[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 585-586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-159]



[[Page 585]]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-39495; File No. SR-MSRB-97-18]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change by the Municipal Securities 
Rulemaking Board Relating to Transaction Reporting Procedures

December 29, 1997.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''), 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1), notice is hereby given that on December 
23, 1997, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (``Board'' or 
``MSRB'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'' or ``SEC'') a proposed rule change (File No. SR-MSRB-
97-18). The proposed rule change is described in Items I, II, and III 
below, which Items have been prepared by the Board. The Commission is 
publishing this notice to solicit comments on the proposed rule change 
from interested persons.

I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

Rule G-14--Reports of Sales or Purchases \1\
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    \1\ Italics indicate additions; [brackets] indicate deletions.
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    No change.
Rule G-14 Transaction Reporting Procedures
(a) Inter-Dealer Transactions
    No change.
(b) Customer Transactions
    (i) Each broker, dealer and municipal securities dealer shall 
report to the Board all transactions with customer effected after 
[January 1, 1998] March 1, 1998, except as described in paragraph (iii) 
of this section (b). A broker, dealer or municipal securities dealer 
shall report a transaction by submitting or causing to be submitted to 
the Board, by midnight of trade date, the customer transaction 
information specified in paragraph (ii) of this section (b) in such 
format and manner specified in the current User's Manual for Customer 
Transaction Reporting. The broker, dealer or municipal securities 
dealer shall promptly report cancellation of the trade or corrections 
to any required data items.
    (ii)-(iv) No change.

II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    In its filing with the Commission, the Board included statements 
concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and 
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The 
texts of these statements may be examined at the places specified in 
Item IV below. The board has prepared summaries, set forth in Section 
A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such statements.

A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    The proposed rule change changes the effective date for the 
beginning of the customer transaction phase of the Board's Transaction 
Reporting Program. The customer transaction phase of the program was 
filed by the Board and approved by the Commission in 1996, with an 
effective date for system operations of January 1, 1998. The addition 
of customer transactions to the existing transaction reporting system 
for inter-dealer transactions will allow the Board to include customer 
data in the daily reports of price and volume activity and in the 
surveillance database that the Board makes available to regulators.\2\ 
The Commission also approved the Board's plan to conduct a mandatory 
testing program.\3\ The testing program is designed to ensure that 
modifications to dealer computer systems necessary for customer 
transaction reporting have occurred and that links between dealer 
systems that submit data and Board computer systems for processing data 
are coordinated and are operating correctly. The start date for the 
testing program was set for July 1, 1997.
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    \2\ A complete description of the program is found in the 
Board's filing with the Commission on the customer phase of the 
program and the Commission's Approval Order. See Securities Exchange 
Act Release No. 37998 (November 29, 1996).
    \3\ See Rule G-14 Transaction Reporting Procedures, section 
(b)(iv).
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    The proposed rule change consists of two parts: (i) An amendment to 
the language of Rule G-14 Transaction Reporting Procedures, changing 
the effective date of dealers' obligations to report data correctly and 
accurately to the Board's Transaction Reporting Program from January 1, 
1998, to March 1, 1998 (the ``operational start date''); and (ii) a 
notice to the industry that explains, notwithstanding the delay in the 
operational start date, dealers are responsible under rule G-14 to 
continue to test their transaction reporting capabilities with the 
Board prior to the new operational start date. The notice states that, 
once initial testing protocols have been successfully completed, the 
testing program requires that dealers continue to submit live test data 
to the Board. This will allow the Board and dealers to resolve possible 
problems in reporting of certain types of transactions prior to the 
operational start date for the system. It also will provide the Board 
with information about the market that will help the Board to design 
the daily price and volume reports that will include customer 
transaction data.
    The Board has determined that it is necessary to delay full system 
operations and to extend the testing period from January 1, 1998 to 
March 1, 1998, because of technical difficulties encountered in the 
development of computer systems that will operate the Program. The 
Board plans to complete computer system design and construction in time 
to place the Program on an operational basis for trades occurring on or 
after March 1, 1998. At its February 1998 meeting, the Board plans to 
review the status of system development and construction. At that time, 
the Board intends to review test data that has been submitted thus far 
and to decide how best to structure the daily price and volume reports 
that will reflect the customer transaction activity that is occurring 
in the market.
    The Board believes the proposed rule change is consistent with 
Section 15B(b)(2)(C) of the Act, which provides that the Board's rules 
shall:

    Be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and 
practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, to 
foster cooperation and coordination with persons engaged in 
regulating, clearing, settling processing information with respect 
to, and facilitating transactions in municipal securities, to remove 
impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market 
in municipal securities, and, in general, to protect investors and 
the public interest.

    The Board believes that the proposed rule change is necessary so 
that initial operations of the customer transaction reporting phase of 
the Transaction Reporting Program can begin as soon as possible and so 
that the Board's production of daily price/volume reports can reflect 
customer transaction data as soon as possible. The Board believes that 
the operation of the Transaction Reporting Program, in general, will 
facilitate the statutory purposes noted above because the Program will 
provide an additional

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degree of price transparency in the municipal securities market and 
will provide a surveillance audit trail that may be used by market 
regulators in furtherance of their regulatory purposes.

B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The Board does not believe that the proposed rule change will 
impose any burden on competition not necessary or appropriate in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act since it would apply equally to 
all brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers and merely delays 
the start-up date for a program that previously has been approved by 
the Commission.

C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others

    Written comments were neither solicited nor received.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 
Commission Action

    Because the proposed rule change is merely a technical correction 
of rule language, the Board has designated this proposed rule change as 
constituting a stated policy, practice, or interpretation with respect 
to the meaning, administration, or enforcement or an existing Board 
rule under Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act, which renders the proposed 
rule change effective upon receipt of this filing by the Commission. At 
any time within sixty days of the filing of the proposed rule change, 
the Commission may summarily abrogate such rule change if it appears to 
the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate in the 
public interest, for the protection of investors, or otherwise in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing. Persons making written submissions 
should file six copies thereof with the Secretary, Securities and 
Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. 
Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all written 
statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are filed with 
the Commission, and all written communications relating to the proposed 
rule change between the Commission and any person, other than those 
that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the provisions 
of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for inspection and copying in the 
Commission's Public Reference Room. Copies of the filing will also be 
available for inspection and copying at the Board's principal offices. 
All submissions should refer to File No. SR-MSRB-97-18 and should be 
submitted by January 27, 1998.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority, 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-159 Filed 1-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M