Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 220 / Tuesday, November 16, 2010 / Notices 70055 

9 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62942 

(Sept. 20, 2010), 75 FR 59779. 

4Securities Exchange Act Release No. 62911 

(Sept. 14, 2010), 75 FR 57539 (Sept. 21, 2010). 

5OCC’s By-laws and Rules already accommodate 

equity and index options that expire on a day other 

than a Saturday following the third Friday of the 

month. For example, they accommodate quarterly 

options, which expire on the last business day of 

a calendar quarter, and short term options, which 

expire a week after their introduction for trading. 

Quarterly index options and short term index 

options are also subject to automatic exercise 

procedures. 

6 Interpretation .03 will also be amended to 

clarify that it covers equity options with nonconventional expiration dates as opposed to index 

options with nonconventional expiration dates, 

which are subject to automatic exercise as described 

in Rule 1804. 

7 15 U.S.C. 78q–1(b)(3)(F). 

8 15 U.S.C. 78q–1. 

9 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 

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 the 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 Number SR– 

NYSEArca–2010–102 and should be 

submitted on or before December 7, 

2010. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.9

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–28829 Filed 11–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISION 

[Release No. 34–63293; File No. SR–OCC– 

2010–16] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The 

Options Clearing Corporation; Order 

Approving Proposed Rule Change 

Relating to Weekly Options And 

Monthly Options 

November 9, 2010. 

I. Introduction 

On September 15, 2010, The Options 

Clearing Corporation (‘‘OCC’’) filed with 

the Securities and Exchange 

Commission proposed rule change SR– 

OCC–2010–16 pursuant to Section 

19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act 

of 1934 (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 

thereunder.2 The proposed rule change 

will accommodate options that expire 

on (a) any Friday of a calendar month 

other than the third Friday of a calendar 

month (‘‘Weekly Options’’) or (b) on the 

last trading day of a calendar month 

(‘‘Monthly Options’’). The proposed rule 

change was published for comment in 

the Federal Register on September 28, 

2010.3 No comment letters were 

received on the proposal. This order 

approves the proposal. 

II. Description of the Proposal 

The purpose of the proposed rule 

change is to allow OCC to clear and to 

settle the Weekly Options and Monthly 

Options on broad-based indexes 

(‘‘Weekly Index Options’’ and ‘‘Monthly 

Index Options,’’ respectively) that were 

recently approved by the Commission 

for listing on a pilot program basis on 

the Chicago Board Options Exchange, 

Incorporated, (‘‘CBOE’’).4 Series of 

Weekly Index Options will expire on a 

Friday of a calendar month other than 

the third Friday, and Monthly Index 

Options will expire on the last trading 

day of a calendar month. If the last 

trading day of the month is a Friday, 

CBOE would opt to list Monthly Index 

Options over Weekly Index Options. 

Weekly Index Options and Monthly 

Index Options will be European-style, 

P.M.-settled contracts. These contracts 

will be subject to ‘‘automatic exercise 

procedures,’’ which means that these 

contracts will automatically be 

exercised at expiration if immediately 

prior to expiration the contract’s 

settlement amount equals or exceeds a 

predetermined amount without the 

opportunity for the clearing member to 

submit contrary exercise instructions. 

Weekly Options and Monthly Options 

proposed by CBOE can be cleared and 

settled by OCC with relatively minor 

revisions to OCC’s current By-Laws and 

Rules to provide for options that expire 

on a monthly or weekly schedule.5 In 

particular, OCC will amend Article I, 

Section 1 of its By-Laws to include 

definitions covering Weekly and 

Monthly Options. Rule 801, which 

relates to the submission of exercise 

notices, will be changed to permit a 

Weekly or Monthly Option to be 

exercised on the business day before the 

expiration date and to include Weekly 

Index Options and Monthly Index 

Options in the listing of options series 

subject to automatic exercise. 

Interpretation and Policy .03 to Rule 

805, which relates to expiration date 

exercise processing, will be amended to 

permit OCC to specify time frames for 

submitting exercise instructions and 

furnishing reports with respect to 

Weekly and Monthly Options on equity 

interests that are different than those 

time frames in effect for conventional 

options.6 A conforming change to Rule 

1804, which supplements Rule 805, also 

will be made to add Weekly Index 

Options and Monthly Index Options to 

the list of options series subject to 

automatic exercise. 

III. Discussion 

The Commission finds that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

the requirements of the Act and the 

rules and regulations thereunder 

applicable to DTC. In particular, the 

Commission believes the proposal is 

consistent with Section 17A(b)(3)(F) of 

the Act,7 which requires that the rules 

of a registered clearing agency are 

designed to, among other things, remove 

impediments to the perfection of the 

mechanism of a national system for the 

prompt and accurate clearance and 

settlement of securities transactions. By 

expanding its clearance and settlement 

services to Weekly Index Options and 

Monthly Index Options while using 

substantially the same rules and 

procedures that it applies to 

transactions in other options with a 

nonconventional expiry date, such as 

Quarterly Index Options, OCC will 

enable its members to avail themselves 

of OCC’s automated and time-proven 

clearance and settlement services for 

such options, which should help OCC to 

further remove impediments to and 

perfect the mechanism of a national 

system for the prompt and accurate 

clearance and settlement of securities 

transactions. 

IV. Conclusion 

On the basis of the foregoing, the 

Commission finds that the proposed 

rule change is consistent with the 

requirements of the Act and in 

particular Section 17A of the Act 8 and 

the rules and regulations thereunder. 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,9 that the 

proposed rule change (File No. SR– 

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70056 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 220 / Tuesday, November 16, 2010 / Notices 

10 In approving the proposed rule change, the 

Commission considered the proposal’s impact on 

efficiency, competition and capital formation. 15 

U.S.C. 78c(f). 

11 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. 63170 

(October 25, 2010), 75 FR 66818 (October 29, 2010) 

(Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of 

SR–NYSEAmex–2010–99). 

4Existing rule text, which became effective and 

operative immediately upon filing on October 22, 

2010, indicates that the Exchange will insert the 

date 12 months from the next full month from 

approval. Id. 

5 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

6 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

7 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

8 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(1). 

OCC–2010–16) be and hereby is 

approved.10

For the Commission by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.11

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–28830 Filed 11–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–63287; File No. SR– 

NYSEAmex–2010–105] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice 

of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness 

of Proposed Rule Change by NYSE 

Amex LLC Making a Technical 

Amendment to Its Rules to Insert the 

Specific Date for the Additional 

Expiration Months Pilot Program 

November 9, 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 8, 2010, NYSE Amex LLC 

(the ‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘NYSE Amex’’) 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 

The Exchange proposes to make a 

technical amendment to its rules to 

insert the specific date for a pilot 

program. The text of the proposed rule 

change is available at the Exchange’s 

principal office, on the Commission’s 

Web site at http://www.sec.gov, at the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 

and http://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 

The Exchange proposes to make a 

technical amendment to its rules to 

insert a specific date for a pilot program. 

The Exchange recently adopted rules 

to establish a pilot program that would 

permit the Exchange to list up to an 

additional two expiration months, for a 

total of six expiration months for each 

class of options open for trading on the 

Exchange.3 This rule change proposes to 

amend the text of Commentary .11 to 

Rule 903 to insert the specific 

conclusion date of the pilot program, 

which is October 31, 2011.4

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that this 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 6(b) of the Securities Exchange 

Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’),5 in general, and 

furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(5) 

of the Act 6 in particular, in that it is 

designed 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, to protect 

investors and the public interest. In 

particular, the proposed rule change 

seeks to update rule text to insert 

specific dates for a pilot program in a 

manner that is consistent with the pilot 

program as originally proposed. 

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 proposed rule change is effective 

upon filing pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 7 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(1) thereunder.8 The Exchange 

designates the proposed rule change as 

an interpretation with respect to the 

meaning, administration, or 

enforcement of an existing rule. 

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–NYSEAmex–2010–105 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–2010–105. 

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 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES