6150 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2015 / Notices 

7 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 15 U.S.C. 78a. 

3 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

4An Investment Company Unit is a security that 

represents an interest in a registered investment 

company that holds securities comprising, or 

otherwise based on or representing an interest in, 

an index or portfolio of securities (or holds 

securities in another registered investment 

company that holds securities comprising, or 

otherwise based on or representing an interest in, 

an index or portfolio of securities). See NYSE Arca 

Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3)(A). 

5 17 CFR 240.19b–4(e). 

6Fixed Income Securities are described in NYSE 

Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02 as debt 

securities that are notes, bonds, debentures or 

evidence of indebtedness that include, but are not 

limited to, U.S. Department of Treasury securities, 

government-sponsored entity securities, municipal 

securities, trust preferred securities, supranational 

debt and debt of a foreign country or a subdivision 

thereof. 

7The Commission approved NYSE Arca Equities 

Rule 5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02 in Securities 

Exchange Act Release No. 55783 (May 17, 2007), 72 

FR 29194 (May 24, 2007) (SR–NYSEArca–2007–36) 

(order approving generic listing standards for series 

of Units based on Fixed Income Indexes and 

Combination Indexes). The Commission also 

approved generic listing standards for the American 

Stock Exchange LLC (‘‘Amex’’) for Index Fund 

Shares based on Fixed Income Indexes and 

Combination Indexes in Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 55437 (March 9, 2007), 72 FR 12233 

(March 15, 2007) (SR–Amex–2006–118). The 

Commission has approved listing of exchangetraded funds based on a fixed income index or 

portfolio. See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release 

No. 48534 (September 24, 2003), 68 FR 56353 

(September 30, 2003) (SR–Amex–2003–75) (order 

approving listing on Amex of eight series of iShares 

Lehman Bond Funds). 

8 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 

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– 

Phlx–2015–08 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Securities 

and Exchange Commission, 100 F 

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549– 

1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–Phlx–2015–08. This file 

number should be included on the 

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 Room, 100 F Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such 

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–Phlx– 

2015–08 and should be submitted on or 

before February 25, 2015. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.7

Jill M. Peterson, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02105 Filed 2–3–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–74175; File No. SR– 

NYSEArca–2015–01] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE 

Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed 

Rule Change Amending NYSE Arca 

Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02 

Relating To Listing of Investment 

Company Units Based on Municipal 

Bond Indexes 

January 29, 2015. 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3

notice is hereby given that, on January 

16, 2015, NYSE Arca, Inc. (‘‘Exchange’’ 

or ‘‘NYSE Arca’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I and II 

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. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to amend 

NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02 relating to listing of 

Investment Company Units based on 

municipal bond indexes. The text of the 

proposed rule change is available on the 

Exchange’s Web site at www.nyse.com, 

at the principal office of the Exchange, 

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 

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 the 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3) 

permits the listing and trading, 

including trading pursuant to unlisted 

trading privileges (‘‘UTP’’), of 

Investment Company Units (‘‘Units’’).4

NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02 provides for listing on 

the Exchange pursuant to Rule 19b– 

4(e) 5 under the Act of a series of Units 

with an underlying index or portfolio of 

Fixed Income Securities 6 meeting 

specified criteria.7 These ‘‘generic’’ 

listing criteria permit listing and trading 

on the Exchange of series of Units 

meeting such criteria without 

Commission approval of each 

individual product pursuant to Section 

19(b)(2) of the Act.8

NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02(a)(2) provides that, in 

order to be listed and traded pursuant 

to Rule 19b–4(e), components of an 

index or portfolio that in aggregate 

account for at least 75% of the weight 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2015 / Notices 6151 

9The Commission previously has approved 

proposed rule changes relating to listing and trading 

on the Exchange of Units based on municipal bond 

indexes. See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 

67985 (October 4, 2012), 77 FR 61804 (October 11, 

2012) (SR–NYSEArca–2012–92) (order approving 

proposed rule change relating to the listing and 

trading of iShares 2018 S&P AMT-Free Municipal 

Series and iShares 2019 S&P AMT-Free Municipal 

Series under NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02); 67729 (August 24, 2012), 77 FR 

52776 (August 30, 2012) (SR–NYSEArca–2012–92) 

(notice of proposed rule change relating to the 

listing and trading of iShares 2018 S&P AMT-Free 

Municipal Series and iShares 2019 S&P AMT-Free 

Municipal Series under NYSE Arca Equities Rule 

5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02) (‘‘iShares 2018 Notice’’); 

72523, (July 2, 2014), 79 FR 39016 (July 9, 2014) 

(SR–NYSEArca–2014–37) (order approving 

proposed rule change relating to the listing and 

trading of iShares 2020 S&P AMT-Free Municipal 

Series under NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02); 72172 (May 15, 2014), 79 FR 

29241 (May 21, 2014) (SR–NYSEArca–2014–37) 

(notice of proposed rule change relating to the 

listing and trading of iShares 2020 S&P AMT-Free 

Municipal Series under NYSE Arca Equities Rule 

5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02) (‘‘iShares 2020 Notice’’); 

72464 (June 25, 2014), 79 FR 37373 (July 1, 2014) 

(File No. SR–NYSEArca-2014–45) (order approving 

proposed rule change governing the continued 

listing and trading of shares of the PowerShares 

Insured California Municipal Bond Portfolio, 

PowerShares Insured National Municipal Bond 

Portfolio, and PowerShares Insured New York 

Municipal Bond Portfolio). The Commission also 

has issued a notice of filing and immediate 

effectiveness of a proposed rule change relating to 

listing and trading on the Exchange of shares of the 

iShares Taxable Municipal Bond Fund. See 

Securities Exchange Act Release No. 63176 (October 

25, 2010), 75 FR 66815 (October 29, 2010) (SR– 

NYSEArca-2010–94). The Commission has 

approved for Exchange listing and trading of shares 

of two actively managed funds of the PIMCO ETF 

Trust that principally hold municipal bonds. See 

Securities Exchange Act Release No. 60981 

(November 10, 2009), 74 FR 59594 (November 18, 

2009) (SR–NYSEArca–2009–79) (order approving 

listing and trading of shares of the PIMCO ShortTerm Municipal Bond Strategy Fund and PIMCO 

Intermediate Municipal Bond Strategy Fund). The 

Commission also has approved listing and trading 

on the Exchange of shares of the SPDR Nuveen S&P 

High Yield Municipal Bond Fund under 

Commentary .02 of NYSE Arca Equities Rule 

5.2(j)(3). See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 

63881 (February 9, 2011), 76 FR 9065 (February 16, 

2011) (SR–NYSEArca–2010–120). 

10There are two principal types of municipal 

bonds—general obligation, which are issued to raise 

capital supported by the taxing power of the issuer, 

and revenue bonds, which fund projects supported 

by the income these projects generate. Multiple 

maturities allow municipal bond issuers to better 

match and manage the timing of revenues and 

expenses associated with municipal bond offerings 

and projects financed thereby, and allow issuers to 

reduce their cost of funding over time. This is 

especially important given the long-term nature of 

the projects that secure municipal bond offerings 

and intermittent cash flows generated from the 

projects or other revenue sources. The issuer is able 

to pay down the municipal bond offering, lowering 

the amount outstanding, and thereby paying less 

interest over the life of the issue in contrast to an 

issue with a term maturity. 

11Financial information vendors provide deal 

size as well as maturity size information for each 

issue. 

12Source: Standard & Poor’s, available at 

www.us.spindices.com. 

13Source: Barclays Capital Municipal Index 

Research. 

14See note 9, supra. 

of the index or portfolio each shall have 

a minimum original principal amount 

outstanding of $100 million or more. 

The Exchange proposes to amend its 

generic listing criteria applicable to 

Units in order to better accommodate 

listing of Units based on indexes that 

include municipal bonds, in view of 

features of such bonds that differ from 

those of most other Fixed Income 

Securities.9

Specifically, the Exchange proposes to 

amend NYSE Arca Equities Rule 

5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02(a)(2) to state 

that components that in aggregate 

account for at least 75% of the weight 

of the index or portfolio shall meet the 

following: (A) each shall have a 

minimum original principal amount 

outstanding of $100 million or more; or 

(B) if a municipal bond component, 

such component shall be issued in an 

offering with an aggregate size, as set 

forth in the official statement of the 

offering, of $100 million or more. Thus, 

with respect to a municipal bond 

component of an index or portfolio, the 

aggregate size of the municipal bond 

issue covered by the official statement 

applicable to such municipal bond 

component, i.e., a municipal bond 

offering, must be $100 million or more. 

Thus, even if the individual municipal 

bond component (i.e., an individual 

maturity) of an index has an amount 

outstanding of less than $100 million, 

such component could be included in 

the 75% weight required to meet the 

$100 million principal amount 

outstanding requirement if such 

component were part of a municipal 

bond offering of $100 million or more. 

The Exchange believes it is 

appropriate to calculate components of 

a municipal bond index differently from 

other Fixed Income Securities for 

purposes of the 75% weighting 

requirement of NYSE Arca Equities Rule 

5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02(a)(2) because 

municipal bond offerings differ from 

U.S. Treasury, Government Sponsored 

Entities (‘‘GSEs’’), or other fixed income 

offerings in a variety of ways. 

Principally, municipal bonds are issued 

with either ‘‘serial’’ or ‘‘term’’ maturities 

or some combination thereof. The 

official statement issued in connection 

with a municipal bond offering 

describes the terms of the component 

bonds and the issuer and/or obligor on 

the related bonds. Such an offering is 

comprised of a number of specific 

maturity sizes.10 The entire issue or 

offering that includes such maturity 

sizes (sometimes also referred to as the 

‘‘deal size’’) receives the same credit 

rating and the various maturities are all 

subject to the provisions set forth in the 

official statement. The entire issue or 

offering is based on a specified project 

or group of related projects and funded 

by the same revenue or other funding 

sources identified in the official 

statement.11

Because the individual municipal 

bond components of an index may 

predominantly have maturities of less 

than $100 million outstanding (although 

part of a municipal bond offering of 

$100 million or greater), NYSE Arca 

Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02 

generally would not permit listing 

under Rule 19b–4(e) of Units based on 

an underlying municipal bond index if 

only individual maturity sizes were 

considered. The Exchange believes the 

proposed amendment to Commentary 

.02(a)(2) would facilitate listing of Units 

based on municipal bond indexes by 

permitting the Exchange, in applying its 

generic listing criteria, to take into 

account the aggregate size of the 

municipal bond offering of which the 

index component is part, as set forth in 

the applicable official statement. 

The Exchange notes that major 

municipal bond indexes, while they 

include individual bond maturities as 

index components, include ‘‘deal size’’ 

as a factor in the criteria for index 

constituents and additions. For 

example, the index methodology for the 

S&P National AMT-Free Municipal 

Bond Index specifies that each bond 

must be a constituent of a deal where 

the deal’s original offering amount was 

at least $100 million.12 For Barclays 

Capital municipal bond indexes, the 

index methodology for the Barclays 

Capital Investment-Grade Municipal 

Index specifies that a bond in the index 

must be issued as part of a transaction 

of at least $75 million; for the Barclays 

Capital High-Yield Municipal Index and 

the Barclays Capital Enhanced State 

Specific Indices, the bond constituents 

must be issued as part of a transaction 

of at least $20 million.13

The Exchange notes that the 

Commission previously has approved 

listing and trading of Units where the 

applicable municipal index components 

did not individually meet the 75% 

percentage requirement of NYSE Arca 

Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), Commentary 

.02(a)(2).14 As stated in the iShares 2020 

Notice, the investment adviser 

(Blackrock Fund Advisors or ‘‘BFA’’) for 

the iShares 2020 S&P AMT-Free 

Municipal Series has represented that 

the nature of the municipal bond market 

and municipal bond instruments makes 

it feasible to categorize individual issues 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

6152 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2015 / Notices 

15See also iShares 2018 Notice. 

16 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

17 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

18See note 9, supra. 

19See iShares 2018 Notice and iShares 2020 

Notice. 

represented by CUSIPs (i.e., the specific 

identifying number for a security) into 

categories according to common 

characteristics— specifically, rating, 

purpose, geographical region, and 

maturity. BFA represented that bonds 

that share similar characteristics tend to 

trade similarly to one another; therefore, 

within these categories, the issues may 

be considered fungible from a portfolio 

management perspective, allowing one 

CUSIP to be represented by another that 

shares similar characteristics for 

purposes of developing an investment 

strategy.15 Therefore, while a relatively 

low percentage of the weight of the 

applicable index components may be 

part of an aggregate size offering of $100 

million or more, the nature of the 

municipal bond market makes such 

components relatively fungible for 

investment purposes when aggregated 

into categories such as ratings, purpose, 

geographical region, and maturity. In 

addition, BFA represented that, within 

a single municipal bond issuer, there are 

often multiple contemporaneous or 

sequential issuances that have the same 

rating, structure and maturity, but have 

different CUSIPs; these separate issues 

by the same issuer are also likely to 

trade similarly to one another. 

Individual CUSIPs within the applicable 

municipal bond index that share 

characteristics with other CUSIPs based 

on rating, purpose, geographical region, 

and maturity have a high yield to 

maturity correlation, and frequently 

have a correlation of one or close to one. 

Such correlation demonstrates that the 

CUSIPs within their respective category 

behave similarly. 

Likewise, as noted above, the 

individual maturity sizes that comprise 

a municipal bond offering share a 

number of important features, including 

credit rating and the purpose and terms 

of the offering as set forth in the 

applicable official statement. As with 

individual CUSIPs in an index that 

share certain characteristics, as 

described above, the individual 

maturity sizes comprising the municipal 

bond offering can be expected to be 

relatively fungible for investment 

purposes. The Exchange believes that 

the proposed rule change is reasonable 

and appropriate in that pricing and 

liquidity of such maturity sizes is 

predominately based on the common 

characteristics of the aggregate issue of 

which the municipal bond is part. Thus, 

consideration of the aggregate size of the 

municipal bond offering rather than the 

individual bond component does not 

raise concerns regarding pricing or 

liquidity of the applicable municipal 

bond index components or of the Units 

overlying the applicable index. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 6(b) 16 of the Act, in general, and 

furthers the objectives of Section 

6(b)(5),17 in particular, in that it is 

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 

facilitating transactions in securities, 

and to remove impediments to and 

perfect the mechanisms of a free and 

open market and a national market 

system, and, in general, to protect 

investors and the public interest. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change applicable to 

trading pursuant to generic listing and 

trading criteria, together with the 

Exchange’s surveillance procedures 

applicable to trading in the securities 

covered by the proposed rules, serve to 

foster investor protection. The proposed 

rule change will also enhance market 

competition by assisting in bringing 

issues of Units with an underlying 

index of municipal securities to market 

more quickly, consistent with the 

Commission’s adoption of Rule 19b–4(e) 

under the Act. The Commission has 

previously approved proposed rule 

changes relating to listing and trading 

on the Exchange of Units based on 

municipal bond indexes and issues of 

Managed Fund Shares that hold 

municipal bonds.18 Major municipal 

bond indexes, while they include 

individual bond maturities as index 

components, include ‘‘deal size’’ as a 

factor in the criteria for index 

constituents and additions. As noted 

above, municipal bonds that share 

similar characteristics tend to trade 

similarly to one another; therefore, 

within these categories, the issues may 

be considered fungible from a portfolio 

management perspective, allowing one 

CUSIP to be represented by another that 

shares similar characteristics for 

purposes of developing an investment 

strategy.19 Therefore, while a relatively 

low percentage of the weight of the 

applicable index components may be 

part of an offering with an aggregate size 

of $100 million or more, the nature of 

the municipal bond market makes such 

components relatively fungible for 

investment purposes when aggregated 

into categories such as ratings, purpose, 

geographical region, and maturity. As 

with individual CUSIPs in an index that 

share certain characteristics, as 

described above, the individual 

maturity sizes comprising a municipal 

bond offering can be expected to be 

relatively fungible for investment 

purposes. The Exchange believes that 

the proposed rule change is reasonable 

and appropriate in that pricing and 

liquidity of such maturity sizes is 

predominately based on the common 

characteristics of the municipal bond 

offering of which the municipal bond 

component is part. Thus, consideration 

of the municipal bond offering rather 

than the individual bond component 

does not raise concerns regarding 

pricing or liquidity of the applicable 

municipal bond index components or of 

the Units overlying the applicable 

index. In addition, financial information 

vendors provide deal size as well as 

maturity size information for each 

municipal bond issue. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is designed to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices in that Units based on 

an index or portfolio that includes 

municipal bond components will be 

listed and traded on the Exchange 

pursuant to the initial and continued 

listing criteria in NYSE Arca Equities 

Rule 5.2(j)(3). The proposed amendment 

to NYSE Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02(a)(2) will better 

accommodate listing of Units based on 

indexes that include municipal bonds, 

in view of features of such bonds that 

differ from those of most other Fixed 

Income Securities. In connection with 

establishing compliance with NYSE 

Arca Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), 

Commentary .02(a)(2), individual 

municipal bond components in an 

index or portfolio would be required to 

be part of an offering of substantial size 

(i.e., at least $100 million aggregate 

size). The Exchange believes that the 

$100 million minimum threshold will 

help ensure that a substantial 

percentage of the applicable index 

components are liquid. 

The proposed rule change is designed 

to perfect the mechanism of a free and 

open market and, in general, to foster 

cooperation and coordination with 

persons engaged in facilitating 

transactions in securities, and to remove 

impediments to and perfect the 

mechanisms of a free and open market 

and a national market system, and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest in that it will facilitate 

the listing and trading of additional 

types of exchange-traded funds that 

hold municipal bonds pursuant to the 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2015 / Notices 6153 

20 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). 

generic listing criteria of NYSE Arca 

Equities Rule 5.2(j)(3), Commentary .02, 

and thus will enhance competition 

among market participants, to the 

benefit of investors and the marketplace. 

The Exchange is proposing to modify 

the criteria for qualifying Units based on 

a Fixed Income Securities index or 

portfolio that includes municipal bond 

components by applying the same 

quantitative threshold (i.e., $100 million 

or more) to the aggregate size of the 

municipal bond offering as the 

threshold that applies to component 

Fixed Income Securities generally, as set 

forth in Commentary .02(a)(2) of Rule 

5.2(j)(3). The Exchange believes that 

applying the $100 million threshold to 

the aggregate size of the municipal bond 

offering rather than to individual 

maturities of the offering is appropriate 

in view of differences in the 

characteristics of municipal bond 

issuances from issuances of other Fixed 

Income Securities, as described above, 

while, at the same time, assuring that 

any individual municipal bond 

component is part of an offering of 

substantial size (i.e., at least $100 

million aggregate size). 

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. The 

proposed rule change is not intended to 

address competition among exchanges. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change would remove a 

burden on competition for issuers of 

municipal bond offerings to provide that 

the Exchange’s rules regarding the 

listing and trading of Units pursuant to 

Commentary .02 of Rule 5.2(j)(3) are 

evaluated on a similar basis to other 

fixed income offerings. As discussed 

above, because the ‘‘deal size’’ 

associated with a municipal bond 

offering is deemed the relevant basis for 

determining pricing and liquidity of 

maturity sizes of municipal bond 

components that comprise an index, the 

Exchange believes that the proposed 

rule change addresses the unique 

characteristics of municipal bond 

offerings as compared to other fixed 

income products in a manner consistent 

with the existing requirements of 

Commentary .02(a)(2) of Rule 5.2(j)(3). 

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 

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– 

NYSEArca–2015–01 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NYSEArca–2015–01. This 

file number should be included on the 

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 Room, 100 F Street, NE., 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such 

filing will also 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–2015–01 and should be 

submitted on or before February 25, 

2015. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.20

Jill M. Peterson, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02109 Filed 2–3–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–74171; File No. SR–BOX– 

2015–05] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; BOX 

Options Exchange LLC; Notice of 

Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of 

a Proposed Rule Change To Extend 

the Deadline for the VPR Program to 

January 14, 2015 

January 29, 2015. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) under the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on January 

16, 2015, BOX Options Exchange LLC 

(the ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(the ‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I, II, and 

III below, which Items have been 

prepared by the Exchange. The 

Exchange filed the proposed rule change 

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. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES