Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 71 / Wednesday, April 13, 2011 / Notices 20783 

6 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

7 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6)(iii). In addition, Rule 

19b–4(f)(6)(iii) 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 filing of the proposed rule change, or 

such shorter time as designated by the Commission. 

The Commission notes that FINRA has satisfied this 

requirement. 

8For 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). 

9 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 63950 

(February 23, 2011), 76 FR 11547 (the 

‘‘Commission’s Notice’’). 

FINRA rules must be designed to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices, to promote just and 

equitable principles of trade and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest. FINRA believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

the clearly erroneous rules of other 

SROs and will promote the goal of 

transparency and uniformity across 

markets concerning reviews of 

potentially clearly erroneous executions 

in various contexts. Further, FINRA 

believes that the proposed changes 

enhance the objectivity of decisions 

made by FINRA with respect to clearly 

erroneous executions. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

FINRA does not believe that the 

proposed rule change will result in 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 

Written comments were neither 

solicited nor received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

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 from the date on 

which it was filed, or such shorter time 

as the Commission may designate, it has 

become effective pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 6 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6)(iii) thereunder.7 FINRA has asked 

the Commission to waive the 30-day 

operative delay so that the proposal may 

become operative immediately upon 

filing. The Commission believes that 

waiving the 30-day operative delay is 

consistent with the protection of 

investors and the public interest 

because such waiver will allow the pilot 

program to continue uninterrupted and 

help ensure uniformity among the 

national securities exchanges and 

FINRA with respect to the treatment of 

clearly erroneous transactions.8

Accordingly, the Commission waives 

the 30-day operative delay requirement 

and designates the proposed rule change 

as operative upon filing with the 

Commission. 

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 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 

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 rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File 

Number SR–FINRA–2011–014 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–FINRA–2011–014. 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 

FINRA. 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–FINRA–2011–014 and 

should be submitted on or before May 

4, 2011. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.9

Cathy H. Ahn, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–8799 Filed 4–12–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–64201, File No. SR–MSRB– 

2011–04] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

Municipal Securities Rulemaking 

Board; Order Granting Approval of 

Proposed Rule Change To Amend the 

MSRB Short-Term Obligation Rate 

Transparency (SHORT) Subscription 

Service 

April 6, 2011. 

I. Introduction 

On February 10, 2011, the Municipal 

Securities Rulemaking Board (‘‘MSRB’’), 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’), pursuant 

to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Exchange Act’’),1

and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2 a proposed 

rule change to amend the MSRB’s Shortterm Obligation Rate Transparency 

subscription service to provide 

subscribers with additional information 

as well as documents. The proposed 

rule change was published for comment 

in the Federal Register on March 2, 

2011.3 The Commission received no 

comment letters about the proposed rule 

change. This order approves the 

proposed rule change. 

II. Description of the Proposed Rule 

Change 

The Short-term Obligation Rate 

Transparency (‘‘SHORT’’) System is a 

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20784 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 71 / Wednesday, April 13, 2011 / Notices 

4The SHORT subscription service became 

effective September 30, 2010. See Securities 

Exchange Act Release No. 34–62993, September 24, 

2010 (File No. SR–MSRB–2010–06). 

5See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62755, 

August 20, 2010 (File No. SR–MSRB–2010–02). 

6 In approving this proposed rule change, the 

Commission notes that it has considered the 

proposed rule’s impact on efficiency, competition 

and capital formation. 15 U.S.C. 78c(f). 

7 15 U.S.C. 78o–4(b)(2)(C). 

8 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

facility of the MSRB for the collection 

and dissemination of information about 

securities bearing interest at short-term 

rates. Rule G–34(c), on variable rate 

security market information, currently 

requires certain dealers to report to the 

SHORT System interest rates and 

descriptive information about Auction 

Rate Securities (‘‘ARS’’) and Variable 

Rate Demand Obligations (‘‘VRDOs’’). 

All reported information is 

disseminated from the SHORT System 

to subscribers pursuant to the MSRB 

SHORT subscription service 4 and is 

posted to the MSRB’s Electronic 

Municipal Market Access (‘‘EMMA’’) 

Web portal pursuant to the EMMA 

short-term obligation rate transparency 

service. 

On August 20, 2010, the Commission 

approved changes to Rule G–34(c) that 

will increase the information dealers are 

required to report to the SHORT System. 

This rule change will add to the SHORT 

System documents that define auction 

procedures and interest rate setting 

mechanisms for ARS and liquidity 

facilities for VDROs, information about 

orders submitted for an ARS auction, 

and additional information about 

VRDOs.5 To provide subscribers with 

access to these additional items of 

information and documents, the 

proposed rule change would amend the 

SHORT subscription service to include 

the additional information and 

documents as well as an ARS ‘‘bid to 

cover’’ ratio that would be computed by 

the SHORT System. A more complete 

description of the proposal is contained 

in the Commission’s Notice. 

The MSRB has requested an effective 

date for the proposed rule change of 

May 16, 2011. 

III. Discussion and Commission 

Findings 

The Commission has carefully 

considered the proposed rule change 

and finds that the proposed rule change 

is consistent with the requirements of 

the Exchange Act and the rules and 

regulations thereunder applicable to the 

MSRB 6 and, in particular, the 

requirements of Section 15B(b)(2)(C) of 

the Exchange Act 7 and the rules and 

regulations thereunder. Section 

15B(b)(2)(C) of the Exchange Act 

requires, among other things, that the 

MSRB’s rules shall 

be designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices, to promote 

just and equitable principles of trade, to 

foster cooperation and coordination with 

persons engaged in regulating, clearing, 

settling, processing information with respect 

to, and facilitating transactions in municipal 

securities and municipal financial products, 

to remove impediments to and perfect the 

mechanism of a free and open market in 

municipal securities and municipal financial 

products, and, in general, to protect 

investors, municipal entities, obligated 

persons, and the public interest. 

The Commission believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

the Exchange Act in that the 

amendments to the SHORT subscription 

service would serve as an additional 

mechanism by which the MSRB works 

toward removing impediments to and 

helping to perfect the mechanisms of a 

free and open market in municipal 

securities. The subscription service 

would make the additional information 

and documents collected by the SHORT 

System available to market participants 

for re-dissemination and for use in 

creating value-added products and 

services. Such re-dissemination and 

third-party use would provide market 

participants, including investors and the 

general public, additional avenues for 

obtaining the information collected by 

the SHORT System and would make 

additional tools available for making 

well-informed investment decisions. 

Broad access to the information and 

documents collected by the SHORT 

System, in addition to the public access 

through the EMMA Web portal, should 

further assist in preventing fraudulent 

and manipulative acts and practices by 

improving the opportunity for public 

investors to access material information 

about Auction Rate Securities and 

Variable Rate Demand Obligations. 

The Commission further believes that 

broader re-dissemination and thirdparty use of the information and 

documents collected by the SHORT 

System should promote a more fair and 

efficient municipal securities market in 

which transactions are effected on the 

basis of material information available 

to all parties to such transactions, which 

should allow for fairer pricing of 

transactions based on a more complete 

understanding of the terms of the 

securities (including any changes 

thereto). 

The proposed rule change will 

become effective on May 16, 2011, as 

requested by the MSRB. 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 19(b)(2) of the Exchange Act, 

that the proposed rule change (SR– 

MSRB–2011–04), be, and it hereby is, 

approved. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.8

Cathy H. Ahn, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–8798 Filed 4–12–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–64245; File No. SR–CBOE– 

2011–026] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

Chicago Board Options Exchange, 

Incorporated; Notice of Filing of a 

Proposed Rule Change To Trade 

Options on Individual Stock Based 

Volatility Indexes and Certain 

Exchange-Traded Fund Based 

Volatility Indexes 

April 7, 2011. 

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 March 29, 

2011, the Chicago Board Options 

Exchange, Incorporated (‘‘Exchange’’ or 

‘‘CBOE’’) filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘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. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

CBOE proposes to amend its rules to 

list and trade options on individual 

stock based volatility indexes and 

certain exchange-traded fund based 

volatility indexes. CBOE will list a total 

of 40 combined individual stock and 

exchange-traded fund based volatility 

indexes. These are in addition to 

options on the CBOE Gold ETF 

Volatility Index (‘‘GVZ’’), which has 

already been approved for trading by the 

Commission. Such volatility index 

options must be based on an individual 

stock option or exchange-traded fund 

option that already trades on CBOE. The 

proposed options will be cash-settled 

and will have European-style exercise. 

The text of the rule proposal is available 

on the Exchange’s Web site (http:// 

www.cboe.org/legal), at the Exchange’s 

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