Nasdaq CEO On NYSE Trading halt: 'They Are Dealing With Legacy Systems From Prior Administrations, Will Take Them A While To Work Through'

The 31/2 hour trading halt at New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday reminded many of a similar 3 hour halt at NASDAQ in August 2013. Robert Greifeld, NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. NDAQ CEO, was on CNBC Friday to discuss the NYSE trading halt and what has he learnt from these experiences.

NYSE Is Dealing With Legacy Systems

"I think, the New York Stock Exchange first and foremost is very capably led by Jeff (Jeffrey C. Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange Inc ICE) and Tom (Thomas W. Farley, President of NYSE Group)," Greifeld said. "You have to understand that they are still dealing with legacy systems from prior administrations, it's going to take them a while to work through. I think, they have a good plan and they are obviously working hard to do that."

Seek Perfection

On what he has learnt from the halt at NASDAQ that took place in August 2013 and the halt at NYSE on Wednesday, Greifeld said, "Well, to make the situation worse when you look at all the exchanges around the world. There has been a multitude of situations, right? Probably in the double digit number. So, these things do happen."

He continued, "What you have to do is adopt a philosophy of a continuous improvement. You have to say, 'I need to seek perfection, I have to self examine how I am doing things, how I can do things better'. You know you are never going to get the perfection, but that has to be your goal."