14578 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 48 / Monday, March 12, 2012 / Notices 

13 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3The Initial Payment is an obligation by either 

counterparty to make an upfront payment 

established at the time the contract is executed. See 

ICE Clear Credit Clearing Rules, Section 301(b). 

4The Commission has modified the text of the 

summaries prepared by ICC. 

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–CBOE– 

2012–021 and should be submitted on 

or before April 2, 2012. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.13

Kevin M. O’Neill, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5905 Filed 3–9–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–66517; File No. SR–ICC– 

2012–02] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; ICE 

Clear Credit LLC; Notice of Filing of 

Proposed Rule Change To Provide for 

a T+1 Settlement of the Initial Payment 

Related to the CDS Contracts Cleared 

by ICE Clear Credit LLC 

March 6, 2012. 

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 March 1, 

2012, the ICE Clear Credit LLC (‘‘ICC’’) 

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 primarily by ICC. 

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 

ICC proposes rule amendments that 

are intended to modify the terms of each 

of the various CDS Contracts cleared by 

ICC (CDX.NA Untranched Contracts, 

Standard North American Corporate 

(‘‘SNAC’’) Single Name Contracts and 

Standard Emerging Sovereign (‘‘SES’’) 

Single Name Contracts) to make the 

Initial Payment 3 date the first business 

day immediately following the trade 

date, provided that with respect to CDS 

Contracts that are accepted for clearing 

after the trade date, the Initial Payment 

date will be the date that is the first 

business day following the date when 

the CDS Contract is accepted for 

clearing. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, ICC 

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. ICC has prepared 

summaries, set forth in sections (A), (B), 

and (C) below, of the most significant 

aspects of these statements.4

(A) Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

As noted above, the proposed rule 

changes amend the timing of Initial 

Payments on a cleared CDS Contract. 

The Initial Payment under a CDS 

Contract is established at the time the 

contract is executed and may be payable 

from either the protection buyer to the 

protection seller or vice versa. Under 

the current ICC Rules (by way of the 

incorporated ISDA Credit Derivatives 

Definitions), and consistent with 

practice in the market for uncleared 

credit default swaps, the Initial Payment 

is required to be made on the third 

business day following the trade date 

(the execution date). ICC proposes to 

add the definition of Initial Payment 

Date to its Clearing Rules to provide 

instead that the Initial Payment is to be 

made on the first business day following 

the trade date (or, if the transaction is 

accepted for clearing after the trade 

date, the initial payment is to be made 

on the first business day following the 

date of acceptance for clearing). After 

consultation with the Buy-side, ICC 

believes that this change from ‘‘T+3’’ 

settlement to ‘‘T+1’’ settlement for the 

Initial Payment will facilitate customerrelated clearing. In addition, this change 

will improve margin efficiency (as 

margin requirements will no longer 

need to take into account the additional 

risk from a T+3 as opposed to a T+1 

settlement rule). 

The other proposed changes in the 

ICC Rules reflect updates to crossreferences and defined terms and 

similar drafting clarifications, and do 

not affect the substance of the ICC Rules 

or cleared products. 

(B) Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

ICC does not believe the proposed 

rule change would have any impact, or 

impose any burden, on competition. 

(C) Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants or Others 

Written comments relating to the 

proposed rule change have not been 

solicited or received. ICC will notify the 

Commission of any written comments 

received by ICC. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Within 45 days of the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register or within such longer period 

up to 90 days (i) as the Commission may 

designate if it finds such longer period 

to be appropriate and publishes its 

reasons for so finding or (ii) as to which 

the self-regulatory organization 

consents, the Commission will: (A) By 

order approve or disapprove the 

proposed rule change or (B) institute 

proceedings to determine whether the 

proposed rule change should be 

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–ICC–2012–02 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–ICC–2012–02. This file 

number should be included on the 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 48 / Monday, March 12, 2012 / Notices 14579 

5 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3An ‘‘ATP Holder’’ is a natural person, sole 

proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited 

liability company or other organization, in good 

standing, that has been issued an Amex Trading 

Permit. See NYSE Amex Rule 900.2NY(5). 

4The fee is calculated based on the maximum 

number of ATPs held by the ATP Holder during the 

calendar month. 

5A ‘‘Market Maker Authorized Trader’’ is an 

authorized trader who performs market making 

activities pursuant to Rule 920NY on behalf of an 

ATP Holder registered as a Market Maker. See 

NYSE Amex Rule 900.2NY(37). A Market Maker 

Authorized Trader must meet the same registration 

requirements as Floor Market Maker before they can 

be designated as a Market Maker Authorized 

Trader. See NYSE Amex Rule 921.1NY. 

6See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 66237 

(January 25, 2012), 77 FR 4848 (January 31, 2012) 

(SR–NYSEAmex–2012–02). 

7 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

8 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4). 

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 Section, 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 filings 

will also be available for inspection and 

copying at the principal office of ICC 

and on ICC’s Web site at https:// 

www.theice.com/publicdocs/ 

regulatory_filings/ 

ICEClearCredit_022912.pdf. 

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–ICC–2012–02 and should 

be submitted on or before April 2, 2012. 

For the Commission by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.5

Kevin O’Neill, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5872 Filed 3–9–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–66518; File No. SR– 

NYSEAmex–2012–15] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE 

Amex LLC; Notice of Filing and 

Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed 

Rule Change Implementing Changes to 

the NYSE Amex Options Fee Schedule 

To Add Fees for Reserve Floor Market 

Maker Amex Trading Permits 

March 6, 2012. 

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 

28, 2012, NYSE Amex LLC (the 

‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘NYSE Amex’’) 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 selfregulatory organization. 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 proposes to 

[sic] amend the NYSE Amex Options 

Fee Schedule (‘‘Fee Schedule’’) to add 

fees for Reserve Floor Market Maker 

Amex Trading Permits (‘‘Reserve 

ATPs’’). The text of the proposed rule 

change is available at the Exchange, the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 

and 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 amend the 

Fee Schedule to add fees for Reserve 

ATPs. 

Under the current Fee Schedule, an 

ATP Holder 3 acting as a Market Maker 

must pay $5,000 per month per Amex 

Trading Permit (‘‘ATP’’).4 In order to act 

as a Floor Market Maker, an individual 

must be specifically named on the 

relevant Market Maker’s ATP. On some 

occasions, a Floor Market Maker may be 

absent from the floor due to illness or 

other unexpected absence, in which 

case the ATP Holder may wish to have 

a Market Maker Authorized Trader 

(‘‘MMAT’’) 5 employee engage in open 

outcry trading to cover for the absent 

Floor Market Maker. If the ATP Holder 

activates an individual on an ATP for 

any portion of a month, even as little as 

one day, the ATP Holder is charged the 

full $5,000 monthly ATP fee. 

To provide an option to Market Maker 

firms to address the short-term absence 

of an employee in a more economical 

way, the Exchange recently added NYSE 

Amex Options Rule 902NY(j) to create 

a Reserve ATP under which an ATP 

Holder would be permitted to have a 

qualified MMAT employee cover for the 

absent Floor Market Maker under the 

firm’s ATP, effectively empowering the 

individual acting as a qualified MMAT 

to act as a Floor Market Maker in lieu 

of the absent individual until such time 

as he or she returns.6

The fee for a Reserve ATP will be 

$175 per month. The fee will be 

assessed to an ATP Holder that notifies 

the Exchange that it wishes to obtain a 

Reserve ATP, such that MMATs in its 

employ will be eligible to be named to 

the ATP to act as a Floor Market Maker 

to cover for another Floor Market Maker 

who is otherwise unable to be at work 

that day. The fee change will be 

implemented on March 1, 2012. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

the provisions of Section 6(b) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

‘‘Act’’),7 in general, and Section 6(b)(4) 

of the Act,8 in particular, in that it is 

designed to provide for the equitable 

allocation of reasonable dues, fees, and 

other charges among its members and 

other persons using its facilities. The 

Exchange believes that the proposed 

change is equitably allocated and not 

unfairly discriminatory because it will 

apply equally to all ATP Holders that 

choose to use the Reserve ATP 

alternative. The Exchange believes that 

the proposed change is reasonable 

because it provides a method for ATP 

Holders to have fully qualified 

personnel step in to handle other 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES