7352 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 26 / Thursday, February 7, 2008 / Notices 

24 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

25 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

26See 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6)(iii), which requires 

that a self-regulatory organization submit to the 

Commission written notice of its intent to file a 

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. 

27See 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6)(iii). 

28For purposes only of waiving the 30-day 

operative delay, the Commission has considered the 

proposed rule’s impact on efficiency, competition, 

and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C. 78c(f). 

29See Adopting Release. 

30 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). 

5The Exchange states that FBMS is designed to 

enable floor brokers and/or their employees to 

enter, route, and report transactions stemming from 

options orders received on the Exchange. FBMS 

also is designed to establish an electronic audit trail 

for options orders represented and executed by 

floor brokers on the Exchange. See Exchange Rule 

1080, commentary .06. 

6Thus, outbound Linkage transactions, which are 

therefore not executed on the Exchange, are 

excluded from threshold calculations and subsidy 

payments, as further described below. 

this filing, or such shorter time as the 

Commission may designate, it has 

become effective pursuant to section 

19(b)(3)(A) 24 of the Act and Rule 19b–

4(f)(6) 25 thereunder. 

The Exchange has requested that the 

Commission waive the 5-day pre-filing 

notice requirement 26 and the 30-day 

operative delay 27 of the proposed rule 

change. The Commission believes that 

such waiver is consistent with the 

protection of investors and the public 

interest 28 given that the compliance 

date for the Commission’s amendments 

to Rule 10a–1 was July 6, 2007.29 For 

this reason, the Commission designates 

the proposal to be effective and 

operative upon filing with the 

Commission. 

At any time within 60 days of the 

filing of such proposed rule change the 

Commission may summarily abrogate 

such rule change if it appears to the 

Commission that such action is 

necessary or appropriate in the public 

interest, for the protection of investors 

or otherwise in furtherance of the 

purposes of the Act. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

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–NYSE–2007–62 on the 

subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Nancy M. Morris, Secretary, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20549. 

All submissions should refer to File 

number SR–NYSE–2007–62. 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. to 3 p.m. 

Copies of such filing will also be 

available for inspection and copying at 

the principal office of the NYSE. 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–NYSE–2007–62 and should be 

submitted by February 28, 2008. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.30

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–2183 Filed 2–6–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–57253; File No. SR–Phlx–

2008–08] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc.; 

Notice of Filing and Immediate 

Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule 

Change Relating to an Options Floor 

Broker Subsidy Program 

February 1, 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 January 

29, 2008, the Philadelphia Stock 

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘Phlx’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’) the 

proposed rule change as described in 

Items I, II, and III below, which Items 

have been substantially prepared by the 

Exchange. Phlx has designated this 

proposal as one establishing or changing 

a due, fee, or other charge imposed by 

Phlx under 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. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Phlx proposes to: (1) Adopt a 

tiered per contract floor broker options 

subsidy payable to member 

organizations with Exchange registered 

floor brokers for eligible contracts (as 

defined below) that are entered into the 

Exchange’s Floor Broker Management 

System (’’FBMS’’) 5 and subsequently 

executed on the Exchange,6 subject to 

two threshold volume requirements; 

and (2) delete the current floor 

brokerage assessment that is set forth on 

the Exchange’s fee schedule in several 

places, specifically the Summary of 

Equity Option and RUT and RMN 

Charges, the Summary of Index Option 

Charges, the Summary of U.S. DollarSettled Foreign Currency Option 

Charges, and the Summary of Physical 

Delivery Currency Option Charges. 

Although changes to the fee schedule 

pursuant to this proposal are effective 

upon filing, the Exchange intends to 

implement the subsidy and delete the 

floor brokerage assessment beginning 

with transactions settling on or after 

February 1, 2008. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is available at the Exchange, the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 

and http://www.phlx.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 

Exchange included statements 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 26 / Thursday, February 7, 2008 / Notices 7353 

7For purposes of calculating the 75,000 and 

40,000 thresholds, customer-to-customer 

transactions, customer-to-non-customer 

transactions, and non-customer-to-non-customer 

transactions would be included. Currently, the 

Exchange states that it does not charge an options 

comparison or transaction charge for customer 

transactions as set forth on the Exchange’s 

Summary of Equity Option and RUT and RMN 

Charges. The Exchange, however, does charge for 

certain customer transactions as set forth on the 

Exchange’s Summary of Index Option Charges and 

the Summary of U.S. Dollar-Settled Foreign 

Currency Option Charges. The Exchange believes 

that allowing customer transactions to be included 

in the threshold calculations should help to 

encourage floor brokers to send more order flow to 

the Exchange. 

8Set forth below are several examples to illustrate 

the threshold volume calculations: (1) If one floor 

broker enters both sides of a transaction for 1,000 

contracts, that floor broker would get 1,000 

contracts credited towards its threshold volume; (2) 

in a 1,000 contract trade where each side was 

entered by a different member organization with 

Exchange registered floor brokers, each such 

member organization would receive 500 contracts 

credited towards their respective threshold 

volumes; (3) if one floor broker enters an order for 

900 contracts to sell and three separate floor brokers 

enter the contra side to each buy 300 contracts, the 

floor broker that entered the 900 contracts to sell 

would receive 450 contracts towards its threshold 

calculation and each floor broker on the contra side 

would receive 150 contracts credited towards their 

respective threshold calculations; and (4) if a floor 

broker enters an order to sell 900 contracts and two 

separate floor brokers each enter orders to buy 300 

contracts and a registered options trader (‘‘ROT’’) 

bought the remaining 300 contracts, the floor broker 

that entered the 900 contracts would get 600 

contracts towards its threshold (150 from each floor 

broker and 300 from the ROT (the entering floor 

broker that executed against the ROT receives credit 

for both sides of the transaction with the ROT (i.e., 

300 contracts) because the subsidy is only available 

to floor brokers and, therefore, the ROT is not 

eligible to receive credit towards the subsidy)), and 

the two separate floor brokers would get 150 each 

to add up to the total 900 contracts. 

9Therefore, orders entered through FBMS, but 

executed away through Linkage would not count 

towards the 75,000 contract or the 40,000 contract 

thresholds. However, if an inbound Linkage order 

is received and is executed against an order that 

was entered through FBMS, the order that was 

entered through FBMS would count towards the 

threshold amount and per contract subsidy, if 

applicable, for the member organization that 

entered that order because that transaction was 

executed on the Exchange. 

10Customer transactions are identified by the 

letter ‘‘c’’ in the Exchange’s trading systems. For 

purposes of this proposal, customer transactions 

would exclude those orders entered into FMBS that 

represent an order other than a customer order, 

such as ‘‘firm,’’ ‘‘customer yield’’ (which are brokerdealer orders), ‘‘market maker’’ (which is an onfloor market maker), or ‘‘off-floor market maker.’’

11The Exchange notes that each strategy is coded 

in such a way so that the Exchange’s trading system 

is able to discern these different types of trading 

strategies. For a definition of these strategies, see 

Securities Exchange Act Release No. 55358 

(February 27, 2007), 72 FR 9828 (March 5, 2007) 

(SR–Phlx–2007–14). 

12For purposes of this proposal, ‘‘customer-tonon-customer’’ transactions refers to customer-tonon-customer transactions, as well as noncustomer-to-non-customer transactions. 

13Based on the amount of customer-to-customer 

contracts, a member organization could enter Tier 

II or a higher tier due to the amount of customerto-customer contract volume. For example, 

assuming the threshold requirements have been met 

and the average daily customer-to-customer 

transactions are 105,000 contracts, if a member 

organization has 2,200,000 eligible contracts in a 

month with 20 trading days (110,000 average daily 

contract volume, with 5,000 contracts representing 

customer-to-non-customer contracts), that member 

organization would receive no subsidy for Tier I 

($0.01 per contract), as there were no customer-tonon-customer contracts considered when 

calculating Tier 1. Of the remaining 10,000 

contracts, the member organization would receive 

$0.04 per contract multiplied by 20 trading days on 

the 5,000 customer-to-non-customer contracts. 

Thus, that member organization would receive a 

subsidy for that month totaling $4,000. 

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. Phlx 

has prepared summaries, set forth in 

Sections A, B, and C below, of the most 

significant aspects of such statements. 

A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

The details of the tiered per contract 

floor broker subsidy program are set 

forth below. 

Threshold Calculations 

To qualify for the per contract 

subsidy, a member organization with 

Exchange registered floor brokers must 

have: (1) More than an average of 75,000 

executed contracts per day in the 

applicable month; and (2) at least 40,000 

executed contracts or more per day for 

at least eight trading days during that 

same month.7 Only the floor broker 

volume from orders entered into FBMS 

and subsequently executed would be 

counted. The 75,000 contract and 

40,000 contract thresholds, as described 

above, would be calculated per member 

organization floor brokerage unit. 

In the event that two or more member 

organizations with Exchange registered 

floor brokers each entered one side of a 

transaction into FBMS, then the 

executed contracts would be divided 

among each qualifying member 

organization that participates in that 

transaction.8

Eligible Contracts 

To be eligible for the per contract 

subsidy, an order must be entered 

through the Exchange’s FBMS and 

subsequently executed on the 

Exchange.9

As previously stated, customer-tocustomer transactions would count 

towards reaching the 75,000 contract 

and 40,000 contract thresholds, but a 

per contract subsidy would not be paid 

on any customer-to-customer 

transactions.10

Dividend, merger and short stock 

interest strategies would be excluded 

from all threshold volume calculations, 

and no per contract subsidy would be 

paid on these transactions.11

PER CONTRACT AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME SUBSIDY PAYMENT

Tier I Tier II Tier III Tier IV Tier V 

75,001 to 100,000 ............. 100,001 to 200,000 ........... 200,001 to 300,000 ........... 300,001 to 400,000 ........... 400,001 and greater. 

$0.01 per contract ............. $0.04 per contract ............. $0.05 per contract ............. $0.06 per contract ............. $0.07 per contract. 

The per contract subsidy would be 

paid based on the average daily contract 

volume for that month, which are 

customer-to-non-customer 

transactions 12 and are in excess of 

75,000 contracts.13 Payments would be 

made at the stated rate for each tier for 

those contracts that fall within that tier. 

These contracts may include customerto-customer transactions for the 

purposes of reaching a tier, but as stated 

above, a per contract subsidy would not 

be paid on these executions. Therefore, 

if a member organization has 1,444,000 

eligible contracts in a month with 19 

trading days, that member organization 

would receive a per contract subsidy 

because it met the 75,000 contract 

threshold (1,444,000 eligible contracts/ 

19 days = 76,000, the average daily 

contract volume). Therefore, the 

member organization with Exchange 

registered floor brokers would receive 

$0.01 per contract on 1,000 noncustomer-to-customer contracts 


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7354 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 26 / Thursday, February 7, 2008 / Notices 

14This example assumes that the threshold 

requirements have been met and the average daily 

customer-to-customer transactions are less than 

75,001 contracts, which means that the subsidy will 

be paid starting with contract 75,001. To illustrate 

a subsidy covering two tiers, (again assuming the 

threshold requirements have been met (2,200,000 

eligible contracts/20 days = 110,000, the average 

daily contract volume) and the average daily 

customer-to-customer transactions are less than 

75,001 contracts), if a member organization has 

2,200,000 eligible contracts in a month with 20 

trading days, that member organization would 

receive $0.01 per contract on 25,000 customer-tonon-customer contracts multiplied by 20 trading 

days, with the remaining 10,000 contracts receiving 

$0.04 per contract multiplied by 20 trading days. 

Thus, that member organization would receive a 

subsidy for that month totaling $13,000. To further 

illustrate the impact of customer-to-customer 

volume, assuming the threshold requirements have 

been met and the average daily customer-tocustomer transactions are 85,000 contracts, if a 

member organization has 2,200,000 eligible 

contracts in a month with 20 trading days, that 

member organization would receive $0.01 per 

contract on 15,000 customer-to-non-customer 

contracts multiplied by 20 trading days, with the 

remaining 10,000 contracts receiving $0.04 per 

contract multiplied by 20 trading days. Thus, that 

member organization would receive a subsidy for 

that month totaling $11,000. 

15The exchange believes that this method of 

calculation should therefore help member 

organizations with Exchange registered floor 

brokers to maximize the subsidy that is paid to 

them because customer-to-customer transactions 

will help the member organization reach the 

threshold requirements and then qualifying 

transactions after the threshold requirements are 

met will be paid the applicable per contract 

subsidy. See footnotes 13 and 14 above for specific 

examples. 

16To clarify, the floor broker subsidy set forth in 

this proposal does not apply to the physical 

delivery currency options, as those options are not 

entered into FBMS. 

17 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii). 

18 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(2). 19 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

multiplied by 19 trading days, resulting 

in a subsidy of $190.14

When computing the threshold 

amounts, the Exchange intends to first 

count all customer-to-customer 

transactions and then all other 

customer-to-non-customer 

transactions.15

The Exchange also proposes to 

eliminate the floor brokerage assessment 

that is set forth on the Exchange’s fee 

schedule in several places, specifically 

the Summary of Equity Option and RUT 

and RMN Charges, the Summary of 

Index Option Charges, the Summary of 

U.S. Dollar-Settled Foreign Currency 

Option Charges, and the Summary of 

Physical Delivery Currency Option 

Charges. 

The Exchange states that purpose of 

providing for a subsidy and deleting the 

floor brokerage assessment is to attract 

additional floor brokerage business to 

the Exchange, which should, in turn, 

attract more consistent liquidity as the 

Exchange’s market share increases. The 

purpose of deleting the floor brokerage 

assessment on the Summary of Physical 

Delivery Currency Option Charges is to 

delete a fee that is deemed no longer 

necessary by the Exchange at this 

time.16

The Exchange represents that this 

proposal should not adversely affect its 

commitment of resources to its 

regulatory oversight program. 

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 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 

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 foregoing proposed rule change 

has been designated as a fee change 

pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the 

Act 17 and Rule 19b–4(f)(2) 18

thereunder, because it establishes or 

changes a due, fee, or other charge 

imposed by the Exchange. Accordingly, 

the proposal will take effect upon filing 

with the Commission. At any time 

within 60 days of the filing of such 

proposed rule change the Commission 

may summarily abrogate such rule 

change if it appears to the Commission 

that such action is necessary or 

appropriate in the public interest, for 

the protection of investors, or otherwise 

in furtherance of the purposes of the 

Act. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

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–Phlx–2008–08 on the 

subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Nancy M. Morris, Secretary, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–Phlx–2008–08. 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 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–2008–08 and should 

be submitted on or before February 28, 

2008. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.19

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–2245 Filed 2–6–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice 6092] 

Bureau of Educational and Cultural 

Affairs (ECA) 

Request for Grant Proposals: Summer 

Institute for European Student Leaders. 

Announcement Type: New 

Cooperative Agreement. 

Funding Opportunity Number: ECA/ 

A/E/EUR 08–04. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance Number: 00.000. 

Key Dates: May 7, 2008–January 1, 

2009. 


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