Friday, February 22, 2013

Financial Products News #2013 - 6
Updated 2/27/2013: Mergent Dividend Achievers Indexes Switch Postponed

What are the Dividend Achievers^TM Indexes?

The NASDAQ Dividend Achievers indexes generally track companies that have consistent increases in dividends paid year over year. The goal of the index family is to create a desirable blend of potential current income and long-term capital appreciation. The Dividend Achievers indexes are a leader in this space with over $18 billion in ETF, Mutual Fund, UIT and Structured Product assets.

What is changing?

As announced in Financial Product News 2013-2, NASDAQ OMX^® will transition the dissemination of the Mergent Dividend Achievers indexes from NYSE Arca, to the NASDAQ OMX Global Index Data Service^SM (GIDS^SM) and Global Index Watch product (GIW^SM) proprietary data services. GIDS will be the only direct source for real-time calculations of these indexes and GIW will be the direct source for weightings and components information. NASDAQ OMX will be working directly with our redistribution partners to make sure that the transition is seamless for customers that access the data indirectly through those partners.

Updated 2/27/2013: In addition, the Mergent Dividend Achievers indexes will be rebranded as the "NASDAQ Dividend Achievers" indexes. The names for most Dividend Achievers will change effective Monday, February 25, 2013. NASDAQ OMX requests that all vendors receiving these indexes abide by the new naming convention. NASDAQ OMX has corrected select index names to include the word "Index". The updated index names will be effective Monday, March 4, 2013. Please refer to the NASDAQ Achievers list for complete index symbols and names.

How will the NASDAQ Dividend Achievers indexes be disseminated during the Beta test?

Effective Monday, March 4, 2013 and until close of business on Friday, March 22, 2013, NASDAQ OMX will provide beta testing for the Dividend Achievers indexes. Data recipients will receive real-time index information for select Dividend Achievers Indexes from the NASDAQ OMX proprietary GIDS data feed. Please note, the Dividend Achievers indexes currently disseminated via NYSE Arca's index service will still be available during the testing period.

NASDAQ OMX will create temporary versions (appending "TEST" to the end of the ticker symbol) of the current indexes available via the NYSE GIF service. Additionally, during the Beta testing period, NASDAQ OMX will introduce real-time dissemination of five additional Dividend Achievers indexes that are not currently supported on the NYSE GIF service. Total return versions of all nine price return indexes will also be available via GIDS. The index information will be temporarily identified via GIDS and GIW as follows:

* The index names for symbols DVG and DVGTR will be effective on Monday, March 4, 2013.

**Please note: While these indexes are Beta tested, NASDAQ-calculated values may differ from NYSE Arca's values as the indexes are currently disseminated every 15 seconds on NYSE GIF while the GIDS data feed will disseminate the indexes once every second.

What Dividend Achievers indexes will be disseminated via GIDS after the Beta test?

Effective Monday, March 25, 2013, NASDAQ OMX will change the symbol by removing "TEST" from the end of the symbol. GIDS will be the only direct source for real-time calculations of the Dividend Achievers indexes. Below is a complete list of the indexes that will be disseminated on GIDS beginning March 25^th.

What database changes do NASDAQ OMX market data redistributors need to make to accommodate the new indexes?

NASDAQ OMX asks that all market data redistributors update their database to reflect the new index source for the indexes on Monday, March 25, 2013. Additionally, NASDAQ OMX requests that market data redistributors retain any historical data for the Dividend Achievers indexes and begin to process the GIDS data on March 25^th.

Will the components and weightings data be made available?

NASDAQ OMX will introduce a new index family, the NASDAQ Dividend and Income Index Family, to house the NASDAQ Dividend Achievers indexes on NASDAQ OMX Global Index Watch (GIW). NASDAQ OMX is working with our redistribution partners to make this new family available via their services. For access and more information on the Dividend Index family on GIW, please contact NASDAQ Global Data Sales.

Where can I find additional information?

• For questions about NASDAQ OMX index license products, please contact NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group at +1 301 978 8284.
• For questions about NASDAQ OMX data products, including GIDS and GIW, please contact NASDAQ OMX Global Data Products at +1 301 978 5307 or +45 3393 3366.