

[Federal Register: March 27, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 58)]
[Notices]               
[Page 14313-14314]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27mr07-79]                         


[[Page 14313]]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-55499; File No. SR-Amex-2007-27]

 
Self-Regulatory Organizations; American Stock Exchange LLC; 
Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change, 
as Modified by Amendment No. 1 Thereto, Relating to an Amendment to the 
Options Marketing Fee

March 21, 2007.
    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 February 28, 2007, the American Stock Exchange LLC (``Amex'' or 
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II, 
and III below, which Items have been substantially prepared by the 
Exchange. On March 14, 2007, the Amex submitted Amendment No. 1 to the 
proposed rule change. Amex has designated this proposal as one 
establishing or changing a due, fee, or other charge imposed by Amex 
under Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act \3\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(2) 
thereunder,\4\ which renders the proposal effective upon filing with 
the Commission. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit 
comments on the proposed rule change, as amended, from interested 
persons.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 7 CFR 240.19b-4.
    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \4\ 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 Exchange proposes to extend its marketing fee program to 
customer orders of 1,000 contracts or greater, which are executed in 
open-outcry (i.e., manual executions).
    The text of the proposed rule change is available at the Exchange, 
the Commission's Public Reference Room, and http://www.amex.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 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. Amex has substantially 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
    Currently, the options marketing fee is assessed on those 
specialists, registered options traders (``ROTs''), remote registered 
options traders (``RROTs''), and supplemental registered options 
traders (``SROTs'') transactions involving electronically executed 
customer orders from firms that accept payment for directing their 
orders to the Exchange (``payment accepting firms'') with whom a 
specialist or SROT has negotiated a payment for order flow 
arrangement.\5\
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    \5\ For electronically executed customer orders, the fee is 
$0.75 per contract on the transactions of specialists, ROTs, RROTs, 
and SROTs in equity options (except for SPDR options which will 
continue to remain subject to the current fee level of $1.00 per 
contract) as well as Nasdaq 100 Index options (NDX) and Russell 2000 
Index options (RUT). Likewise, the fee is $0.35 per contract for 
those equity, exchange traded fund share and trust issued receipt 
options series that quote and trade in one cent increments under the 
penny pilot program.
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    The Exchange is now proposing to charge specialists and ROTs a fee 
of $0.40 per contract on customer orders of 1,000 contracts or greater 
executed in open-outcry (i.e., manual executions), that are from 
payment accepting firms with whom a specialist has negotiated a payment 
for order flow arrangement.\6\
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    \6\ This fee is not applicable to SROTs and RROTs because their 
trades are only executed electronically.
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    As with electronically executed customer orders, the Exchange has 
no role with respect to the negotiations between specialists and 
payment accepting firms. The Exchange collects and administers the 
payment of the fee, collected on those transactions for which the 
specialist has advised the Exchange that it has negotiated with a 
payment accepting firm, to pay for the firm's order flow. Included in 
this general administrative support, the Exchange tracks the number of 
qualified orders sent by a payment accepting firm, bills specialists 
and ROTs through their clearing firms and issues payments to payment 
accepting firms to reflect the collection and payment of the marketing 
fee. The Exchange rebates to specialists and ROTs, on a quarterly 
basis, the amount of marketing fees collected that have not been paid 
to order flow providers.
    The Exchange notes that strategy trades (i.e., dividend spreads, 
merger spreads, short stock interest spreads) executed manually will 
not be eligible for payment under this proposal.\7\
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    \7\ Amendment No. 1 clarified in the Exchange's Options Fee 
Schedule that the marketing fee does not apply to strategy trades 
executed manually.
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    The specialists are solely responsible, but are not required, to 
negotiate payment for order flow agreements with payment accepting 
firms and are responsible for any arrangements made with payment 
accepting firms. Funds collected on manual orders would only be paid 
for the class they are collected, and to the order flow provider they 
are collected for. So long as it is within the foregoing parameters, 
the specific terms governing the orders that qualify for payment and 
the amount of any payments are determined by the specialists in their 
discretion.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent 
with Section 6(b) of the Act \8\ in general, and Section 6(b)(4) of the 
Act \9\ in particular, in that it is designed to provide for the 
equitable allocation of reasonable dues, fees, and other charges among 
exchange members and issuers and other persons using exchange 
facilities.
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    \8\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \9\ 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 proposed rule change has been designated as a fee 
change pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act \10\ and Rule 
19b-4(f)(2) \11\ thereunder, because it establishes or changes a due, 
fee, or other charge imposed by the Exchange. Accordingly, the proposal 
will take effect upon filing with the Commission. At any time within 60 
days of the filing of such proposed rule change the Commission

[[Page 14314]]

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.\12\
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    \10\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
    \11\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(2).
    \12\ For purposes of calculating the 60-day period within which 
the Commission may summarily abrogate the proposed rule change, the 
Commission considers the period to commence on March 14, 2007, the 
date on which the Exchange filed Amendment No. 1.
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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 rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include 

File Number SR-Amex-2007-27 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-Amex-2007-27. 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 
principal office of Amex. 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-Amex-2007-27 and should be submitted on or before April 17, 2007.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\13\
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    \13\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-5549 Filed 3-26-07; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010-01-P
