
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 172 (Friday, September 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53601-53606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-21958]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-75792; File No. SR-ISE-2015-26]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, 
LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule 
Change Adopting a Principles-Based Approach To Prohibit the Misuse of 
Material, Non-Public Information by Market Makers by Deleting Rule 810

August 31, 2015.
    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 August 28, 2015, the International Securities Exchange, LLC 
(the ``Exchange'' or the ``ISE'') filed with the Securities and 
Exchange Commission the proposed rule change as described in Items I 
and II below, which Items have been prepared by the self-regulatory 
organization. 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

    ISE proposes to adopt a principles-based approach to prohibit the 
misuse of material, non-public information by market makers by deleting 
Rule 810. The text of the proposed rule change is available on the 
Exchange's Web site at www.ise.com, at the principal office of

[[Page 53602]]

the Exchange, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

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 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

(a) Purpose--
    The Exchange proposes to adopt a principles-based approach to 
prohibit the misuse of material, non-public information by market 
makers by deleting Rule 810. In so doing, the Exchange would harmonize 
its rules amongst its Members \3\ relating to protecting against the 
misuse of material, non-public information. The Exchange believes that 
Rule 810 is no longer necessary because all Members, including market 
makers, are subject to the Exchange's general principles-based 
requirements governing the protection against the misuse of material, 
non-public information, pursuant to Exchange Rules, Chapter 4--Business 
Conduct, Rule 408 (Prevention of the Misuse of Material Nonpublic 
Information), section (a) (``Rule 408(a)''), which obviates the need 
for separately-prescribed requirements for a subset of market 
participants on the Exchange.
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    \3\ The term ``Member'' means an organization that has been 
approved to exercise trading rights associated with Exchange Rights. 
See Rule 100(a)(23).
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Background
    The Exchange has two classes of registered market makers. Pursuant 
to Rule 800, a market maker is a Member with Designated Trading 
Representatives that is registered with the Exchange for the purpose of 
making transactions as a dealer-specialist. As the rule further 
provides, a market maker can be either a CMM or a PMM. All market 
makers are subject to the requirements of Rules 803 and 804, which set 
forth the obligations of market makers, particularly relating to 
quoting.
    Rule 803 specifies the obligations of market makers, which include 
making markets that, absent changed market conditions, will be honored 
for the number of contracts entered into the Exchange's System in all 
series of options classes to which the market maker is appointed. The 
quoting obligations of market makers are set forth in Rule 804. That 
rule sets forth the main difference between PMMs and CMMs, namely that 
PMMs have a heightened quoting obligation as compared to CMMs.\4\ In 
addition to a heightened quoting obligation pursuant to Rule 804, an 
Electronic Access Member may designate a Preferred Market Maker \5\ on 
orders it enters into the System (``Preferenced Orders''). These 
Preferred Market Makers, quoting at the NBBO at the time the 
Preferenced Order is received, are eligible to receive a greater 
allocation of participation rights.\6\
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    \4\ Compare Rule 804(e)(1) (``Primary Market Makers. Primary 
Market Makers must enter continuous quotations and enter into any 
resulting transactions in all of the series listed on the Exchange 
of the options classes to which it is appointed on a daily basis.'') 
with 804(e)(2) (``Competitive Market Makers. (i) On any given day, a 
Competitive Market Maker is not required to enter quotations in the 
options classes to which it is appointed. (ii) A Competitive Market 
Maker may initiate quoting in options classes to which it is 
appointed intraday. (iii) Whenever a Competitive Market Maker enters 
a quote in an options class to which it is appointed, it must 
maintain continuous quotations in that class for 60% of the time the 
class is open for trading on the Exchange; provided, however, that a 
Competitive Market Maker shall be required to maintain continuous 
quotations for 90% of the time the class is open for trading on the 
Exchange in any options class in which it receives Preferenced 
Orders . . . .'').
    \5\ A Preferred Market Maker may be the PMM appointed to the 
options class or any CMM appointed to the options class.
    \6\ .03 of Supplementary Material to Rule 713.
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    Importantly, all market makers have access to the same information 
in the order book that is available to all other market participants. 
Moreover, none of the Exchange's market makers have agency obligations 
to the Exchange's order book. As such, the distinctions between PMMs 
and CMMs are the quoting requirements set forth in Rule 804.
    Notwithstanding that market makers have access to the same Exchange 
trading information as all other market participants on the Exchange, 
the Exchange has specific rules governing how market makers may 
operate. Rule 810 allows market makers to engage in Other Business 
Activities \7\ and to be affiliated with a broker-dealer that engages 
in Other Business Activities only if there is an Information Barrier 
between the marking making activities and the Other Business 
Activities. The Rule further provides that market makers must implement 
detailed Exchange-approved procedures to restrict the flow of material, 
non-public information. Rule 810(b) outlines the organizational 
structure of the Information Barrier, which a market maker must 
implement to meet the requirements of Rule 810(a). The Information 
Barrier is meant to ensure that a market maker will not have access to 
material, non-public information while engaging in Other Business 
Activities and that a market maker will not misuse material, non-public 
information obtained from an affiliated broker-dealer engaged in the 
Other Business Activities.
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    \7\ Other Business Activities means ``(1) conducting an 
investment or banking or public securities business; (2) making 
markets in the stocks underlying the options in which it makes 
markets; or (3) handling listed options orders as agent on behalf of 
Public Customers or broker-dealers; (4) conducting non-market making 
proprietary listed options trading activities.''
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Proposed Rule Change
    The Exchange believes that the guidelines in Rule 810, for market 
makers, are no longer necessary and proposes to delete it. Rather, the 
Exchange believes that Rule 408(a) governing the misuse of material, 
non-public information provides for an appropriate, principles-based 
approach to prevent the market abuses Rule 810 is designed to address. 
Specifically Rule 408(a) requires every Exchange Member to establish, 
maintain and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably 
designed, taking into consideration the nature of the Member's 
business, to prevent the misuse of material, non-public information by 
such Member or associated person. For purposes of this requirement, the 
misuse of material, non-public information includes, but is not limited 
to, the following:
    (a) Trading in any securities issued by a corporation, partnership, 
or Funds, as defined in Rule 502(h), or a trust or similar entities, or 
in any related securities or related options or other derivative 
securities, or in any related non-U.S. currency, non-U.S. currency 
options, futures or options on futures on such currency, or any other 
derivatives based on such currency, or in any related commodity, 
related commodity futures or options on commodity futures or any other 
related commodity derivatives, while in possession of material 
nonpublic information concerning that corporation or those Funds or 
that trust or similar entities;
    (b) trading in an underlying security or related options or other 
derivative

[[Page 53603]]

securities, or in any related non-U.S. currency, non-U.S. currency 
options, futures or options on futures on such currency, or in any 
related commodity, related commodity futures or options on commodity 
futures or any other related commodity derivatives, or any other 
derivatives based on such currency while in possession of material 
nonpublic information concerning imminent transactions in the above; 
and
    (c) disclosing to another person any material nonpublic information 
involving a corporation, partnership, or Funds or a trust or similar 
entities whose shares are publicly traded or an imminent transaction in 
an underlying security or related securities or in the underlying non-
U.S. currency or any related non-U.S. currency options, futures or 
options on futures on such currency, or in any related commodity, 
related commodity futures or options on commodity futures or any other 
related commodity derivatives, or any other derivatives based on such 
currency for the purpose of facilitating the possible misuse of such 
material nonpublic information.
    Because market makers are already subject to the requirements of 
Rule 408(a) and because market makers do not have any trading or 
information advantage over other Members, the Exchange does not believe 
that it is necessary to separately require specific limitations on 
dealings between market makers and their affiliates. Deleting Rule 810 
would provide market makers and Members with the flexibility to adapt 
their policies and procedures as reasonably designed to reflect changes 
to their business model, business activities, or the securities market 
in a manner similar to how Members on the Exchange currently operate 
and consistent with Rule 408(a). However, the Exchange notes that 
deleting Rule 810 does not obviate the need for reasonably designed 
information barriers in certain situations.
    As noted above, PMMs and CMMs are distinguished under Exchange 
rules only to the extent that PMMs have heightened obligations and 
allocation guarantees. However, none of these heightened obligations 
provides different or greater access to non-public information than any 
other market participant on the Exchange.\8\ Specifically, market 
makers on the Exchange do not have access to trading information 
provided by the Exchange, either at, or prior to, the point of 
execution, that is not made available to all other market participants 
on the Exchange in a similar manner. Further, as noted above, market 
makers on the Exchange do not have any agency responsibilities for 
orders on the order book. Accordingly, because market makers do not 
have any trading advantages at the Exchange due to their market role, 
the Exchange believes that they should be subject to the same rules as 
Members regarding the protection against the misuse of material, non-
public information, which in this case, is existing Rule 408(a).
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    \8\ See Rules 802(e) and 803.
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    The Exchange notes that even with this proposed rule change, 
pursuant to Rule 408(a), a market maker would still be obligated to 
ensure that its policies and procedures reflect the current state of 
its business and continue to be reasonably designed to achieve 
compliance with applicable federal securities law and regulations, and 
with applicable Exchange rules, including being reasonably designed to 
protect against the misuse of material, non-public information. While 
information barriers would not specifically be required under the 
proposal, Rule 408(a) already requires that a Member consider its 
business model or business activities in structuring its policies and 
procedures, which may dictate that an information barrier or a 
functional separation be part of the set of policies and procedures 
that would be reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable 
securities law and regulations, and with applicable Exchange rules.
    The Exchange is not proposing to change what is considered to be 
material, non-public information and, thus does not expect there to be 
any changes to the types of information that an affiliated brokerage 
business of a market maker could share with such market maker. In that 
regard, the proposed rule change will not permit the EAM unit of a 
member to have access to any non-public order or quote information of 
the affiliated market maker, including hidden or undisplayed size or 
price information of such orders and quotes. Market makers are not 
allowed to post hidden or undisplayed orders and quotes on the 
Exchange. Members do not expect to receive any additional order or 
quote information as a result of this proposed rule change.
    Further, the Exchange does not believe that there will be any 
material change to member information barriers as a result of removal 
of the Exchange's pre-approval requirements. In fact, the Exchange 
anticipates that eliminating the pre-approval requirement should 
facilitate implementation of changes to member information barriers as 
necessary to protect against the misuse of material, non-public 
information. The Exchange also suggests that the pre-approval 
requirement is unnecessary because market makers do not have agency 
responsibilities to the book, or time and place information advantages 
because of their market role. However, as is the case today with market 
makers, information barriers of new entrants would be subject to review 
as part of a new firm application. Moreover, the policies and 
procedures of market makers, including those relating to information 
barriers, would be subject to review by FINRA, on behalf of the 
Exchange, pursuant to a Regulatory Services Agreement.
    The Exchange further notes that under Rule 408(a), a Member would 
be able to structure its firm to provide for its options market makers, 
as applicable, to be structured with its equities and customer-facing 
businesses, provided that any such structuring would be done in a 
manner reasonably designed to protect against the misuse of material, 
non-public information. For example, pursuant to Rule 408(a) a market 
maker on the Exchange could be in the same independent trading unit, as 
defined in Rule 200(f) of Regulation SHO,\9\ as an equities market 
maker and other trading desks within the firm, including options 
trading desks, so that the firm could share post-trade information to 
better manage its risk across related securities. The Exchange believes 
it is appropriate and consistent with Rule 408(a) and Section 15(g) of 
the Act \10\ for a firm to share options position and related hedging 
position information (e.g., equities, futures, and foreign currency) 
within a firm to better manage risk on a firm-wide basis. The Exchange 
notes, however, that if so structured, a firm would need to have 
policies and procedures, including information barriers as applicable, 
reasonably designed to protect against the misuse of material, non-
public information, and specifically customer information, consistent 
with Rule 408(a).
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    \9\ 17 CFR part 242.200(f).
    \10\ 15 U.S.C. 78o(g).
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    The Exchange believes that the proposed reliance on the principles-
based Rule 408(a) would ensure that a Member that operates a market 
maker would be required to protect against the misuse of any material, 
non-public information. As noted above, Rule 408(a) already requires 
that firms refrain from trading while in possession of material, non-
public information concerning imminent transactions in the security or 
related product. The Exchange believes that moving to a principles-
based approach rather than prescribing how and when to wall off a

[[Page 53604]]

market maker from the rest of the firm would provide Members operating 
as market makers with appropriate tools to better manage risk across a 
firm, including integrating options positions with other positions of 
the firm or, as applicable, by the respective independent trading unit. 
Specifically, the Exchange believes that it is appropriate for risk 
management purposes for a member operating a market maker to be able to 
consider both options market makers traded positions for purposes of 
calculating net positions consistent with Rule 200 of Regulation SHO, 
calculating intra-day net capital positions, and managing risk both 
generally as well as in compliance with Rule 15c3-5 under the Act (the 
``Market Access Rule'').\11\ The Exchange notes that any risk 
management operations would need to operate consistent with the 
requirement to protect against the misuse of material, non-public 
information.
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    \11\ 17 CFR part 240.15c3-5.
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    The Exchange further notes that if market makers are integrated 
with other market making operations, they would be subject to existing 
rules that prohibit Members from disadvantaging their customers or 
other market participants by improperly capitalizing on a member 
organization's access to the receipt of material, non-public 
information. As such, a member organization that integrates its market 
maker operations together with equity market making would need to 
protect customer information consistent with existing obligations to 
protect such information. The Exchange has rules prohibiting Members 
from disadvantaging their customers or other market participants by 
improperly capitalizing on the Members' access to or receipt of 
material, nonpublic information. For example, Rule 609 requires members 
to establish, maintain, enforce, and keep current a system of 
compliance and supervisory controls, reasonably designed to achieve 
compliance with applicable securities laws and Exchange rules. 
Additionally, Rule 400 prevents a person associated with a Member, who 
has knowledge of all material terms and conditions of (i) an order and 
a solicited order, (ii) an order being facilitated, or (iii) orders 
being crossed; the execution of which are imminent, to enter, based on 
such knowledge, an order to buy or sell an option for the same 
underlying security as any option that is the subject of the order, or 
an order to buy or sell the security underlying such class, or an order 
to buy or sell any related instrument unless certain circumstances are 
met.\12\
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    \12\ .02 of Supplementary Material to Rule 400.
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    Additionally, the Exchange proposes to amend the text of 
Supplementary Material .06 to Rule 717 by reverting to Rule 717's 
proposed text as it was originally adopted in 2011.\13\ The Exchange 
notes that the current rule text includes explanatory language that was 
added in 2014 \14\ to conform to amendments made to Rule 810. Now that 
the Exchange proposes to delete Rule 810, these past, conforming 
changes are unnecessary. The Exchange further notes that the changes 
proposed in this filing to Rule 717 have no substantive effect on the 
rule--Members may still demonstrate that orders were entered without 
knowledge of a pre-existing order on the book represented by the same 
firm by providing evidence that effective information barriers between 
the persons, business units and/or systems entering the orders onto the 
Exchange were in existence at the time the orders were entered. The 
rule requires that such information barriers be fully documented and 
provided to the Exchange upon request.
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    \13\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 65361 (September 
20, 2011), 76 FR 59472 (September 26, 2011) (SR-ISE-2011-42).
    \14\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73261 (September 
30, 2014), 79 FR 60226 (October 6, 2014) (SR-ISE-2014-43).
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(b) Basis--
    The Exchange believes that its proposal is consistent with Section 
6(b) of the Act \15\ in general, and furthers the objectives of Section 
6(b)(5) \16\ in particular, in that it is designed to prevent 
fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and 
equitable principles of trade, to remove impediments to and perfect the 
mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, and, 
in general, to protect investors and the public interest.
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    \15\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \16\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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    The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change would remove 
impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market by 
adopting a principles based approach to permit a Member operating a 
market maker to maintain and enforce policies and procedures to, among 
other things, prohibit the misuse of material, non-public information 
and eliminate restrictions on how a Member structures its market making 
operations. The Exchange notes that the proposed rule change is based 
on an approved rule of the Exchange to which market makers are already 
subject--Rule 408(a)--and harmonizes the rules governing market makers 
and Members. Moreover, Members operating market makers would continue 
to be subject to federal and Exchange requirements for protecting 
material, non-public order information.\17\ The Exchange believes that 
the proposed rule change would remove impediments to and perfect the 
mechanism of a free and open market because it would harmonize the 
Exchange's approach to protecting against the misuse of material, non-
public information and no longer subject market makers to additional 
requirements. The Exchange does not believe that the existing 
requirements applicable to market makers are narrowly tailored to their 
respective roles because neither market participant has access to 
Exchange trading information in a manner different from any other 
market participant on the Exchange and they do not have agency 
responsibilities to the order book. Additionally, concerning Rule 717, 
the Exchange believes that appropriate information barriers can be used 
to demonstrate that the execution of two orders within one second was 
inadvertent because the orders were entered without knowledge of each 
other, will clarify the intent and application of Supplementary 
Material .06 to Rule 717.
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    \17\ See 15 U.S.C. 78o(g) and Rule 408(a).
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    The Exchange further believes the proposal is designed to prevent 
fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to promote just and 
equitable principles of trade because existing rules make clear to 
market makers and Members the type of conduct that is prohibited by the 
Exchange. While the proposal eliminates requirements relating to the 
misuse of material, non-public information, market makers and Members 
would remain subject to existing Exchange rules requiring them to 
establish and maintain systems to supervise their activities, and to 
create, implement, and maintain written procedures that are reasonably 
designed to comply with applicable securities laws and Exchange rules, 
including the prohibition on the misuse of material, non-public 
information.
    The Exchange notes that the proposed rule change would still 
require that Members operating market makers maintain and enforce 
policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with 
applicable federal securities laws and regulations and with Exchange 
rules. Even though there would no longer be pre-approval of market 
maker information barriers,

[[Page 53605]]

any market maker's written policies and procedures would continue to be 
subject to oversight by the Exchange and therefore the elimination of 
prescribed restrictions should not reduce the effectiveness of the 
Exchange rules to protect against the misuse of material, non-public 
information. Rather, Members will be able to utilize a flexible, 
principles-based approach to modify their policies and procedures as 
appropriate to reflect changes to their business model, business 
activities, or to the securities market itself. Moreover, while 
specified information barriers may no longer be required, a Member's 
business model or business activities may dictate that an information 
barrier or functional separation be part of the set of policies and 
procedures that would be reasonably designed to achieve compliance with 
applicable securities laws and regulations, and with applicable 
Exchange rules. The Exchange therefore believes that the proposed rule 
change will maintain the existing protection of investors and the 
public interest that is currently applicable to market makers, while at 
the same time removing impediments to and perfecting a free and open 
market by moving to a principles-based approach to protect against the 
misuse of material non-public information.
    Finally, the Exchange believes that proposed rule change to Rule 
717 is consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,\18\ which requires 
the rules of an exchange to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts 
and practices, promote just and equitable principles of trade, remove 
impediments to, and perfect the mechanism of, a free and open market 
and a national market system, and, in general, protect investors and 
the public interest.. [sic] In particular, by continuing to specify 
that the information barriers must be fully documented, members will be 
better prepared to properly respond to requests for information by the 
Exchange in the course of a regulatory investigation. Moreover, while 
members are generally required to provide information to the Exchange 
as requested, continuing to specify that members must provide written 
documentation regarding information barriers within the context of this 
rule will assure that all members adhere to the existing standard for 
demonstrating compliance with the rule.
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    \18\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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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. To the contrary, the Exchange 
believes that the proposal will enhance competition by allowing market 
makers to comply with applicable Exchange rules in a manner best suited 
to their business models, business activities, and the securities 
markets, thus reducing regulatory burdens while still ensuring 
compliance with applicable securities laws and regulations and Exchange 
rules. The Exchange believes that the proposal will foster a fair and 
orderly marketplace without being overly burdensome upon market makers.
    Moreover, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule change would 
eliminate a burden on competition for Members which currently exists as 
a result of disparate rule treatment between the options and equities 
markets regarding how to protect against the misuse of material, non-
public information. For those Members that are also members of equity 
exchanges, their respective equity market maker operations are now 
subject to a principles-based approach to protecting against the misuse 
of material non-public information.\19\ The Exchange believes it would 
remove a burden on competition to enable Members to similarly apply a 
principles-based approach to protecting against the misuse of material, 
non-public information in the options space. To this end, the Exchange 
notes that Rule 408(a) still requires a Member that operates as a 
market maker on the Exchange to evaluate its business to assure that 
its policies and procedures are reasonably designed to protect against 
the misuse of material, non-public information. However, with this 
proposed rule change, a Member that trades equities and options could 
look at its firm more holistically to structure its operations in a 
manner that provides it with better tools to manage its risks across 
multiple security classes, while at the same time protecting against 
the misuse of material non-public information.
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    \19\ See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 60604 (Sept. 2, 
2009), 76 FR 46272 (Sept. 8, 2009) (SR-NYSEArca-2009-78) (Order 
approving elimination of NYSE Arca rule that required market makers 
to establish and maintain specifically prescribed information 
barriers, including discussion of NYSE Arca and Nasdaq rules) 
(``Arca Approval Order''); 61574 (Feb. 23, 2010), 75 FR 9455 (Mar. 
2, 2010) (SR-BATS-2010-003) (Order approving amendments to BATS Rule 
5.5 to move to a principles-based approach to protecting against the 
misuse of material, non-public information, and noting that the 
proposed change is consistent with the approaches of NYSE Arca and 
Nasdaq) (``BATS Approval Order''); and 72534 (July 3, 2014), 79 FR 
39440 (July 10, 2014), SR-NYSE-2014-12) (Order approving amendments 
to NYSE Rule 98 governing designated market makers to move to a 
principles-based approach to prohibit the misuse of material non-
public information) (``NYSE Approval Order'').
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C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants or Others

    The Exchange has not solicited, and does not intend to solicit, 
comments on this proposed rule change. The Exchange has not received 
any written comments from members or other interested parties.

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

    The Exchange believes that the foregoing proposed rule change may 
take effect upon filing with the Commission pursuant to 
Section19(b)(3)(A) \20\ of the Act and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) thereunder \21\ 
because the foregoing proposed 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 its filing date, or such shorter time as the Commission 
may designate.
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    \20\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \21\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
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    At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule 
change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule 
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is: (i) 
necessary or appropriate in the public interest; (ii) for the 
protection of investors; or (iii) otherwise in furtherance of the 
purposes of the Act. If the Commission takes such action, the 
Commission shall institute proceedings to determine whether the 
proposed rule should be approved or disapproved.

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 email to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include 
File Number SR-ISE-2015-26 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Brent J. Fields, 
Secretary, Securities

[[Page 53606]]

and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549-1090.
    All submissions should refer to File Number SR-ISE-2015-26. This 
file number should be included on the subject line if email 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 
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the filing will also 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 Number SR-ISE-2015-26 and should be 
submitted on or before September 25, 2015.
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    \22\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\22\
Robert W. Errett,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-21958 Filed 9-3-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P


