[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 12, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1676-1678]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-298]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-61291; File No. SR-NYSEAmex-2009-95]


 Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change by NYSE Amex LLC To Establish 
Registered Representative Fees

January 5, 2010.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(the ``Act'') \1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given 
that, on December 28, 2009, NYSE Amex LLC (``NYSE Amex'' or the 
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II, 
and III 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 end its waiver of registered 
representative fees

[[Page 1677]]

for member organizations that acquired their memberships solely by 
operation of NYSE Amex Equities Rule 2 in connection with the 
acquisition of the American Stock Exchange by the New York Stock 
Exchange (``NYSE''). The waiver will end on December 31, 2009 and all 
member organizations will be subject to registered representative fees 
commencing January 1, 2010. The text of the proposed rule change is 
available at the Exchange, 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
    In connection with the acquisition of the American Stock Exchange 
(renamed NYSE Amex after the acquisition) by NYSE Euronext, all 
equities trading conducted on or through the American Stock Exchange 
legacy trading systems and facilities located at 86 Trinity Place, New 
York, New York, was moved on December 1, 2008, to the NYSE trading 
facilities and systems located at 11 Wall Street, New York, New York 
(the ``NYSE Amex Trading Systems''), which are operated by the NYSE on 
behalf of NYSE Amex (the ``Equities Relocation''). At the time of the 
Equities Relocation, by operation of NYSE Amex Equities Rule 2, all 
NYSE member organizations automatically became NYSE Amex member 
organizations. By acquiring NYSE Amex membership, the NYSE member 
organizations that were not previously NYSE Amex members would become 
subject to the NYSE Amex registration fees for all of their employees 
who serve as registered representatives. As these NYSE member 
organizations that had no NYSE Amex business prior to the Equities 
Relocation became NYSE Amex members without any action on their own 
part, NYSE Amex waived the application of its registered representative 
fees to those firms for the month of December.
    At the time of its original adoption of the waiver, NYSE Amex 
stated that it expected to submit a filing to adopt a revised 
registered representative fee commencing January 1, 2009.\3\ The waiver 
was extended through June 30, 2009,\4\ and was subsequently extended 
again through September 30, 2009,\5\ at which time it expired. The 
expiration of the waiver on September 30, 2009, resulted from an 
oversight on the part of Exchange staff as the Exchange had not yet 
reached a conclusion as to a more permanent approach to registered 
representative fees at that time. Consequently, the Exchange intends to 
submit a filing in which it seeks to re-establish the waiver with 
retroactive effect from October 1, 2009, ending on December 31, 2009.
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    \3\ See Exchange Act Release 59045 (December 3, 2008), 73 FR 
75151 (December 10, 2008) (SR-NYSEALTR-2008-09).
    \4\ See Exchange Act Release 59170 (December 29, 2008), 74 FR 
486 (January 6, 2009) (SR-NYSEALTR-2008-19).
    \5\ See Exchange Act Release 60176 (June 26, 2009), 74 FR 32021 
(July 6, 2009) (SR-NYSAmex-2009-30).
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    NYSE Amex proposes to end the waiver on December 31, 2009, and will 
require all NYSE Amex member organizations to pay registered 
representative fees as of January 1, 2010, regardless of whether they 
were members of NYSE Amex prior to the Equities Relocation.\6\ It has 
been NYSE Amex's experience that member organizations that have 
benefitted from the waiver have traded comparable volumes of NYSE Amex 
equities since the Equities Relocation to those traded by member 
organizations that are currently subject to the registered 
representative fees. Consequently, NYSE Amex believes it is equitable 
to charge the same registered representative fees to all member 
organizations regardless of how they acquired their membership. The 
Exchange also notes that, while NYSE Amex benefits to a large degree 
from the NYSE's regulatory program and all NYSE Amex members pay 
regulatory fees to the NYSE, the revenues generated from NYSE 
regulatory fees are significantly less than is needed to fund the NYSE 
and NYSE Amex equities regulatory program. As such, the Exchange 
believes it is appropriate to charge registered representative fees to 
those member organizations that have benefitted from the waiver, as a 
contribution to the costs of regulating their NYSE Amex equities 
trading activities.
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    \6\ See e-mail from John Carey, Chief Counsel US Equities, NYSE 
Euronext, Inc. to Leah Mesfin, Special Counsel, Division of Trading 
and Markets, Commission, on January 4, 2010, clarifying that the 
waiver ended on December 31, 2009.
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    The rule change will become operative as of January 1, 2010.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent 
with the provisions of Section 6 of the Act,\7\ in general, and Section 
6(b)(4) of the Act,\8\ in particular, in that it is designed to provide 
for the equitable allocation of reasonable dues, fees, and other 
charges among its members and other persons using its facilities. The 
Exchange believes that the proposal does not constitute an inequitable 
allocation of dues, fees and other charges as all member organizations 
will pay the same fees and the fees charged to member organizations 
that previously benefitted from the waiver will be sufficient to fund 
only a portion of the costs of NYSE Amex's regulation of those member 
organizations' NYSE Amex equities trading activities.
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    \7\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \8\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
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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

    The foregoing rule change is effective upon filing pursuant to 
Section 19(b)(3)(A) \9\ of the Act and subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule 19b-
4 \10\ thereunder, because it establishes a due, fee, or other charge 
imposed by NYSE Amex.
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    \9\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \10\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
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    At any time within 60 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.

[[Page 1678]]

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-NYSEAmex-2009-95 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

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

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-NYSEAmex-2009-95. 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 such filing also will be available for 
inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. 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 publicly available. All 
submissions should refer to File Number SR-NYSEAmex-2009-95 and should 
be submitted on or before February 2, 2010.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\11\
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    \11\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-298 Filed 1-11-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P