13320 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 21, 2007 / Notices 

12 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2). 

13 13 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

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

4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2). 

5See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 55195 

(January 30, 2007) 72 FR 5469 (February 6, 2007) 

(Amex File No. 2006–117). 6This discussion originally stated, at various 

points, that the new transaction charges became 

effective January 3, 2007; however, the approved 

date of effectiveness was actually January 2, 2007. 

E-mail communication between Leah Mesfin, 

Special Counsel, Division of Market Regulation, 

Commission, and Claire P. McGrath, Senior Vice 

President and General Counsel, Amex, on March 2, 

2007. 7Customers are defined for purposes of the 

Equity and ETF Fee Schedules to include all market 

participants except specialists and registered 

traders. Therefore, customers (and the fees charged 

to them) include members’ off-floor proprietary 

accounts, competing market makers and other 

member and non-member broker-dealers. The 

Nasdaq UTP Fee Schedule defines customers to 

include any market participant other than a 

‘‘competing market maker.’’

subparagraph (f)(2) of Rule 19b–4 

thereunder,12 because it establishes or 

changes a due, fee, or other charge 

imposed by the NYSE. At any time 

within 60 days of the filing of the 

proposed rule change, the Commission 

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. 

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–NYSE–2007–18 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–NYSE–2007–18. 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 offices of NYSE. 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–NYSE–2007–18 and should 

be submitted on or before April 11, 

2007. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated 

authority.13

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–5117 Filed 3–20–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–55458; File No. SR–Amex–

2007–23] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

American Stock Exchange LLC; Notice 

of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness 

of Proposed Rule Change Relating to 

Transaction Charges for Equities, 

ETFs, and Nasdaq UTP Securities 

March 13, 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 

22, 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. Amex has designated this 

proposal as one establishing or changing 

a due, fee, or other charge imposed by 

a self-regulatory organization pursuant 

to 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 from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to revise the 

equities, Exchange Traded Funds and 

Trust Issued Receipts (‘‘ETFs’’), and 

Nasdaq UTP Fee Schedules 

(collectively, the ‘‘Fee Schedule’’) to 

modify transaction charges in equities, 

ETFs, and Nasdaq UTP securities. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is available on the Exchange’s Web site 

(http://www.amex.com), at the 

Exchange’s principal office, 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 

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 Exchange recently adopted new 

transaction charges for its members and 

member organizations largely relating to 

the Exchange’s new hybrid market 

trading platform (known as AEMI), the 

upcoming implementation of Regulation 

NMS, and changes in the competitive 

landscape for equities and ETFs.5 These 

new transaction charges became 

effective January 2, 2007.6 Since the 

adoption of the new transaction fees, the 

Exchange has been having difficulty 

with its billing system’s ability to obtain 

the data necessary to calculate an 

accurate bill and provide data to the 

clearing firms in a timely manner so 

they can accurately pass these charges 

on to their customers. As a result, the 

Exchange in this filing proposes to 

revert back to transaction charges for 

customers 7 in equities and ETFs in 

effect prior to January 2, 2007. In 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 21, 2007 / Notices 13321 

8Tier One pricing is applied to equities and ETFs 

whose industry-wide average daily trading volume 

is 500,000 shares or greater during the previous 

rolling quarter. In addition, Tier One pricing 

applies to all securities traded on the Exchange 

pursuant to unlisted trading privileges (‘‘UTP’’) 

(including Nasdaq UTP securities) regardless of the 

their average daily trading volume. All new listings 

including IPOs, transfers, and dual listings are 

initially categorized as Tier One securities until the 

next quarterly recalculation. Tier Two pricing is 

applied to all equities and ETFs whose industrywide average daily trading volume is less than 

500,000 shares during the previous rolling quarter. 

9A ‘‘competing market maker’’ is defined as a 

specialist or market maker registered as such on a 

registered stock exchange (other than Amex), or a 

market maker bidding and offering over-thecounter, in an Amex-traded security. The Exchange 

has subsequently filed another proposed rule 

change (SR–Amex–2007–30) to remove the 

provision barring the application of the fee waiver 

to non-member competing market makers 

retroactively to March 1, 2007. Hence, as of March 

1, 2007, non-member competing market makers are 

eligible for the fee waiver. 10This charge was reduced to $0.30 by a 

subsequent filing that the Exchange submitted, SR–

Amex–2007–28. 

11SR–Amex–2007–30 also eliminates the 

provision barring the application of the fee waiver 

to non-member competing market makers 

retroactively to March 1, 2007. Hence, as of March 

1, 2007, non-member competing market makers are 

eligible for this fee waiver. 

12This fee was subsequently eliminated by SR–

Amex–2007–28. 

addition, as an incentive to member 

firms to send order flow to the 

Exchange, a five percent discount will 

be applied to each firm’s total charges 

for customer orders. Transaction charges 

for specialists in equities and specialists 

and registered traders in ETFs will be 

made consistent across the product lines 

and will generally be applied in the 

same manner as under the prior 

schedule, but at a lower rate. The five 

percent discount will not be applied to 

charges for specialists and registered 

traders. In addition, for transactions 

charges in Nasdaq UTP securities, the 

Exchange will also revert back to the fee 

schedule in effect prior to January 2, 

2007 and will apply the five percent 

discount to charges for member and 

non-member customer transactions. 

Currently, under the recently adopted 

fee schedule, transaction charges for 

equities, ETFs, and Nasdaq UTP 

securities differ based on whether the 

charge is for a customer or specialist 

and registered trader. Transaction 

charges for executions in equities and 

ETFs are divided into two tiers based on 

the average daily volume as reported by 

the appropriate NMS Plan in the 

security industry-wide.8 Transaction 

charges for all securities traded by 

Amex pursuant to unlisted trading 

privileges (including Nasdaq UTP 

securities) regardless of average daily 

trading volume are priced based on one 

of the tiers as noted below. The 

transaction charges vary within each tier 

depending on the type of orders 

submitted for the customer account and 

the types of quotes and orders submitted 

for specialist and registered trader 

accounts. 

Transaction Charges for Equities 

The Exchange is now proposing that 

transaction charges for equities be 

assessed based generally on the 

previous fee schedule for all market 

participants on a per-share basis with 

the application of various caps and 

discounts. Specifically, the Exchange is 

proposing the following changes to the 

current Equity Fee Schedule: (i) 

Adoption of a monthly transaction 

charge to customers of $0.0030 per share 

for up to 50 million shares and $0.0025 

per share for amounts over 50 million 

shares; (ii) adoption of a fee cap so that 

transaction charges are assessed only on 

the first 5,000 shares of each executed 

transaction; (iii) adoption of a fee waiver 

of transaction charges for certain 

electronic orders of up to 500 shares 

(this fee waiver will not apply to 

electronic orders of a member or 

member organization trading as an agent 

for the account of a non-member 

competing market maker); 9 and (iv) 

adoption of a five percent discount on 

total amount of customer transaction 

charges. For transaction charges 

assessed to specialists in equities, the 

Exchange will not revert back to the 

previous fee schedule where the pershare charge was waived and a charge 

based on the total dollar value of 

specialist transactions was imposed, but 

will instead impose a specialist 

transaction charge at the rate of $0.03 

per 100 shares. 

The other provisions of the current 

Equity Fee Schedule including the 

‘‘Equities Order Cancellation Fee,’’

‘‘Clearing Charges for Orders Routed to 

Another Market Center,’’ and ‘‘PassThrough Charges to Orders Routed to 

Another Market Center Through the 

NMS Linkage Plan’’ will remain the 

same. 

Transaction Charges for ETFs 

Similar to equities as set forth above, 

Amex is proposing that transaction 

charges for ETFs be assessed based 

generally on the previous fee schedule 

for all market participants monthly on a 

per-share basis with the application of 

various caps and discounts. 

Specifically, the Exchange is proposing 

the following changes to the current 

ETF Fee Schedule: (i) Adoption of 

transaction charges for customers of 

$0.34 per 100 shares for all ETFs; 10 (ii) 

adoption of a $100 cap on the fee 

charged per transaction for each 

customer trade; (iii) adoption of a 

waiver of transaction charges for 

electronic orders of up to 2,400 shares 

(this fee waiver will not apply to 

electronic orders of a member or 

member organization trading as an agent 

for the account of a non-member 

competing market maker); 11 (iv) 

adoption of a five percent discount on 

the total amount of customer transaction 

charges; (v) adoption of an additional 

value-based fee for transactions of nonmember competing market makers of 

$0.000075 times the total value of orders 

entered by a member or member 

organization trading as agent for the 

account of a non-member competing 

market makers; 12 (vi) adoption of 

transaction charges for specialists and 

registered traders of $0.03 per 100 

shares per trade for all ETFs; and (vii) 

adoption of a monthly specialist fee cap 

of $400,000. 

The other provisions of the current 

ETF Fee Schedule including the ‘‘Order 

Cancellation Fee,’’ ‘‘Clearing Charges for 

Orders Routed to Another Market 

Center,’’ and ‘‘Pass-Through Charges to 

Orders Routed to Another Market Center 

Through the NMS Linkage Plan’’ will 

remain the same. 

Nasdaq UTP Equity Fee Schedule 

The separate Nasdaq UTP Equity Fee 

Schedule was eliminated with the 

adoption of the new Equity Fee 

Schedule since all securities traded on 

the Exchange based on unlisted trading 

privileges (including Nasdaq UTP 

securities) were covered under the Tier 

One pricing provisions of the new 

Equity Fee Schedule. The Exchange is 

now proposing to revert back to the 

Nasdaq UTP Equity Fee Schedule in 

place prior to January 2, 2007. 

Specifically, the Exchange proposes to: 

(i) Adopt a transaction charge for 

specialists of $0.10 per 100 shares; 

however, the Exchange will waive this 

transaction charge to those specialists 

that do not charge commissions to 

customers in Nasdaq UTP securities; (ii) 

adopt a transaction charge for member 

and non-member customers of $0.15 per 

100 shares; (iii) adopt a five percent 

discount on the total amount of 

customer transaction charges; (iv) adopt 

a transaction charge for member and 

non-member competing market makers 

of $0.15 per 100 shares; (v) adopt a 

transaction charge for Amex Equity 

Traders of $0.15 per 100 shares; and (vi) 

adopt a $50 cap on the fee charged for 

each side of a cross transaction. 

* * * * * 

The Exchange will impose these 

transaction charges on its members and 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
13322 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 21, 2007 / Notices 

13 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4). 

14 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii). 

15 17 CFR 19b–4(f)(2). 16 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

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

4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(5). 

member organizations effective 

February 22, 2007. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The proposed fee change is consistent 

with Section 6(b)(4) of the Act 13

regarding the equitable allocation of 

reasonable dues, fees, and other charges 

among exchange members and other 

persons using exchange facilities. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The proposed rule change does not 

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 become effective pursuant to 

Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act 14 and 

Rule 19b–4(f)(2) thereunder 15 because it 

establishes or changes a due, fee, or 

other charge imposed by the Exchange. 

At any time within 60 days of the filing 

of the proposed rule change, the 

Commission 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. 

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 

No. SR–Amex–2007–23 on the subject 

line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Nancy M. Morris, Secretary, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

Station Place, 100 F Street, NE., 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–Amex–2007–23. 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 the 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–2007–23 and should 

be submitted on or before April 10, 

2007. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated 

authority.16

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–5059 Filed 3–20–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–55472; File No. SR–BSE–

2007–08] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Boston 

Stock Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing 

and Immediate Effectiveness of 

Proposed Rule Change and 

Amendment No. 1 Thereto To Add an 

Automatic Quote Cancellation 

Procedure to the Boston Options 

Exchange Rules 

March 14, 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 

15, 2007, the Boston Stock Exchange, 

Inc. (‘‘BSE’’ 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 13, 2007, BSE 

submitted Amendment No. 1 to the 

proposed rule change. BSE has filed the 

proposal pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) 

of the Act 3 and Rule 19b–4(f)(5) 

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. 

I. Self–Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

BSE proposes to add Section 15, 

Automatic Quote Cancellation 

Procedure, to Chapter VI in the Boston 

Options Exchange (‘‘BOX’’) Rules. This 

proposed addition to the BOX Rules 

will provide a BOX Market Maker the 

option of enabling automatic quote 

cancellation protection so its quotes will 

be automatically cancelled if it is 

technically disconnected from the BOX 

Trading Host. The text of the proposed 

rule change is below. Proposed new 

language is in italics. 

Chapter VI. Market Makers 

Sec. 1 through Sec. 14—No Change. 

Sec. 15 Automatic Quote Cancellation 

Procedure: 

(a) The Automatic Quote Cancellation 

Procedure is enabled (or disabled) for 

all of a Market Maker’s appointed 

options classes when a Market Maker 

sends an Automatic Quote Cancellation 

Procedure enabling (or disabling) 

message to the Trading Host. The 

Market Maker must provide in the 

enable message the duration of no 

technical connectivity after which the 

Trading Host should cancel his quotes 

(set for a duration of between one and 

nine seconds). Unless enabled, the 

Automatic Quote Cancellation 

Procedure is disabled for all options 

classes. 

(b) When the Automatic Quote 

Cancellation Procedure has been 

enabled, the Trading Host will 

automatically cancel all quotes posted 

by the Market Maker in all of the Market 

Maker’s appointed options classes when 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES