs of the buy-side industry is a significant area of growth for the SMARTS business - we're proud to be partnering with Sterling Trader on this endeavor. ”