[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 207 (Friday, October 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63536-63540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-25373]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-58800; File No. SR-NYSEArca-2008-109]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change by NYSE Arca, Inc. To Adopt Rules 
To Permit the Trading of Rate-Modified Foreign Currency Options

October 16, 2008.
    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 October 10, 2008, NYSE Arca, Inc. (``NYSE Arca'' or the 
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I and 
II below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. 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 Exchange proposes to adopt rules to permit the trading of Rate-
Modified Foreign Currency Options (``FCOs''). The text of the proposed 
rule change is available at NYSE Arca, the Commission's Public 
Reference Room, and www.nyse.com.

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 self-regulatory organization 
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 those statements may be examined at 
the places specified in Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared 
summaries, set forth in sections A, B, and C below, of the most 
significant parts of such statements.

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

1. Purpose
    The purpose of the proposed rule change is to adopt rules enabling 
the Exchange to list and trade FCOs. The Exchange proposes to adopt 
rules for the listing and trading of cash-settled FCOs on the following 
currencies: the euro, the British pound, the Australian dollar, the New 
Zealand dollar, the Japanese yen, the Canadian dollar, the Swiss franc, 
the Chinese renminbi, the Mexican peso, the Swedish krona, the Russian 
ruble, the South African rand, the Brazilian real, the Israeli shekel, 
the Norwegian krone, the Polish zloty, the Hungarian forint, the Czech 
koruna, and the Korean won (individually, a ``currency'' and 
collectively, the ``Currencies'').\3\
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    \3\ Except as noted herein, FCO's would, in all other respects, 
be traded pursuant to the Exchange's existing trading rules and 
procedures and be covered under the Exchange's existing surveillance 
program.
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    The Exchange notes that the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (``PHLX'') 
currently has rules that permit the listing and trading of both 
physically-settled FCOs and U.S. Dollar-settled FCOs on a number of 
foreign currencies.\4\ FCOs listed and traded by the Exchange pursuant 
to this proposed rule change will not be fungible with

[[Page 63537]]

those listed and traded by PHLX. The Exchange also notes that the 
International Securities Exchange has rules that permit the listing and 
trading of both physically-settled FCOs and U.S. Dollar-settled FCOs on 
a number of foreign currencies.\5\ The Exchange intends, however, to 
license the contract terms governing FCOs from the International 
Securities Exchange (``ISE''), and any FCOs listed and traded on the 
Exchange would be fungible with those listed and traded on ISE.
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    \4\ See Securities Exchange Act release No. 54989 (December 21, 
2006), 71 FR 78506 (December 29, 2006) (SR-PHLX-2006-34). See also 
PHLX rules 1000-1093.
    \5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No, 34-55575 (April 3, 
2007), 72 FR 17963 (April 10, 2007) (SR-ISE-2006-59). See also ISE 
rules 2200-2213.
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    The Exchange proposes to list and trade cash-settled FCOs using the 
Reuters Composite Currency Rate,\6\ an industry benchmark, and modify 
that rate to create an underlying value that represents the prevailing 
rate of a currency pair in an index-like format. NYSE Arca proposes to 
use modifiers of 1, 10, or 100 depending on the exchange rate level of 
the underlying foreign currency. For example, if one U.S. Dollar buys 
.84177 euros, a modifier of 100 would be used so that the modified 
exchange rate would become 84.18.\7\ Modified exchange rates are 
rounded to two decimal places (i.e., to the nearest one one-hundredth). 
Modified exchange rates are rounded up if they end in values greater 
than or equal to five one-thousandths, and rounded down if less than 
five one-thousandths. In the example above, if one U.S. Dollar buys 
.84174 euros, the modified exchange rate, using the same 100 modifier, 
would become 84.17. The Reuters data is based on an amalgamation of 
midpoint dealer quotes on its foreign exchange dealing system.
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    \6\ The Exchange notes that there are many major trading 
platforms for spot market currencies including single bank portals 
(Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, UBS, Barclays, etc.), multi-bank portals 
(FXall, Currenex, FXConnect, etc.) broker-neutral portals (Reuters 
Dealing and EBS), portal aggregators (Bloomberg. LavaFX, FlexTrade), 
as well as many online broker portals. Additionally, several major 
NYSE Arca members, including OptionsXpress and Interactive Brokers, 
provide access to Chicago Mercantile Exchange futures products. NYSE 
Arca therefore believes that sufficient market access is available 
to both institutionals as well as retail investors. Foreign exchange 
prices are also widely available via public Web sites, broker Web 
sites, as well as in print publications. Additionally, Web sites 
such as Bloomberg.com, Reuters.com, Yahoo! Finance, CNBC.com, 
OANDA.com, Nasdaq.com, and many others provide free currency data. 
Investors Business Daily, Wall Street Journal, and the New York 
Times also provide currency data as part of their daily coverage. 
Futhermore, the ISE presently disseminates real-time underlying data 
on OPRA for all the currency rates NYSE Arca intends to list options 
on.
    \7\ Modifiers used for creating underlying values will be 
modeled on the modifiers developed by the ISE and will be posted on 
the Exchange's web site no later than the first day on which FCOs 
begin trading on the Exchange. Once a modifier has been assigned to 
a currency pair by the ISE, it can only be changed upon a filing of 
a proposed rule change by the ISE with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (``Commission''). If the Exchange determines that it will 
no longer adopt modifiers assigned by the ISE, the Exchange will be 
required to submit a proposed rule change to the Commission in order 
to amend a modifier.
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    Under the proposed rule change, FCOs listed by the Exchange will be 
cleared by The Options Clearing Corporation (``OCC''), and will enable 
holders of options contracts to receive U.S. Dollars representing the 
difference between the modified exchange rate \8\ and the exercise 
price of the option. Specifically, upon exercise of an in-the-money 
cash-settled FCO call option, the holder will receive, from OCC, U.S. 
Dollars representing the difference between the exercise strike price 
and the closing settlement value of the cash-settled FCO contract 
multiplied by 100. Upon exercise of an in-the-money cash-settled FCO 
put option, the holder will receive, from OCC, U.S. Dollars 
representing the excess of the exercise price over the closing 
settlement value of the cash-settled FCO contract multiplied by 100. 
Additionally, cash-settled FCOs that are in-the-money by any amount on 
expiration date will be exercised automatically by OCC, while cash-
settled FCOs that are out-of-the-money on expiration date will expire 
worthless.
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    \8\ A ``modified exchange rate'' is defined in proposed NYSE 
Arca Rule 5.71(6).
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    The Exchange hereby proposes to adopt new rules and amend certain 
existing rules in order to list and trade FCOs. The Exchange shall use 
the same contract specifications used by the ISE, as noted in Exhibit 3 
to this filing.\9\ The Exchange's proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.71, 
Definitions, defines terms applicable to FCOs. Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 
5.72, Criteria for Foreign Currency Options, states that the Currencies 
may be approved for trading on the Exchange and sets forth the cross 
rate FCOs that may be traded on the Exchange. Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 
5.72 also states that if any of the sovereign governments or the 
European Economic Community's European Monetary System issuing one of 
the Currencies replaces it with a new currency, that new currency, 
subject to filing a proposed rule change with the Commission, shall 
also be approved for listing and trading under these proposed rules. 
Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.73, Foreign Currency Options Contracts To Be 
Traded, states that the Exchange may open for trading put options and 
call options on the Currencies and that only options contracts of a 
series of options approved by the Exchange and currently open for 
trading may be traded on the Exchange. Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.74, 
Withdrawal of Approval of Foreign Currency Options, states that, in the 
interest of a fair and orderly market and for the protection of 
investors, the Exchange may withdraw approval of the trading of a 
foreign currency option. For example, in the case of the European 
Economic Community's European Monetary System, the Exchange will 
withdraw approval of the trading of a foreign currency option if such 
currency is eligible to and does in fact merge with the euro.
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    \9\ See note 5, supra.
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    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.75, Series of Foreign Currency Options 
Opened for Trading, states that after a class of options contracts on 
any of the Currencies has been approved for listing and trading, the 
Exchange may open for trading series of FCOs that expire in consecutive 
monthly intervals, in three or ``cycle'' month intervals, or that have 
up to 36 months to expiration.\10\ Under this proposed rule change, the 
Exchange may list cash-settled FCOs with expirations that are the same 
as the expirations permitted for index options pursuant to NYSE Arca 
Rules 5.10 and 5.19, except that cash-settled FCOs shall have 
expirations up to 36 months only. Though no long-term series will be 
listed initially, this proposal would allow the Exchange to list long-
term series, i.e., up to 36 months. The expiration date for the 
consecutive and cycle month options will be 8:59 p.m. Pacific time on 
the Saturday immediately following the third Friday of the expiration 
month. Under Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.75, as the modified exchange 
rate moves, the Exchange may list additional series of FCOs in order to 
maintain sufficient numbers of in-the-money and out-of-the-money 
series. Further, the strike price of each series of FCOs opened for 
trading by the Exchange shall be reasonably close to the modified 
exchange rate.
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    \10\ The Exchange notes that consecutive month and cycle month 
expirations of a given series will never overlap.
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    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.76, Terms of Foreign Currency Options 
Contracts, states that, among other things, all FCOs shall be quoted in 
U.S. Dollars, shall be European-style, and that the interval between 
strike prices of series of FCOs shall be no less than $0.10.
    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.77, Position Limits for Foreign Currency 
Options, sets the position limit for FCOs, on the same side of the 
market, as follows: 1,200,000 contracts for the

[[Page 63538]]

euro; 600,000 contracts for the Australian dollar, the New Zealand 
dollar, the British pound, the Canadian dollar, the Japanese yen, and 
the Swiss franc; 300,000 contracts for the Brazilian real, the Chinese 
renminbi, the Czech koruna, the Hungarian forint, the Israeli shekel, 
the Korean won, the Mexican peso, the Norwegian krone, the Swedish 
krona, the Polish zloty, the Russian ruble and the South African rand. 
For the purpose of determining which positions are on the same side of 
the market, under proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.77, long call positions are 
to be aggregated with short put positions and short call positions are 
to be aggregated with long put positions. Position limits for each of 
the proposed cross-rate FCOs are specified in proposed NYSE Arca Rule 
5.77.
    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.78, Exercise Limits for Foreign Currency 
Options, generally states that exercise limits for FCOs and cross rate 
FCOs shall be equivalent to the position limits prescribed to that FCO. 
Thus, the exercise limit for FCOs over any five consecutive business 
days shall be as follows: 1,200,000 contracts for the euro; 600,000 
contracts for the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, the 
British pound, the Canadian dollar, the Japanese yen, and the Swiss 
franc; 300,000 contracts for the Brazilian real, the Chinese renminbi, 
the Czech koruna, the Swedish krona, the Hungarian forint, the Israeli 
shekel, the Korean won, the Mexican peso, the Norwegian krone, the 
Polish zloty, the Russian ruble and the South African rand. The 
exercise limits for cross rate FCOs are set forth in Rule 5.78. Under 
Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.78(a)(3), the Exchange may from time to time, 
subject to Commission approval, establish exercise limits that are 
different from the position limits established for FCOs on a Currency 
or across all Currencies. Position limits for each of the proposed 
cross-rate FCOs are specified in proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.77.
    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.79, Trading Sessions, provides that 
transactions in FCOs may be effected on the Exchange between the hours 
of 6:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Pacific Time, except that on the last 
trading day of the week during which a FCO is set to expire, trading 
shall cease at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. Trading in cash-settled FCOs will 
follow the holiday schedule of the U.S. equity markets. If Friday is an 
Exchange holiday, the settlement value for cash-settled FCOs will be 
determined on the preceding trading day, which will also be the last 
trading day for the expiring option. The Exchange's Proposed Rules 
5.79(b) and (c) make certain adjustments to current processes because 
FCO openings, unlike openings of equity and index options, do not 
depend on the opening of trading of the underlying market, because the 
currency market does not have specified trading hours. Accordingly, the 
opening auction for FCOs shall be held at or as soon as practicable 
after the Exchange's market opens, unless a Trading Official determines 
to delay the opening auction in the interest of maintaining a fair and 
orderly market.
    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.79 lists some of the factors a Trading 
Official may consider in delaying the opening auction. Additionally, in 
the interest of a fair and orderly market, an Exchange official may, 
under certain circumstances, halt or suspend trading in a FCO until 
such time that the circumstances that led to the halt or suspension no 
longer exist. The proposed rule also provides that the Exchange shall 
delay opening or halt trading if the ISE is unable to disseminate the 
current modified exchange rate information at least every 15 seconds to 
OPRA.
    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.80, Reporting of Foreign Currency Options 
Position, requires each OTP Holder of the Exchange to file a report 
with respect to all accounts that have an aggregate position of 12,500 
or more FCO contracts on the same side of the market in any underlying 
foreign currency. Under this proposed rule, OTP Holders shall be 
required to file all such reports within one business day following the 
day that the reportable transactions occur.
    Proposed NYSE Arca Rule 5.81, Foreign Currency Options Closing 
Settlement Value, states that the closing settlement value, which shall 
be posted by the Exchange on its Web site, shall be the Noon Buying 
Rate, as determined by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, on the 
last trading day during expiration week.\11\ If the Noon Buying Rate is 
not announced by 2 p.m. Pacific Time, the closing settlement value will 
be the most recently announced Noon Buying Rate, unless the Exchange 
determines to apply an alternative closing settlement value as a result 
of extraordinary circumstances.\12\
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    \11\ The closing settlement value, whether based on the Noon 
Buying Rate or the WM/Reuters Closing Spot rate, will also be 
modified using the applicable modifier, i.e., 1, 10 or 100, that is 
used in calculating the respective modified exchange rate. Please 
note, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is discontinuing the 
publication of the Noon Buying Rate on December 31, 2008.
    \12\ The Exchange may use the WM/Reuters Closing Spot rate if 
the Noon Buying Rate is not available. The Exchange notes that the 
Commission has recently approved listing standards for securities 
issued by a trust that represent investors' discrete identifiable 
and undivided beneficial ownership interests in non-U.S. currency 
deposited into a trust that utilizes the Noon Buying Rate for the 
calculation of the Net Asset Value of the trust. See Securities 
Exchange Act Release No. 52843 (November 28, 2005), 70 FR 72486 
(December 5, 2005) (order granting accelerated approval of SR-NYSE-
2005-65).
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    In the event the Noon Buying Rate is not published for an 
underlying currency, the Exchange proposes to apply the WM/Reuters 
Closing Spot rate to determine the closing settlement value of any 
underlying currency.\13\ The WM/Reuters Closing Spot rate is determined 
at 16 UK time, also known as the ``fix'' time (10 a.m. Pacific Time). 
WM/Reuters typically publishes its closing rates 15 minutes after the 
fix time. The Reuters System is the primary source of spot foreign 
exchange rates used in the calculation of the WM/Reuters Closing Spot 
rate. WM/Reuters, however, may use alternative sources such as a 
country's Central Bank or rates from EBS, which is another major FX 
venue and market data service provider for 156 currencies, including 
all of the currencies underlying the products proposed by NYSE Arca 
under this filing.
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    \13\ The Federal Reserve Bank of New York currently does not 
publish a Noon Buying Rate for the Czech koruna, the Hungarian 
forint, the Israeli shekel, the Korean won, the Polish zloty and the 
Russian ruble. As a result, the Exchange proposes to use the WM/
Reuters Closing Spot rate for these 6 currencies to determine their 
closing settlement value.
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    WM/Reuters has two main methods for calculating its Closing Spot 
rate. The methodology used depends on whether a currency is determined 
by WM/Reuters to be a ``trade currency'' or a ``non-trade currency.'' 
\14\ WM/Reuters applies a unique methodology for each category. Closing 
Spot rates for ``non-trade currencies'' are determined primarily by 
using data from Reuters. This methodology involves taking snapshots of 
quoted bids and offers for each currency at 15-second intervals over a 
two-minute period. The median is then calculated independently for each 
currency's bid and offer. The midpoint of that median bid and offer 
becomes the final value.
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    \14\ The Australian dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar, 
Czech koruna, Danish krone, euro, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar, 
Norwegian krone, Singapore dollar, South African rand, Swedish 
krona, and Swiss franc are all considered by WM/Reuters to be 
``trade currencies,'' while all others are considered ``non-trade 
currencies.'' The instant filing proposes to trade FCOs on all the 
``trade currencies'' except the Danish krone and the Singapore 
dollar.
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    Closing Spot rates for ``trade currencies'' are determined 
primarily by using data from both Reuters and EBS.

[[Page 63539]]

This methodology involves taking snapshots of actual traded rates every 
second for a period of 30 seconds before the fix to 30 seconds after 
the fix. Trades are identified as a bid or offer and a spread is 
applied to calculate the opposite bid or offer. The spread applied is 
determined by the spread between buy and sell orders captured at the 
same time. The median is then independently calculated for each 
currency's bid and offer, resulting in a midpoint trade rate. The 
midpoint of that median bid and offer becomes the final value. Proposed 
NYSE Arca Rule 5.81 additionally disclaims the Exchange's (and that of 
any agent of the Exchange's) liability and that of the Reporting 
Authority due to force majeure.
    The Exchange is also proposing to amend its Rule 4.16 regarding 
margin requirements by adopting a rule for FCOs that is substantially 
similar to the ISE's margin rules for foreign currency options. 
Accordingly, under proposed NYSE ARCA Rule 4.16(d), cash-settled FCOs 
will have the same customer margin requirements as are provided in ISE 
Rule 1202(d), ``Margin Requirements''.
    In addition, the Exchange proposes to modify Rule 6.72 to permit 
FCOs to quote and trade in one cent increments.
    Chapter 9 of the Exchange's rules is designed to protect public 
customer trading and shall apply to trading in FCOs. Specifically, NYSE 
Arca Rules 9.18(a) and (b) prohibit OTP Firms and OTP Holders from 
accepting a customer order to purchase or write an option, including on 
a cash-settled FCO, unless such customer's account has been approved in 
writing by a designated Registered Options Principal. Additionally, 
NYSE Arca's Rule 9.18(c) regarding suitability is designed to ensure 
that options, including cash-settled FCOs, are only sold to customers 
capable of evaluating and bearing the risks associated with trading in 
this instrument. Further, NYSE Arca Rule 9.18(e) permits OTP Firms or 
OTP Holders to exercise discretionary power with respect to trading 
options, including trading cash-settled FCOs, in a customer's account 
only if the OTP Firm or OTP Holder has received prior written 
authorization from the customer and the account had been accepted in 
writing by a designated Registered Options Principal. NYSE Arca Rule 
9.18(e) also requires designated Registered Options Principals or 
Representatives of an OTP Firm or OTP Holder to approve and initial 
each discretionary order, including discretionary orders for cash-
settled FCOs, on the day the discretionary order is entered. Finally, 
NYSE Arca Rule 9.18(d), Supervision of Accounts, Rule 9.18(f), 
Confirmation, and Rule 9.18(g), Delivery of Current Options Disclosure 
Documents and Prospectus, will also apply to trading in FCOs.
    As previously noted, the Exchange represents that it has an 
adequate surveillance program in place for FCOs, and intends to apply 
the same program procedures that it applies to the Exchange's index 
options. The Exchange is also a member of the Intermarket Surveillance 
Group (``ISG''), and may obtain trading information via the ISG from 
other exchanges who are members or affiliates of the ISG. The members 
of the ISG include all of the U.S. registered stock and options 
markets. The ISG members work together to coordinate surveillance and 
investigative information sharing in the stock and options markets. In 
addition, the major futures exchanges are affiliated members of the 
ISG, which allows for the sharing of surveillance information for 
potential intermarket trading abuses. Specifically, NYSE Arca can 
obtain such information from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (``CME'') 
in connection with futures trading on that exchange.\15\
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    \15\ CME is an affiliate member of ISG.
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    Finally, the Exchange represents that it has the necessary systems 
capacity to support new options series that will result from the 
introduction of cash-settled FCOs.
2. Statutory Basis
    The proposed rule change is consistent with and furthers the 
objectives of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act, in that it is designed to 
promote just and equitable principles of trade, remove impediments to 
and perfect the mechanisms of a free and open market and a national 
market system and, in general, to protect investors and the public 
interest.

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

    The Exchange 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 were solicited or received with respect to the 
proposed rule change.

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

    Because the foregoing rule change does not: (i) Significantly 
affect the protection of investors or the public interest; (ii) impose 
any significant burden on competition; and (iii) become operative for 
30 days after the date of this filing, or such shorter time as the 
Commission may designate if consistent with the protection of investors 
and the public interest, the proposed rule change has become effective 
pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \16\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) 
thereunder.\17\
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    \16\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \17\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6). In addition, Rule 19b-4(f)(6)(iii) 
under the Act requires that a self-regulatory organization submit to 
the Commission written notice of its intent to file the proposed 
rule change, along with a brief description and text of the proposed 
rule change, at least five business days prior to the date of filing 
of the proposed rule change, or such shorter time as designated by 
the Commission. The Exchange has satisfied this notice requirement.
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    A proposed rule change filed pursuant to Rule 19b-4(f)(6) under the 
Act normally does not become operative for 30 days after the date of 
filing.\18\ However, Rule 19b-4(f)(6)(iii) \19\ permits the Commission 
to designate a shorter time if such action is consistent with the 
protection of investors and the public interest. The Exchange has 
requested that the Commission waive the 30-day operative delay. The 
Commission believes that waiving the 30-day operative delay is 
consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest. 
The Commission notes that it has approved substantially similar rules 
for the listing and trading of FCOs on the ISE and NYSE Arca's proposal 
raises no new regulatory issues.\20\ Accordingly, the Commission 
designates that the proposed rule change become operative 
immediately.\21\
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    \18\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6)(iii).
    \19\ Id.
    \20\ See supra note 5.
    \21\ For the purposes only of waiving the 30-day operative 
delay, the Commission has considered the proposed rule's impact on 
efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C. 
78c(f).
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    At any time within 60 days of the filing of such 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

[[Page 63540]]

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-NYSEArca-2008-109 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

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

All submissions should refer to File Number SR SR-NYSEArca-2008-109. 
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, 100 F Street, 
NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours 
of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of the filing also will be available for 
inspection and copying at the principal office of the self-regulatory 
organization. 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-
NYSEArca-2008-109 and should be submitted on or before November 14, 
2008.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\22\
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    \22\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-25373 Filed 10-23-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P