Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 148 / Thursday, July 31, 2008 / Notices 44793 

14 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3The current FINRA rulebook consists of two sets 

of rules: (1) NASD Rules and (2) rules incorporated 

from NYSE (‘‘Incorporated NYSE Rules’’) (together 

referred to as the ‘‘Transitional Rulebook’’). The 

Incorporated NYSE Rules apply only to those 

members of FINRA that are also members of the 

NYSE (‘‘Dual Members’’). Dual Members also must 

comply with NASD Rules. For more information 

about the rulebook consolidation process, see 

FINRA Information Notice, March 12, 2008 

(Rulebook Consolidation Process). 

4 Incorporated NYSE Rules 421(2) and 421.40 

require members carrying margin accounts for 

customers to report certain aggregate debit and free 

credit balances. Those provisions will be addressed 

in a separate filing and therefore are not being 

addressed here. 

5Short positions required to be reported under 

the rules are those resulting from ‘‘short sales’’ as 

the term is defined in Rule 200(a) of Regulation 

SHO, subject to certain limited exceptions. See 

NASD Rule 3360(b)(1). 

6The term ‘‘OTC Equity Securities’’ refers to any 

equity security that is not listed on a national 

securities exchange. See NASD Rule 3360(b)(3). 

7 It is the responsibility of each member firm to 

ensure that it is reporting accurate short interest 

data, including confirming that issue symbols are 

active and valid as of the designated settlement 

date. See Notice to Members 06–20 (April 2006). 

8Non-self-clearing broker-dealers generally are 

considered to have satisfied their reporting 

requirement by making appropriate arrangements 

with their respective clearing organizations. See 

Notice to Members 03–08 (February 2003). 

9A schedule of FINRA’s designated settlement 

dates can be found on its Web site at http:// 

www.finra.org. See also Notice to Members 07–24 

(May 2007). 

• Send an e-mail to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File 

Number SR–FINRA–2008–037 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–FINRA–2008–037. This file 

number should be included on the 

subject line if e-mail is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for inspection and copying in 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room, 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 filing also will be 

available for inspection and copying at 

the principal office of FINRA. 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–FINRA–2008–037 and 

should be submitted on or before 

August 21, 2008. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.14

Florence E. Harmon, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–17501 Filed 7–30–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–58227; File No. SR–FINRA–

2008–033] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations: 

Financial Industry Regulatory 

Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing of 

Proposed Rule Change and 

Amendment No. 1 Thereto, To Adopt 

FINRA Rule 4560 (Short-Interest 

Reporting) in the Consolidated FINRA 

Rulebook 

July 25, 2008. 

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 June 23, 

2008, Financial Industry Regulatory 

Authority, Inc. (‘‘FINRA’’) (f/k/a 

National Association of Securities 

Dealers, Inc. (‘‘NASD’’)) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘SEC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) the proposed 

rule change as described in Items I, II, 

and III below, which Items have been 

substantially prepared by FINRA. On 

July 16, 2008, FINRA submitted 

Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule 

change. 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 

FINRA is proposing to adopt the short 

interest reporting requirements (NASD 

Rule 3360 and Incorporated NYSE Rules 

421(1) and 421.10) as FINRA Rule 4560 

in the consolidated FINRA rulebook. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is attached as Exhibit 5 to this rule 

filing. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, 

FINRA 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 

is available at FINRA, the Commission’s 

Public Reference Room, and http:// 

www.finra.org/RulesRegulation/ 

RuleFilings/2008RuleFilings/P038813. 

FINRA 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 

As part of the process of developing 

the new consolidated rulebook 

(‘‘Consolidated FINRA Rulebook’’),3

FINRA is proposing to adopt the short 

interest reporting requirements in NASD 

Rule 3360 and Incorporated NYSE Rules 

421(1) and 421.10 as FINRA Rule 4560 

in the Consolidated FINRA Rulebook. 

NASD Rule 3360 and Incorporated 

NYSE Rules 421(1) and 421.10 set forth 

FINRA’s short interest reporting 

requirements.4 NASD Rule 3360 

requires members to report short 

positions 5 in OTC Equity Securities 6

and exchange-listed securities not 

otherwise reported to another selfregulatory organization (‘‘SRO’’),7 and 

Incorporated NYSE Rules 421(1) and 

421.10 require members to report short 

positions in NYSE-listed securities. 

Members must report total short 

positions in all customer and 

proprietary accounts as of the 

designated settlement dates and in the 

manner so prescribed.8 Currently, the 

rules require such information to be 

reported twice a month, which in turn, 

is then made publicly available on an 

aggregate basis twice a month.9


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
44794 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 148 / Thursday, July 31, 2008 / Notices 

10See Regulatory Notice 08–13 (March 2008). 

11 15 U.S.C. 78o–3(b)(6). 

12 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 57685 

(April 18, 2008), 73 FR 22191. 

Currently, firms report short interest 

positions in NYSE-listed securities 

through the NYSE’s Electronic Filing 

Platform (‘‘EFP’’) and all other securities 

through FINRA’s Regulation Filing 

Applications (‘‘RFA’’) system or the 

Securities Industry Automation 

Corporation (‘‘SIAC’’). As of June 30, 

2008, FINRA will consolidate the 

collection of short interest data, and 

firms will be required to report short 

interest positions in all securities to 

FINRA using the RFA system; 

consequently, firms will no longer be 

able to report any of their short interest 

positions using EFP or SIAC.10

Given that the short interest 

requirements in each of the rules are 

substantially similar, FINRA is 

proposing to adopt these requirements 

as part of the Consolidated FINRA 

Rulebook, subject only to certain nonsubstantive changes. Most notably, 

because FINRA will now be the primary 

collector of consolidated short interest 

data for its members in all securities 

(rather than only if such positions in 

exchange-listed securities are not 

reported to another SRO), FINRA is not 

retaining the text in NASD Rule 3360 

that limits short interest reportable to 

FINRA to those positions in exchangelisted securities ‘‘not otherwise reported 

to another self-regulatory organization.’’

As noted above, FINRA will announce 

the implementation date of the 

proposed rule change in a Regulatory 

Notice to be published no later than 60 

days following Commission approval. 

2. Statutory Basis 

FINRA believes that the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the provisions 

of Section 15A(b)(6) of the Act,11 which 

requires, among other things, that 

FINRA rules must be designed to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices, to promote just and 

equitable principles of trade, and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest. The short interest 

reporting requirements, which are 

proposed to be transferred to the 

Consolidated FINRA Rulebook, 

previously have been found to meet the 

statutory requirements, and FINRA 

believes such requirements have since 

proven effective in achieving the 

statutory mandates. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

FINRA 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. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

Written comments were neither 

solicited nor received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Within 35 days of the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register or within such longer period (i) 

as the Commission may designate up to 

90 days of such date 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 such 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 e-mail to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File 

Number SR–FINRA–2008–033 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–FINRA–2008–033. This file 

number should be included on the 

subject line if e-mail is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for inspection and copying in 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room, 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 filing also will be 

available for inspection and copying at 

the principal office of FINRA. 

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–FINRA–2008–033 and 

should be submitted on or before 

August 21, 2008. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.12

Florence E. Harmon, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–17563 Filed 7–30–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–58228; File No. SR–

NASDAQ–2008–013] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The 

NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of 

Filing of Amendment No. 1 and Order 

Granting Accelerated Approval to 

Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by 

Amendment No. 1, To Adopt Additional 

Initial Listing Standards To List 

Securities of Special Purpose 

Acquisition Companies 

July 25, 2008. 

I. Introduction 

On March 14, 2008, The NASDAQ 

Stock Market LLC (‘‘Nasdaq’’ or 

‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the Securities 

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’), pursuant to section 

19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act 

of 1934 (‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 

thereunder,2 a proposed rule change to 

adopt additional initial listing standards 

to list securities of special purpose 

acquisition companies (‘‘SPACs’’). The 

proposed rule change was published in 

the Federal Register on April 24, 2008.3

The Commission received two comment 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES