[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 237 (Friday, December 10, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77021-77022]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31096]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-63436; File No. SR-Phlx-2010-166]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; NASDAQ OMX PHLX, LLC; Notice of 
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Relating to 
the Options Regulatory Fee

December 6, 2010.
    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 November 24, 2010, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. [sic] (``Phlx'' or 
``Exchange'') 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 
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 increase its Options Regulatory Fee.
    While changes to the Fee Schedule pursuant to this proposal are 
effective upon filing, the Exchange has designated these changes to be 
operative on January 3, 2011.
    The text of the proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's 
Web site at http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/micro.aspx?id=PHLXRulefilings, 
at the principal office of the Exchange, at the Commission's Public 
Reference Room, and on the Commission's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.

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 Exchange 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 Exchange 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
    The purpose of the proposed rule change is to amend the Options 
Regulatory Fee (``ORF'') to increase the current $0.0030 per contract 
fee to each member for all options transactions executed or cleared by 
the member that are cleared by The Options Clearing Corporation 
(``OCC'') in the customer range (i.e., that clear in the customer 
account of the member's clearing firm at OCC). The Exchange proposes 
instead to assess a $0.0035 per contract ORF. The Exchange monitors the 
amount of revenue collected from the ORF to ensure that it, in 
combination with its other regulatory fees and fines, does not exceed 
regulatory costs. The purpose of the proposed rule change is to recoup 
increased regulatory expenses while also ensuring that the ORF would 
not exceed costs.
    The ORF is imposed upon all transactions executed by a member, even 
if such transactions do not take place on the Exchange.\3\ The ORF also 
includes options transactions that are not executed by an Exchange 
member but are ultimately cleared by an Exchange member.\4\ The ORF is 
not charged for member options transactions because members incur the 
costs of owning memberships and through their memberships are charged 
transaction fees, dues and other fees that are not applicable to non-
members. The dues and fees paid by members go into the general funds of 
the Exchange, a portion of which is used to help pay the costs of 
regulation. The ORF is collected indirectly from members through their

[[Page 77022]]

clearing firms by OCC on behalf of the Exchange.
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    \3\ The ORF applies to all ``C'' account origin code orders 
executed by a member on the Exchange. Exchange rules require each 
member to record the appropriate account origin code on all orders 
at the time of entry in order to allow the Exchange to properly 
prioritize and route orders and assess transaction fees pursuant to 
the rules of the Exchange and report resulting transactions to the 
OCC. See Exchange Rule 1063, Responsibilities of Floor Brokers, and 
Options Floor Procedure Advice F-4, Orders Executed as Spreads, 
Straddles, Combinations or Synthetics and Other Order Ticket Marking 
Requirements. The Exchange represents that it has surveillances in 
place to verify that members mark orders with the correct account 
origin code.
    \4\ In the case where one member both executes a transaction and 
clears the transaction, the ORF is assessed to the member only once 
on the execution. In the case where one member executes a 
transaction and a different member clears the transaction, the ORF 
is assessed only to the member who executes the transaction and is 
not assessed to the member who clears the transaction. In the case 
where a non-member executes a transaction and a member clears the 
transaction, the ORF is assessed to the member who clears the 
transaction.
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    The ORF is designed to recover a portion of the costs to the 
Exchange of the supervision and regulation of its members, including 
performing routine surveillances, investigations, examinations, 
financial monitoring, and policy, rulemaking, interpretive, and 
enforcement activities. The Exchange believes that revenue generated 
from the ORF, when combined with all of the Exchange's other regulatory 
fees, will cover a material portion, but not all, of the Exchange's 
regulatory costs. The Exchange will continue to monitor the amount of 
revenue collected from the ORF to ensure that it, in combination with 
its other regulatory fees and fines, do not exceed regulatory costs. If 
the Exchange determines regulatory revenues exceed regulatory costs, 
the Exchange will adjust the ORF by submitting a fee change filing to 
the Commission.
    While changes to the Fee Schedule pursuant to this proposal are 
effective upon filing, the Exchange has designated these changes to be 
operative on January 3, 2011.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that its proposal to amend its schedule of 
fees is consistent with Section 6(b) of the Act \5\ in general, and 
furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(4) of the Act \6\ in 
particular, in that it is an equitable allocation of reasonable fees 
and other charges among Exchange members. The Exchange believes that 
the fee change is reasonable because the Exchange desires to recoup its 
regulatory expenses while also ensuring that the revenue collected from 
the ORF does not exceed regulatory costs. The Exchange believes that 
this fee proposal is equitable because the increase of the ORF to 
$0.0035 per contract would uniformly apply to all market participants 
who are being assessed the ORF.
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    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \6\ 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 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 either solicited or received.

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

    The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section 
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act \7\ and paragraph (f)(2) of Rule 19b-4 \8\ 
thereunder. At any time within 60 days of the filing of such proposed 
rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend 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-Phlx-2010-166 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-Phlx-2010-166. 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 Web site viewing and printing 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 available publicly. All submissions 
should refer to File No. SR-Phlx-2010-166 and should be submitted on or 
before January 3, 2011.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\9\
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    \9\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-31096 Filed 12-9-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P