Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / Notices 12503 

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

2 15 U.S.C. 78a. 

3 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

records related to requests for 

Reasonable Accommodation. 

5. COVID–19 Related Medical 

Records: Records related to the COVID– 

19 public health crisis, including copies 

of COVID–19 Vaccination Record Cards, 

and Records of COVID–19 

immunization from a health care 

provider or pharmacy, copies of 

COVID–19 immunization records from 

public health, state, or tribal 

immunization information system. 

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES: 

Employees, applicants for 

employment; applicant or employee 

health care provider(s), USPS and 

Department of Veterans Affairs medical 

staff, USPS designee testing facilities, 

substance abuse professionals, and 

designated contractors. 

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE

SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND

THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES: 

Standard routine uses 1 through 9 

apply. In addition: 

a. Medical records may be disclosed 

to an employee’s private treating 

physician and to medical personnel 

retained by USPS to provide medical 

examinations or treatment for an 

employee’s health or physical condition 

related to employment. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF

RECORDS: 

Automated database, computer 

storage media, digital files, and paper 

files. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF

RECORDS: 

By employee or applicant name, 

Social Security Number, Employee 

Identification Number, Candidate 

Identification Number, or duty or pay 

location. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND

DISPOSAL OF RECORDS: 

1. The Employee Medical Folder is 

retained by USPS until the employee is 

separated from USPS. On an annual 

basis, records of all employees separated 

during the prior year are transferred to 

the National Personnel Records Center 

and retained for 30 years. 

2. Candidate medical information for 

applicants determined to be medically 

unsuitable for the position offered is 

retained 2 years in hard copy. Computer 

data is retained 3 years in a history 

database. 

3. Documentation supporting 

applicant requests for reasonable 

accommodation for participation in the 

hiring or assessment process are 

maintained for 2 years in hard copy. 

Computer records of such requests are 

retained 3 years. 

4. Reasonable Accommodation 

Committee and District Reasonable 

Accommodation Committee records are 

maintained for the duration of the 

employee’s tenure with the USPS or 

until any appeals are adjudicated, 

whichever is longer. After the official 

use for these records has been satisfied, 

the records are to be placed in a sealed 

envelope, labeled as ‘‘Reasonable 

Accommodation Committee Records,’’ 

and placed in the employee medical 

folder (EMF) and retained in accordance 

with the official retention period for the 

EMFs. 

5. Alcohol test results indicating a 

breath alcohol concentration of 0.02 or 

greater, verified positive controlled 

substance test results, refusals, medical 

review officer’s evaluations, employee 

statements, and substance abuse 

professionals’ evaluations and referrals 

are retained 5 years. Alcohol test results 

indicating a breath alcohol 

concentration of less than 0.02, and 

negative and canceled controlled 

substance test results, are retained 1 

year. 

6. COVID–19 Test results are retained 

for one year after the expiration of 

Postal Service COVID–19 Policies. 

7. COVID–19 Vaccination Status is 

retained for one year after the expiration 

of Postal Service COVID–19 Policies. 

Records existing on paper are 

destroyed by burning, pulping, or 

shredding. Records existing on 

computer storage media are destroyed 

according to the applicable USPS media 

sanitization practice. 

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL

SAFEGUARDS: 

Paper records, computers, and 

computer storage media are located in 

controlled-access areas under 

supervision of program personnel. 

Access to these areas is limited to 

authorized personnel, who must be 

identified with a badge. Access to 

records is limited to individuals whose 

official duties require such access. 

Contractors and licensees are subject to 

contract controls and unannounced onsite audits and inspections. Computers 

are protected by mechanical locks, card 

key systems, or other physical access 

control methods. The use of computer 

systems is regulated with installed 

security software, computer logon 

identifications, and operating system 

controls including access controls, 

terminal and transaction logging, and 

file management software. 

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES: 

Requests for access must be made in 

accordance with the Notification 

Procedure above and USPS Privacy Act 

regulations regarding access to records 

and verification of identity under 39 

CFR 266.5. 

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES: 

See Notification Procedure below and 

Record Access Procedures above. 

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES: 

Individuals wanting to know if 

information about them is maintained in 

this system must address inquiries to 

the facility head where currently or last 

employed. Headquarters employees 

must submit inquiries to the National 

Medical Director, Health and Resource 

Management, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, 

Washington, DC 20260. Individuals who 

requested accommodation for an 

entrance examination or assessment 

must submit inquiries to the Manager of 

Selection, Evaluation, and Recognition, 

475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 

20260. Inquiries must include full 

name, Social Security Number or 

Employee Identification Number, name 

and address of facility where last 

employed, and dates of USPS 

employment or date of application. 

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM: 

None. 

HISTORY: 

June 17, 2011, 76 FR 35483; April 29, 

2005, 70 FR 22516 

* * * * * 

Sarah E. Sullivan, 

Attorney, Ethics and Legal Compliance. 

[FR Doc. 2022–03242 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7710–12–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–94324; File No. SR– 

NYSEAMER–2022–12] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE 

American LLC; Notice of Filing and 

Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed 

Rule Change To Amend the NYSE 

American Options Proprietary Market 

Data Fee Schedule 

February 28, 2022. 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

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

notice is hereby given that, on February 

24, 2022, NYSE American LLC (‘‘NYSE 

American’’ or the ‘‘Exchange’’) filed 

with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) the 

proposed rule change as described in 


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4 Members of the Exchange are member 

organizations, members, ETP Holders and ATP 

Holders. 

5 The Exchange previously adopted a 

subscription-based market data product known as 

the NYSE Options Open-Close Volume Summary 

that market participants can purchase on a 

subscription basis. See Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 93803 (December 16, 2021), 86 FR 

72647 (December 22, 2021) (SR–NYSEAMER–2021– 

46). The purpose of this filing is to introduce a 

historic monthly report of the NYSE Options OpenClose Volume Summary that would be available for 

purchase by any market participant on an ad-hoc 

basis. 

6 The terms Customer, Professional Customer, 

Firm and Market Maker are defined in Rule 

900.2NY. 

7 The specifications for the ad-hoc historic 

monthly End of Day Volume Summary can be 

found at https://www.nyse.com/market-data/ 

historical/open-close-volume-summary. 

8 See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 87463 

(November 5, 2019), 84 FR 61129 (November 12, 

2019) (SR–C2–2019–023) (Notice of Filing and 

Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change 

To Introduce a New Data Product To Be Known as 

Open-Close Data and To Adopt Fees for Such 

Product); 55062 (January 8, 2007), 72 FR 2048 

(January 17, 2007) (SR–CBOE–2006–88) (Order 

Granting Approval to Proposed Rule Change To 

Codify a Fee Schedule for the Sale of Open and 

Close Volume Data on CBOE Listed Options by 

Market Data Express, LLC); and 56957 (December 

13, 2007), 72 FR 71988 (December 19, 2007) (SR– 

ISE–2007–115) (Notice of Filing and Immediate 

Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Relating to 

Historical ISE Open/Close Trade Profile Fees). The 

ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day Volume 

Summary report contains the same information that 

is provided in the monthly subscription-based 

market data product known as the NYSE Options 

Open-Close Volume Summary. See note 5, supra. 

9 For example, Nasdaq PHLX LLC offers history 

for their end of day data starting in January 2009 

while NYSE Options Open-Close Volume Summary 

history is only offered starting in December 2018. 

See https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/micro.

aspx?id=photo. 

10For example, a customer that requests historical 

End of Day Volume Summary for the months of 

June 2021 and July 2021, would be assessed a total 

of $1,200. The Exchange notes that it may make 

historical data prior to December 2018 available in 

the future and that such historical data would be 

available to all members and non-members. 

11See e.g., Cboe LiveVol, LLC Market Data Fees 

available at https://www.cboe.com/us/options/ 

membership/fee_schedule/ctwo/. Cboe C2 Options 

(‘‘C2’’) offers Open-Close Data: End-of-Day Ad-hoc 

Request (historical data) and assesses a fee of $400 

per request per month. Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. 

(‘‘EDGX’’) similarly offers Open-Close Data: End-ofDay Ad-hoc Request (historical data) and assesses 

a fee of $400 per request per month. See https://

www.cboe.com/us/options/membership/fee_

schedule/edgx/. Nasdaq ISE, LLC (‘‘ISE’’) offers 

Nasdaq ISE Open/Close Trade Profile End of Day 

Ad-Hoc Request (historical data) and assesses a fee 

of $600 per request per month. See Sec. 10, Market 

Data, at https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/rulebook/ 

ise/rules/ise-options-7. 

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 amend the 

NYSE American Options Proprietary 

Market Data Fee Schedule (‘‘Fee 

Schedule’’) to introduce a data product 

to be known as the NYSE Options OpenClose End of Day Volume Summary 

(‘‘End of Day Volume Summary’’) that 

would be available for purchase by any 

market participant, i.e., members 4 and 

non-members, on an ad-hoc basis and to 

adopt fees for such product. The 

proposed rule change is available on the 

Exchange’s website 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 

The Exchange proposes to introduce a 

data product to be known as the End of 

Day Volume Summary that would be 

available for purchase by market 

participants on an ad-hoc basis and to 

adopt fees for such product.5

More specifically, the Exchange 

proposes to offer an ad-hoc historic 

monthly End of Day Volume Summary 

market data product that will provide a 

volume summary of trading activity on 

the Exchange at the option level by 

origin (Customer, Professional 

Customer, Firm, Broker-Dealer, and 

Market Maker 6), side of the market (buy 

or sell), contract volume, and 

transaction type (opening or closing). 

The Customer, Professional Customer, 

Firm, Broker-Dealer, and Market Maker 

volume will be further broken down 

into trade size buckets (less than 100 

contracts, 100–199 contracts, greater 

than 199 contracts). The ad-hoc historic 

monthly End of Day Volume Summary 

is proprietary Exchange trade data and 

does not include trade data from any 

other exchange. It is also a historical 

data product and not a real-time data 

feed. The Exchange proposes to offer 

data that would go back to December 

2018 and would contain all series in an 

underlying security if it has volume.7

The Exchange anticipates a wide 

variety of market participants to 

purchase the ad-hoc historic monthly 

End of Day Volume Summary, 

including, but not limited to, individual 

customers, buy-side investors, 

investment banks and academic 

institutions. For example, academic 

institutions may utilize the proposed 

product to promote research and studies 

of the options industry to the benefit of 

all market participants. The Exchange 

believes the proposed product may also 

provide helpful trading information 

regarding investor sentiment and may 

be used to create and test trading 

models and analytical strategies. The 

ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary is a completely 

voluntary product, in that the Exchange 

is not required by any rule or regulation 

to make this data available and that 

potential customers may purchase it on 

an ad-hoc basis only if they voluntarily 

choose to do so. The Exchange notes 

that other exchanges offer a similar 

product.8 As such, the ad-hoc historic 

monthly End of Day Volume Summary 

is subject to direct competition from 

similar end of day options trading 

summaries offered by other exchanges. 

All of these exchanges offer essentially 

the same end of day options trading 

summary information, and generally 

differ solely in the amount of history 

available for purchase.9

The Exchange proposes to provide in 

its Fee Schedule that market 

participants may purchase the ad-hoc 

historic monthly End of Day Volume 

Summary for a specified month 

(historical file). The Exchange proposes 

to assess a fee of $600 per request per 

month for an ad-hoc request of 

historical End of Day Volume Summary 

covering all Exchange-listed securities. 

An ad-hoc request can be for any 

number of months beginning with 

December 2018 for which the data is 

available.10 The proposed fee for ad-hoc 

requests for the historic monthly End of 

Day Volume Summary will apply to all 

market participants. The Exchange notes 

that other exchanges provide a similar 

data product that may be purchased on 

an ad-hoc basis and is comparably 

priced.11

NYSE Options Open-Close Volume 

Summary is subject to significant 

competitive forces that constrain its 

pricing. As described above, the 

Exchange’s data product competes headto-head with numerous products 


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12 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

13 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

14 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

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

16See note 8, supra. 

17The Options Clearing Corporation (‘‘OCC’’) 

publishes options and futures volume in a variety 

of formats, including daily and monthly volume by 

exchange, available here: https://www.theocc.com/ 

Market-Data/Market-Data-Reports/Volume-andOpen-Interest/Monthly-Weekly-Volume-Statistics. 

18Based on OCC data for monthly volume of 

equity-based options and monthly volume of ETFbased options, see id., the Exchange’s market share 

in multiply-listed equity and ETF options was 

9.09% for the month of November 2020 and 7.06% 

for the month of November 2021. 

19See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51808 

(June 9, 2005), 70 FR 37496, 37499 (June 29, 2005). 

20NetCoalition v. SEC, 615 F.3d 525, 535 (D.C. 

Cir. 2010) (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 94–229 at 92 

(1975), as reprinted in 1975 U.S.C.C.A.N. 323). 

21 Id. at 535. 

22See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 34– 

90217 (October 16, 2020), 85 FR 67392 (October 22, 

2020) (SR–NYSENAT–2020–05) (internal quotation 

marks omitted), quoting Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 59039 (December 2, 2008), 73 FR 

74770, 74781 (December 9, 2008) (ArcaBook 

Approval Order). 

currently available in the marketplace. 

These products each serve as reasonable 

substitutes for one another as they are 

each designed to provide data on 

options market activity which can be 

used to infer longer-term trends. The 

information provided by one exchange 

is generally similar to that provided by 

other exchanges because order flow can 

move from one exchange to another, and 

market sentiment trends that appear on 

one exchange are likely to be similar to 

the sentiment trends on other 

exchanges. The key differentiator in the 

quality of the data depends on the 

volume of transactions on a given 

exchange. The greater the volume of 

transactions, the greater the value of the 

data. The proposed fee for ad-hoc 

purchases of historic monthly End of 

Day Volume Summary is therefore 

constrained by the competition among 

exchanges for similar options trading 

summary products. 

The Exchange intends to offer the 

historic monthly End of Day Volume 

Summary on an ad-hoc basis and charge 

the proposed fees on March 1, 2022. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 6(b) of the Act,12 in general, and 

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

of the Act,13 in particular, in that it is 

designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices, to 

promote just and equitable principles of 

trade, to remove impediments to and 

perfect the mechanism of a free and 

open market and a national market 

system, and to protect investors and the 

public interest, and that it is not 

designed to permit unfair 

discrimination among customers, 

brokers, or dealers. The Exchange also 

believes that its proposal to adopt fees 

for End of Day Volume Summary is 

consistent with Section 6(b) of the Act 14

in general, and furthers the objectives of 

Section 6(b)(4) of the Act 15 in 

particular, in that it is an equitable 

allocation of dues, fees and other 

charges among its members and other 

recipients of Exchange data. 

In adopting Regulation NMS, the 

Commission granted self-regulatory 

organizations (‘‘SROs’’) and brokerdealers increased authority and 

flexibility to offer new and unique 

market data to the public. It was 

believed that this authority would 

expand the amount of data available to 

users and consumers of such data and 

also spur innovation and competition 

for the provision of market data. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed ad-hoc historic monthly End 

of Day Volume Summary market data 

product would further broaden the 

availability of U.S. option market data to 

investors consistent with the principles 

of Regulation NMS. The proposed rule 

change would benefit investors by 

providing access to historic data, which 

as noted above, may promote better 

informed trading, as well as research 

and studies of the options industry. 

Particularly, information regarding 

opening and closing activity across 

different option series may indicate 

investor sentiment, which can be 

helpful research and/or trading 

information. Customers of the historic 

data product may be able to enhance 

their ability to analyze options trade and 

volume data, and create and test trading 

models and analytical strategies. The 

Exchange believes ad-hoc historic 

monthly End of Day Volume Summary 

would provide a valuable tool that 

customers can use to gain 

comprehensive insight into the trading 

activity in a particular series, but also 

emphasizes such data is not necessary 

for trading. Moreover, other exchanges 

offer a similar data product.16

The Exchange operates in a highly 

competitive market. Indeed, there are 

currently 16 registered options 

exchanges competing for order flow. 

Based on publicly-available 

information, and excluding index-based 

options, no single exchange has more 

than 16% of the market share of 

executed volume of multiply-listed 

equity and ETF options trades.17

Therefore, currently no exchange 

possesses significant pricing power in 

the execution of multiply-listed equity 

and ETF options order flow. More 

specifically, in November 2021, the 

Exchange had less than 8% market 

share of executed volume of multiplylisted equity and ETF options trades.18

The Commission has repeatedly 

expressed its preference for competition 

over regulatory intervention in 

determining prices, products, and 

services in the securities markets. 

Specifically, in Regulation NMS, the 

Commission highlighted the importance 

of market forces in determining prices 

and SRO revenues, and also recognized 

that current regulation of the market 

system ‘‘has been remarkably successful 

in promoting market competition in its 

broader forms that are most important to 

investors and listed companies.’’ 19

With respect to market data, the 

decision of the United States Court of 

Appeals for the District of Columbia 

Circuit in NetCoalition v. SEC upheld 

the Commission’s reliance on the 

existence of competitive market 

mechanisms to evaluate the 

reasonableness and fairness of fees for 

proprietary market data: 

In fact, the legislative history indicates that 

the Congress intended that the market system 

‘‘evolve through the interplay of competitive 

forces as unnecessary regulatory restrictions 

are removed’’ and that the SEC wield its 

regulatory power ‘‘in those situations where 

competition may not be sufficient,’’ such as 

in the creation of a ‘‘consolidated 

transactional reporting system.’’ 20

The court agreed with the 

Commission’s conclusion that 

‘‘Congress intended that ‘competitive 

forces should dictate the services and 

practices that constitute the U.S. 

national market system for trading 

equity securities.’’’ 21 More recently, the 

Commission confirmed that it applies a 

‘‘market-based’’ test in its assessment of 

market data fees, and that under that 

test: 

the Commission considers whether the 

exchange was subject to significant 

competitive forces in setting the terms of its 

proposal for [market data], including the 

level of any fees. If an exchange meets this 

burden, the Commission will find that its fee 

rule is consistent with the Act unless there 

is a substantial countervailing basis to find 

that the terms of the rule violate the Act or 

the rules thereunder.22

Making similar historic data products 

available to market participants fosters 

competition in the marketplace, and 

constrains the ability of exchanges to 

charge supra-competitive fees. In the 

event that a market participant views 

one exchange’s historic data product as 

more or less attractive than the 

competition they can and do switch 

between similar products. The proposed 


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23See, note 11, supra. 

24See, note 8, supra. 25See, note 11, supra. 

26See, note 8, supra. 

27See, note 11, supra. 

28See, note 8, supra. 

fees are a result of the competitive 

environment, as the Exchange seeks to 

adopt fees to attract purchasers of the 

ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary data product. 

The Exchange believes its proposal to 

provide the ad-hoc historic monthly 

End of Day Volume Summary is 

reasonable as the proposed fees are 

comparable to the fees assessed by other 

exchanges 23 that provide similar 

historic data products.24 Indeed, 

proposing fees that are excessively 

higher than established fees for similar 

historic data products would simply 

serve to reduce demand for the 

Exchange’s historic data product, which 

as noted, is entirely optional. Like the 

ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary, other exchanges offer 

similar historic data products that each 

provide insight into trading on those 

markets and may likewise aid in 

assessing investor sentiment. Although 

each of these similar historic data 

products provide only proprietary trade 

data and not trade data from other 

exchanges, it is possible investors are 

still able to gauge overall investor 

sentiment across different option series 

based on open and closing interest on 

any one exchange. Similarly, market 

participants may be able to analyze 

option trade and volume data, and 

create and test trading models and 

analytical strategies using only the adhoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary data relating to 

trading activity on one or more of the 

other markets that provide similar 

historic data products. As such, if a 

market participant views another 

exchange’s data as more attractive than 

the Exchange’s offering, then such 

market participant can merely choose 

not to purchase the Exchange’s historic 

data product and instead purchase 

another exchange’s historic product, 

which offer similar data points, albeit 

based on that other market’s trading 

activity. 

The Exchange also believes the 

proposed fees are reasonable as they 

would support the introduction of a 

historic market data product that is 

designed to aid investors by providing 

insight into trading on the Exchange. In 

turn, this data would assist market 

participants in gauging investor 

sentiment and trading activity, resulting 

in potentially better-informed trading 

decisions. As noted above, customers 

may also use such data to create and test 

trading models and analytical strategies. 

Selling historic market data, such as 

the ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary, is also a means by 

which exchanges compete to attract 

business. To the extent that the 

Exchange is successful in attracting 

customers to the Exchange’s historic 

data product, it may earn trading 

revenues and further enhance the value 

of its data products. If the market deems 

the proposed fees to be unfair or 

inequitable, customers can diminish or 

discontinue their use of the historic data 

and/or avail themselves of similar 

products offered by other exchanges.25

The Exchange therefore believes that the 

proposed fees reflect the competitive 

environment and would be properly and 

equally assessed to all customers. The 

Exchange also believes the proposed 

fees are equitable and not unfairly 

discriminatory as the fees would apply 

equally to all customers who choose to 

purchase such data. The proposed fees 

would not differentiate between 

customers that purchase the ad-hoc 

historic monthly End of Day Volume 

Summary, and are set at a modest level 

that would allow any interested market 

participant to purchase such data based 

on their business needs. Nothing in this 

proposal treats any category of market 

participant any differently from any 

other category of market participant. 

The ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary is available to all 

market participants, i.e., members and 

non-members, and all market 

participants would receive the same 

information in the data feed. 

As noted above, the Exchange 

anticipates a wide variety of market 

participants to purchase the ad-hoc 

historic monthly End of Day Volume 

Summary data product, including but 

not limited to individual customers, 

buy-side investors, investment banks 

and academic institutions. As such, the 

Exchange anticipates that the historic 

data product may be used not just for 

commercial or monetizing purposes, but 

also for educational use and research. 

The Exchange reiterates that the 

decision as to whether or not to 

purchase the ad-hoc historic monthly 

End of Day Volume Summary is entirely 

optional for all potential customers. 

Indeed, no market participant is 

required to purchase the historic data 

product, and the Exchange is not 

required to make the historic data 

product available to market participants. 

Rather, the Exchange is voluntarily 

making the historic data product 

available, as requested by customers, 

and market participants may choose to 

receive (and pay for) this data based on 

their own business needs. Potential 

customers may request the data at any 

time if they believe it to be valuable or 

may decline to purchase such data. 

In sum, the fierce competition for 

order flow constrains any exchange 

from pricing its historic market data at 

a supra-competitive price, and 

constrains the Exchange here in setting 

its fees for the ad-hoc historic monthly 

End of Day Volume Summary data 

product. 

The proposed fees are therefore 

reasonable because in setting them, the 

Exchange is constrained by the 

availability of numerous substitute 

venues offering historic market data 

products and trading.26 Such substitutes 

need not be identical, but only 

substantially similar to the product at 

hand. More specifically, in setting fees 

for the ad-hoc historic monthly End of 

Day Volume Summary data product, the 

Exchange is constrained by the fact that, 

if its pricing is unattractive to 

customers, customers have their pick of 

an increasing number of alternative 

venues to use instead of the Exchange.27

Because of the availability of 

substitutes, an exchange that overprices 

its historic market data products stands 

a high risk that customers may 

substitute another source of market data 

information for its own. Those 

competitive pressures imposed by 

available alternatives are evident in the 

Exchange’s proposed pricing. The 

existence of numerous alternatives to 

the Exchange ensures that the Exchange 

cannot set unreasonable fees for historic 

market data without suffering the 

negative effects of that decision in the 

fiercely competitive market in which it 

operates. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change will result in 

any burden on competition that is not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. The 

Exchange also does not believe the 

proposed fees would cause any 

unnecessary or inappropriate burden on 

intermarket competition as other 

exchanges are free to introduce their 

own comparable historic data product 

and adopt fees to better compete with 

the Exchange’s offering. Rather, the 

Exchange believes that the proposal will 

promote competition by permitting the 

Exchange to sell a historic data product 

similar to those offered by other 

competitor options exchanges.28 The 

Exchange is offering the ad-hoc historic 

monthly End of Day Volume Summary 


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29 15 U.S.C. 78(b)(3)(A). 

30 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

31 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

32 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). In addition, Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6)(iii) requires the Exchange to give the 

Commission written notice of the Exchange’s intent 

to file the proposed rule change, along with a brief 

description and text of the proposed rule change, 

at least five business days prior to the date of filing 

of the proposed rule change, or such shorter time 

as designated by the Commission. The Exchange 

has satisfied this requirement. 

33 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

34 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

35For purposes only of waiving the 30-day 

operative delay, the Commission also has 

considered the proposed rule’s impact on 

efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 

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

in order to keep pace with changes in 

the industry and evolving customer 

needs, and believes the data product 

will contribute to robust competition 

among national securities exchanges. 

Furthermore, the Exchange operates 

in a highly competitive environment, 

and its ability to price the ad-hoc 

historic monthly End of Day Volume 

Summary is constrained by competition 

among exchanges that offer similar 

historic data products to their 

customers. As discussed above, there 

are currently a number of similar 

products available to market 

participants and investors. A number of 

U.S. options exchanges offer a historic 

market data product that is substantially 

similar to the Exchange’s offering, 

which the Exchange must consider in its 

pricing discipline in order to compete 

effectively. For example, proposing fees 

that are excessively higher than 

established fees for similar historic data 

products would simply serve to reduce 

demand for the Exchange’s historic data 

product, which as discussed, market 

participants are under no obligation to 

utilize or purchase. In this competitive 

environment, potential purchasers are 

free to choose which, if any, similar 

historic product to purchase to satisfy 

their need for market information. As a 

result, the Exchange believes this 

proposed rule change permits fair 

competition among national securities 

exchanges. 

The Exchange does not believe the 

proposed rule change would cause any 

unnecessary or inappropriate burden on 

intramarket competition. Particularly, 

the proposed fees would apply 

uniformly to any customer, in that the 

Exchange would not differentiate 

between customers that purchase the 

ad-hoc historic monthly End of Day 

Volume Summary and all customers 

would receive the same information in 

the data feed. The Exchange believes the 

proposed fees are set at a modest level 

that would allow interested customers 

to purchase such data based on their 

business needs. 

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 Exchange has filed the proposed 

rule change pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 29 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6) 30 thereunder. Because the 

foregoing proposed rule change does 

not: (i) Significantly affect the 

protection of investors or the public 

interest; (ii) impose any significant 

burden on competition; and (iii) become 

operative for 30 days from the date on 

which it was filed, or such shorter time 

as the Commission may designate, it has 

become effective pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 31 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6) 32 thereunder. 

A proposed rule change filed under 

Rule 19b–4(f)(6) 33 normally does not 

become operative prior to 30 days after 

the date of the filing. However, pursuant 

to Rule 19b–4(f)(6)(iii),34 the 

Commission may designate a shorter 

time if such action is consistent with the 

protection of investors and the public 

interest. The Exchange has asked the 

Commission to waive the 30-day 

operative delay to allow the Exchange to 

implement the proposed rule change 

and corresponding fee on March 1, 

2022, and thereby allow the Exchange to 

compete with exchanges that currently 

offer similar historic market data 

products. The Commission believes 

that, as described above, the Exchange’s 

proposal does not raise any new or 

novel issues. Therefore, the Commission 

believes that waving the 30-day 

operative delay is consistent with the 

protection of investors and the public 

interest. Accordingly, the Commission 

designates the proposed rule change to 

be operative upon filing.35

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. If the 

Commission takes such action, the 

Commission will institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

change should be approved or 

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 (https://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

NYSEAMER–2022–12 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–NYSEAMER–2022–12. 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 website (https://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 website 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 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. 

Persons submitting comments are 

cautioned that we do not redact or edit 

personal identifying information from 

comment submissions. You should 

submit only information that you wish 

to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NYSEAMER–2022–12, and 


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12508 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / Notices 

36 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)(2). 

5Pursuant to an Index Option, one party (the 

‘‘Swaption Buyer’’) has the right (but 

not the obligation) to cause the other party (the 

‘‘Swaption Seller’’) to enter into an index credit 

default swap transaction at a pre-determined strike 

price on a specified expiration date on specified 

terms. In the case of Index Options that may be 

cleared by ICC, the underlying index credit default 

swap is limited to certain CDX and iTraxx index 

credit default swaps that are accepted for clearing 

by ICC, and which would be automatically cleared 

by ICC upon exercise of the Index Option by the 

Swaption Buyer in accordance with its terms. 

6CP fee details available at: https://

www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_credit/ICE_

Clear_Credit_Fees_Clearing_Participant.pdf. 7Client fee details available at: https://

www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_credit/ICE_

Clear_Credit_Fees.pdf. As specified, all fees are 

charged directly to a client’s CP. 

8A description of these incentive programs is 

included in prior filings. SEC Release No. 34–90524 

(November 27, 2020) (notice), 85 FR 78157 

(December 3, 2020) (SR–ICC–2020–013); SEC 

Release No. 34–91922 (May 18, 2021) (notice), 86 

FR 27938 (May 24, 2021) (SR–ICC–2021–014). 

should be submitted on or before March 

25, 2022. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.36

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04561 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–94330; File No. SR–ICC– 

2022–001] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; ICE 

Clear Credit LLC; Notice of Filing and 

Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed 

Rule Change Relating to ICC’s Fee 

Schedules 

February 28, 2022. 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934,1 and 

Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2 notice is 

hereby given that on February 17, 2022, 

ICE Clear Credit LLC (‘‘ICC’’) filed with 

the Securities and Exchange 

Commission the proposed rule change, 

as described in Items I, II and III below, 

which Items have been prepared 

primarily by ICC. ICC filed the proposed 

rule change pursuant to Section 

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

4(f)(2) thereunder,4 such that the 

proposed rule change was immediately 

effective upon filing with the 

Commission. The Commission is 

publishing this notice to solicit 

comments on the proposed rule change 

from interested persons. 

I. Clearing Agency’s Statement of the 

Terms of Substance of the Proposed 

Rule Change 

The principal purpose of the 

proposed rule change is to modify ICC’s 

fee schedules to implement reduced fees 

for credit default index swaptions 

(‘‘Index Options’’) through calendar year 

2022. These revisions do not require any 

changes to the ICC Clearing Rules. 

II. Clearing Agency’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, security-based swap 

submission, or advance notice and 

discussed any comments it received on 

the proposed rule change, securitybased swap submission, or advance 

notice. 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. 

(A) Clearing Agency’s Statement of the 

Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the 

Proposed Rule Change 

(a) Purpose 

The proposed changes are intended to 

modify ICC’s fee schedules to 

implement reduced fees for Index 

Options through calendar year 2022.5

ICC maintains a Clearing Participant 

(‘‘CP’’) fee schedule 6 and client fee 

schedule 7 (collectively, the ‘‘fee 

schedules’’) that are publicly available 

on its website, which ICC proposes to 

update. Clearing fees are due by CPs and 

clients in accordance with the product, 

amount and currency set out in the fee 

schedules and subject to any incentive 

program described in the fee schedules. 

The proposed changes to the fee 

schedules are set forth in Exhibit 5A 

and Exhibit 5B and described in detail 

as follows. ICC proposes to make such 

changes effective March 1, 2022 (the 

‘‘Effective Date’’), subject to the 

completion of any applicable regulatory 

review process. 

The amended CP fee schedule would 

reduce Index Option fees to $1/million 

or Ö1/million through calendar year 

2022. Under the current CP fee 

schedule, Index Option fees are $3/ 

million or Ö3/million, subject to an 

incentive program that provides a tiered 

discount schedule based on U.S. Dollar 

equivalent, non-discounted Index 

Option fees billed since the start of the 

year. ICC also offered certain other 

incentive programs that discounted 

Index Option fees as part of the CP fee 

schedule, which expired at the end of 

calendar year 2021 and are removed 

from Exhibit 5A.8 Under the proposed 

changes, in addition to updating the fee 

table, ICC would include a footnote to 

indicate that the listed fees of $1/ 

million or Ö1/million are applicable 

from the Effective Date through calendar 

year 2022 and reflect a discount from 

ICC’s regular Index Option fees of $3/ 

million or Ö3/million. On the first 

business day of 2023, ICC would remove 

this discount and the listed fees would 

revert to ICC’s regular Index Option fees 

on this schedule dated January 2023. 


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