[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 5, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31121-31122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10768]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-55829; File No. SR-DTC-2006-20]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; The Depository Trust Company; 
Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to 
Modify DTC's Fee Schedule

May 30, 2007.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''),\1\ notice is hereby given that on December 20, 2006, The 
Depository Trust Company (``DTC'') filed with the Securities and 
Exchange Commission (``Commission'') the proposed rule change described 
in Items I, II, and III below, which items have been prepared primarily 
by DTC. DTC filed the proposed rule change pursuant to Section 
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) and Rule 19b-4(f)(2) thereunder so that the proposed 
rule change was effective upon filing with the Commission.\2\ The 
Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the 
proposed rule change from interested parties.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii) and 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    The purpose of the proposed rule change would revise fees for 
certain services provided by DTC, including (1) decreases to certain 
fees related to settlement services as part of DTC's continuing efforts 
to more closely align fees with costs, (2) increases to certain fees 
related to securities processing, custody and asset servicing, and 
underwriting services to realign fees with costs, (3) introduction of 
fees for to discourage certain activities that increase industry 
inefficiencies, and (4) introduction of new fees related to cost 
recovery for certain manually intensive services, systems development, 
or use of Investor's Voluntary Redemptions and Sales Service 
(``IVORS'').\3\
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    \3\ The text of the DTC's specific fee changes is set forth in 
its filing, which can be found at http://www.dtc.org/impNtc/mor/index.html#2006.
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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, DTC 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. DTC has prepared summaries, set forth in sections (A), 
(B), and (C) below, of the most significant aspects of these 
statements.\4\
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    \4\ The Commission has modified the text of the summaries 
prepared by the DTC.
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A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    DTC is revising its fees for certain services provided by DTC. 
These changes include (1) Decreases to certain settlement services fees 
as part of DTC's continuing efforts to more closely align fees with 
costs and (2) increases to certain fees related to securities 
processing, custody and asset servicing, and underwriting services to 
realign fees with costs.
    In addition, DTC is implementing fees to discourage activities 
which increase industry inefficiencies. Changes in these fees for 2007 
include fee increases for (1) Withdrawal by transfer (in connection 
with DTC's continuing efforts to discourage use of physical 
certificates), (2) deposit services (to encourage the use of the 
paperless legal deposit services), and (3) custody services (to 
encourage the elimination of positions in nontransferable securities). 
DTC is introducing new fees for (1) manually intensive photocopy and 
research requests performed in the reorganization service, (2) cost 
recovery relating to the ongoing development of the new issue 
information dissemination service under DTC's underwriting services, 
and (3) transactions processed using the rollover feature of the 
IVORS.\5\
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    \5\ For more information on the IVORS rollover feature, see 
Exchange Act Release No. 34-50279 (August 27, 2004) 69 FR 50279 
(September 7, 2004) [File No. SR-DTC-2004-08].
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    These proposed fee revisions are consistent with DTC's overall 
pricing philosophy to align service fees with underlying costs, to 
discourage manual and exception processing, and to encourage 
immobilization and dematerialization of securities. The effective date 
for these fee adjustments was January 2, 2007.
    DTC believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the 
requirements of Section 17A of the Act \6\ and the rules and 
regulations thereunder that are applicable to DTC because it clarifies 
and updates DTC's fee schedule. As such, the rule change provides for 
the equitable allocation of fees among its participants.
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    \6\ 15 U.S.C. 78q-1.

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[[Page 31122]]

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

    DTC does not believe that the proposed rule change will impose any 
burden on competition that is 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

    No written comments relating to the proposed rule change have been 
solicited or received. DTC will notify the Commission of any written 
comments received by the DTC.

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

    The foregoing rule change has become effective upon filing pursuant 
to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act \7\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(2) \8\ 
thereunder because it is establishing or changing a due, fee, or other 
charge applicable only to a participant. At any time within sixty days 
of the filing of such 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.
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    \7\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \8\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
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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-DTC-2006-20 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Nancy M. Morris, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-DTC-2006-20. 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 Section, 100 F Street, 
NE., Washington, DC 20549. Copies of such filings also will be 
available for inspection and copying at the principal office of DTC and 
on DTC's Web site, http://www.dtcc.com. 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-DTC-2006-20 and should be submitted on 
or before June 26, 2007.

    For the Commission by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\9\
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    \9\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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J. Lynn Taylor,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-10768 Filed 6-4-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P