[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6592-6594]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3427]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-38237; File No. SR-CHX-97-01]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change by the Chicago Stock Exchange, 
Incorporated Relating to Specialist Fees

February 4, 1997.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''), \1\ notice is hereby given that on January 17, 1997, the 
Chicago Stock Exchange, Incorporated (``CHX'' 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 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).
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of 
Substance of the Proposed Rule Change

    The Exchange, pursuant to Rule 19b-4 of the Act, submits a proposed 
rule change amending the CHX's Schedule of Fees relating to specialists 
effective February 1, 1997. The text of the proposed rule change is as 
follows [new text is italicized; deleted text is bracketed]:
Membership Dues and Fees * * *
    (b) Registration Fee:
Firm or Corporation--No change in text.
Office (other than principal)--No change in text.
Officers or Partners--No change in text.m
Salesmen--No change in text.
[Specialist--Fees will be determined based upon the monthly round lot 
activity of an issue on the MSE, and shall be paid monthly, according 
to the following:
    The 300 most active issues shall be charged at a rate of $400 per 
year.
    All other issues shall be charged at a rate of $100 per year.]
Specialist Assignment--There shall also be an assignment fee of $500 
per issue upon the approval by the Committee on Specialist Assignment 
and Evaluation of an application of a member or member organization to 
act as specialist in a

[[Page 6593]]

security. However, this fee shall be applicable in competitive 
assignments only.
Subordinated Loans--No change in text.
Transfer--No change in text.
    (4) Specialist Fees:
    [25 cents per trade plus 1\1/2\ cents per $1,000 of valuation 
payable on round lot sales (or major fraction thereof) as principal 
whenever the Specialist makes such sale as principal on the Exchange.] 
Specialists will be assessed a fixed fee per assigned stock on a 
monthly basis, to be calculated as follows:
    Fixed Fee Per Stock=$345,000  x  Percent of Fixed Costs Per Tier 
x  CTA Trade Volume Per Stock/CTA Trade Volume Per Tier.
    82% of the Fixed Fee Per Stock shall be designated as a 
``Registration Fee,'' and 18% of such Fee shall be designated as a 
``Clearing Support Fee.''
    ``Percent of Fixed Costs Per Tier'' is taken from the following 
table:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Percent
                                                                of fixed
            Tier                    Description of tier           costs 
                                                                per tier
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1..........................  1-25 Most Active Stocks..........        11
2..........................  26-100...........................        11
3..........................  101-250..........................        12
4..........................  251-500..........................        13
5..........................  501-1000.........................        19
6..........................  1001-2700+.......................        34
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Classification of a particular stock for a particular Tier is based 
on the total number of trades reported to the Consolidated Tape 
Association in such stock for a specific month.
    ``CTA Trade Volume Per Stock'' means the total number of trades 
reported to the Consolidated Tape Association in a specific stock for a 
specific month.
    ``CTA Trade Volume Per Tier'' means the total number of trades 
reported to the Consolidated Tape Association in all stocks classified 
in a particular Tier for a specific month.
    A specialist's Fixed Fee Per Stock will be waived until February 1, 
1999, for any stock unassigned to any specialist as of December 1, 1996 
and assigned to such specialist without competition by May 1, 1997.
(o) Clearing Support Fees *
    (1) Account Fees, No change in text.
    (2) CUSIP Fees:
Specialist OTC CUSIP--$50 per OTC CUSIP per--

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Fee                                 Month           
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Market Maker CUSIP Fee....................  No change in text.          
Odd Lot Dealer CUSIP Fee..................  No change in text.          
Floor Broker as Principal.................  No change in text.          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* (minimum clearing support fee is $600 per month). Discounts           

    The above Specialist OTC CUSIP Fee will be subject to the following 
discounts:
    If between 20 and 200 trades occur in a particular CUSIP in a given 
month, the Specialist OTC CUSIP Fee for that CUSIP shall be $40 for 
that month.
    If less than 20 trades occur in a particular CUSIP in a given 
month, the Specialist OTC CUSIP Fee for that CUSIP shall be $20 for 
that month.

(s)  Specialist Credits

    Total monthly fees owed by a specialist to the Exchange (excluding 
rebills) will be reduced (but to no less than zero) by the application 
of the following transaction credits:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Transaction
      CHX monthly CTA trade volume percentage by stock       credit  (in
                                                               percent) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
<7%........................................................           18
7%-12%.....................................................           36
>12%.......................................................           54
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ``Transaction Credit'' means the applicable percentage of monthly 
CHX tape revenue from the Consolidated Tape Association generated by a 
particular stock. To the extent that CHX tape revenue is subject to a 
year end adjustment, specialist credits may be adjusted accordingly.

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 self-regulatory organization 
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 purpose of the proposed rule change is to amend the CHX's 
pricing schedule relating to specialist fees on listed securities. 
Currently, specialists pay usage-based transaction fees which are 
variable, based on ``Trade Volume'' (the number of executed trades) and 
``Dollar volume'' (the value of executed trades) when acting as 
principal on the sell side. Specialists also pay certain semi-variable 
fees (issue registration fees and clearing support fees) which are 
tiered based upon Trade Volume.\2\ In operating trading floor 
facilities and providing services to specialists, the Exchange incurs 
primarily fixed expenses in any given year that is largely independent 
of Trade Volume. The Exchange's current fee schedule, therefore, causes 
those specialists that have higher trading volumes to pay a 
disproportionate portion of the fixed expenses of the Exchange. The 
revised specialist fee schedule provides a more equitable allocation of 
the recoupment of the Exchange's fixed expenses by imposing a fixed fee 
primarily based upon the Consolidated Market Trade Volume in each 
stock. Further, the revised fee schedule both recognizes the existence 
of externally-generated revenue as an offset to Exchange fixed expenses 
and the role of the specialists in obtaining this revenue, by providing 
a transaction credit to specialists as further described below.
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    \2\ Under the proposal, specialists in listed securities no 
longer will pay CUSIP clearing support fees. Telephone conversation 
between J. Craig Long, Attorney, Foley & Lardner, and George A. 
Villasana, Attorney, Market Regulation, SEC, on Feb. 4, 1997.
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    The determination of the fixed fee per stock will be calculated 
monthly and will be based on the Consolidated Market Trade Volume of 
each stock. All stocks in which transactions are reported to the 
consolidated tape will be categorized in one of six tiers monthly, 
based upon the Consolidated Tape Association (``CTA'') Trade Volume (in 
descending order). These six tiers are described as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Tier Nos.                        Tier description      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.........................................  1-25 Highest Trade Volume   
                                             Stocks.                    
2.........................................  26-100.                     
3.........................................  101-250.                    
4.........................................  251-500.                    
5.........................................  501-1000.                   
6.........................................  1001-2700+.                 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A substantial portion ($345,000 per month) of the Exchange's fixed 
costs relating to the provision of service to specialists will be 
recovered through this fixed fee. The Exchange will assign a percentage 
of this $345,000 to each tier and a specialist's monthly fixed fee per 
stock will then be calculated as follows:
    Fixed Fee Per Stock=Total CHX Fixed Fee ($345,000)  x  Percent of 
Fixed Costs

[[Page 6594]]

Per Tier  x  (CTA Trade Volume Per Stock/CTA Trade Volume Per Tier).
    For example, if Stock ABC had 3,000 consolidated market trades and 
was the 420th most active stock (Tier 4, as described above) in the 
month, and there were a total of 300,000 Consolidated Market trades in 
the tier, the specialist's fixed fee would equal:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Stock ABC
 Total CHX         Tier 4        Stock ABC        Tier 4         fixed  
 fixed fee       fixed cost         CTA            CTA          monthly 
                   percent         volume         volume          fee   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
$345,000..   x          13%   x                                         
                                     (3000   /   300,000)   =    $448.50
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Exchange will waive the specialist fixed monthly fee described 
above for a period of two years beginning February 1, 1997 for any 
stock unassigned to any specialist as of December 1, 1996, that is 
assigned to a specialist without competition by May 1, 1997.
    Specialists' total monthly fees owed to the Exchange will be 
reduced by the application of certain transaction credits. The 
transaction credits will be based upon a percentage of the externally-
generated CTA tape revenue obtained in each stock.\3\ This percentage 
will increase as the level of this externally-generated revenue, that 
offsets Exchange fixed costs, also increases. These credits, however, 
may not exceed a specialist's total monthly billing invoice (excluding 
directly rebilled services).
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    \3\ The applicable transaction credit percentage is applied on a 
marginal basis to the CHX monthly CTA trade volume percentage by 
stock. For example, if the CHX monthly CTA trade volume percentage 
for a particular stock is 15%, the applicable transaction credit 
rates are 18% for the first 7% of the trade volume, 36% for the next 
5% of the trade volume, and 54% for the remaining 3% of the trade 
volume. Conversation among Lou Klobuchar, Jr., Executive Vice 
President, CHX, George T. Simon, Foley & Lardner, and Howard L. 
Kramer, Associate Director, Market Regulation, SEC, Michael 
Walinskas, Senior Special Counsel, Market Regulation, SEC, and 
George A. Villasana, Attorney, Market Regulation, SEC, on February 
3, 1997.
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2. Statutory Basis
    The proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b) of the Act 
\4\ in general and furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(4) \5\ in 
particular in that it provides for the equitable allocation of 
reasonable dues, fees, and other charges among the Exchange's members 
and other persons using its facilities.
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    \4\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
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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

    The Exchange has neither solicited nor received written comments on 
the proposed rule change.

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

    The foregoing rule change constitutes or changes a due, fee, or 
other charge imposed by the Exchange and, therefore, has become 
effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \6\ and 
subparagraph (e) of Rule 19b-4 thereunder.\7\
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    \6\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \7\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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    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. Persons making written submissions 
should file six copies thereof with the Secretary, Securities and 
Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549. 
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 at the 
Commission's Public Reference Section, 450 Fifth Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20549. Copies of such filing also will be available for 
inspection and copying at the principal office of The Chicago Stock 
Exchange. All submissions should refer to File No. SR-CHX-97-01 and 
should be submitted by March 5, 1997.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\8\
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    \8\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-3427 Filed 2-11-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M