[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 200 (Monday, October 18, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61422-61424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-2703]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

 [Release No. 34-50491; File No. SR-MSRB-2004-05]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule 
Change by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board To Offer New 
Historical Data Product

October 5, 2004.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that 
on September 16, 2004, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board 
(``MSRB'' or ``Board'') filed with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (``SEC'' or ``Commission'') the proposed rule change as 
described in Items I, II, and III below, which Items have been prepared 
by the MSRB. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit 
comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    The MSRB proposes to offer a new transparency product containing 
historical trade data obtained through the MSRB's Transaction Reporting 
System (the ``Historical Data Product''). The Historical Data Product 
will include information for each inter-dealer trade reported since 
January 24, 1995, and for

[[Page 61423]]

each customer and inter-dealer trade reported since August 25, 1998, 
regardless of the number of times a particular issue traded (i.e., the 
data will not be limited to ``frequently traded'' issues). The 
transaction information will be the same as that currently provided in 
the MSRB's Comprehensive Transaction Report (``CT Report''), including 
the trade date, the CUSIP number of the issue traded, a short 
description of the issue, the size of the transaction (including the 
exact par amount reported to the MSRB on transactions in amounts 
greater than one million dollars), the time of trade as reported by the 
dealer, the price of the transaction, the dealer-reported yield (if 
any), and a designation as to whether the transaction is a sale by a 
dealer to a customer, a purchase from a customer, or an inter-dealer 
trade.\3\ The MSRB proposes to charge $600 for a one-year collection of 
historical data to cover the administrative costs associated with 
providing this data. The Historical Data Product will be available, at 
the purchaser's option, either on CD-ROM or by download over the 
Internet.
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    \3\ Currently, the CT Report is produced daily and provides 
historical transaction information on a one-week delayed basis. The 
information in the CT Report is derived from information submitted 
to the MSRB by brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers 
pursuant to Rule G-14, on reports of sales and purchases, and each 
CT Report includes transactions reported by dealers as having been 
executed on a single day one week before the CT Report is produced. 
The MSRB will continue to produce the CT Report and will continue to 
offer it under its current subscription terms and rate.
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II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    In its filing with the Commission, the MSRB 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 
text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in 
Item IV below. The MSRB has prepared summaries, set forth in Sections 
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

1. Purpose
    In October 2000, the MSRB began offering its Comprehensive 
Transaction Report to provide historical information on all municipal 
securities transactions that were effected from August 2000 forward. 
The information in the CT Report is a comprehensive listing of trades 
derived from information that dealers are required to submit to the 
MSRB pursuant to Rule G-14, on reports of sales and purchases.\4\ Prior 
MSRB transparency products provided information only on ``frequently 
traded'' issues--that is, issues in which multiple transactions 
occurred on a given trade date. Since the implementation of the first 
CT Report, the MSRB has enhanced the Report by making it available on-
line and by making the data available more quickly after trade date.
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    \4\ Rule G-14 requires dealers to, among other things, report 
all inter-dealer and customer transactions in municipal securities 
to the MSRB by midnight of trade date. The CT Report contains both 
trades reported within this deadline as well as trades reported late 
or corrected by dealers after the initial report. The data elements 
included for each trade are the trade date, the CUSIP number of the 
issue traded, a short description of the issue, the size of the 
transaction (including the exact par amount reported to the MSRB on 
transactions in amounts greater than one million dollars), the time 
of trade as reported by the dealer, the price of the transaction, 
the dealer-reported yield (if any), and a designation as to whether 
the transaction is a sale by a dealer to a customer, a purchase from 
a customer, or an inter-dealer trade.
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    The current CT Report is made available as a one-year subscription 
whereby data is delivered daily (with a one-week delay). The MSRB will 
continue to produce the CT Report on a one-week delayed basis with 
details about all transactions traded one-week prior, and will continue 
to offer it under its current subscription terms and rate. The proposed 
Historical Data Product would provide the same data as the CT Report 
but would make it available in another package; rather than having to 
subscribe to the CT Report, the Historical Data Product will enable a 
data user to make a one-time purchase of all available trade data for a 
specified time period in one-year increments. In contrast to the CT 
Report, the Historical Data Product will not provide a continuous 
(daily) stream of data and will not be available on a subscription 
basis. The MSRB proposes to charge $600 for a one-year collection of 
historical data to cover the administrative costs associated with 
providing this data. The Historical Data Product will be available, at 
the purchaser's option, either on CD-ROM or by download over the 
Internet.
2. Statutory Basis
    The MSRB believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with 
section 15B(b)(2)(C) of the Act,\5\ which requires that the rules of 
the MSRB 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 * * * 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 * * *'' \6\ The MSRB has a long-standing policy to 
increase price transparency in the municipal securities market, with 
the ultimate goal of disseminating comprehensive and contemporaneous 
pricing data. Since 1995, the Board has expanded the scope of its 
public transparency reports in several steps, and each step has 
provided industry participants and the public with more information 
about municipal securities transactions. By providing more information 
on infrequently traded issues, the Historical Data Product represents 
another step in the Board's efforts to increase transparency and 
facilitate the fair pricing of municipal securities transactions. The 
MSRB encourages the redistribution of the data contained in the 
Historical Data Product and believes that achieving the widest possible 
dissemination of transaction information will help ensure the fairest 
and most accurate pricing of municipal securities transactions.
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    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 78o-4(b)(2)(C).
    \6\ Id.
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B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The MSRB does not believe that the proposed rule change will result 
in any burden on competition not necessary or appropriate in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.

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

    Written comments were neither solicited nor received.

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

    Within 35 days of the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register or within such longer period (i) as the Commission may 
designate up to 90 days of such date if it finds such longer period to 
be appropriate and publishes its reasons for so finding or (ii) as to 
which the self-regulatory organization consents, the Commission will:
    A. By order approve such proposed rule change, or
    B. Institute proceedings to determine whether the proposed rule 
change should be disapproved.

[[Page 61424]]

IV. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule 
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of 
the following methods:

Electronic Comments

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
     Send an e-mail to [email protected]. Please include 
File Number SR-MSRB-2004-05 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Jonathan G. Katz, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20549-0609.
    All submissions should refer to File Number SR-MSRB-2004-05. This 
file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. 
To help the Commission process and review your comments more 
efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all 
comments on the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). 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 such 
filing also will be available for inspection and copying at the MSRB's 
offices. All comments received will be posted without change; the 
Commission does not edit personal identifying information from 
submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make 
available publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number SR-
MSRB-2004-05 and should be submitted on or before November 8, 2004.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\7\
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    \7\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E4-2703 Filed 10-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P