Speeding It Up

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The American Bankers Asso ciation and the Association of Stock Exchange Firms are working on a scheme to imprint on all stocks a magnetic number identifying the issuer; the number could be read by an optical scanner hooked to a computer. The real solution is to get rid of the old-fashioned certificates entirely. Last week N.Y.S.E. President Robert W. Haack promised to do just that. "We are going to automate the stock certificate out of business by substituting a punch card," he said. "We just can't keep up with the flood of business unless we do."

As a beginning, Haack assigned "urgent priority" to starting a Central Certificate Service; it will eliminate up to 70% of the physical handling of stock certificates traded between brokers. Technical snags (notably computer programming) have already delayed the project two years, and last week the man in charge, N.Y.S.E. Vice President John R. Bermingham, 42, a computer expert, resigned after a personnel shuffle reduced his authority.