21.   Small brokerages, many of which are expected to fail as increased competition undermines commissions, were hardest hit.

22.   She headed for the small brokerage where she acts as a go-between for buyers and sellers of bonds that governments issue to pay for schools, bridges and buildings.

23.   Small brokerages are often some of the most active participants in the trading that envelops the freewheeling world of stock bulletin boards.

24.   That move will spur so much competition to cut commissions that it will force many small brokerages out of business, analysts said.

25.   The agency said stock promoters and officials of small brokerage firms bribed brokers to get them to sell certain issues to unsuspecting investors.

26.   The arcane world of clearing has become controversial because of the activities of several small brokerage firms that, regulators contend, defrauded investors of millions of dollars.

27.   The brokers worked at Meyers Pollock Robbins Inc., a small brokerage firm in Manhattan and on Long Island, N.Y., that has not been charged.

28.   The ministry imposed that limit to protect small brokerages, which depend on fee incomes from smaller investors.

29.   While NASD executives predict the deal will pass a membership vote easily, some small brokerage firms expressed hostility to the offering in a conference call.

30.   But a number of small brokerages reported glitches in a recordkeeping system developed by Nomura Research Institute.