Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2010 / Notices 63883 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Exchange Act Release No. 50820 (December 

8, 2004). 

4The MSRB could, in its discretion, waive the 

Real-Time Service subscription fee for not-for-profit 

organizations, academic institutions, or other 

entities or persons who desire the service for nonprofit or research purposes. 

5As with the Real-Time Service, the MSRB could, 

in its discretion, waive the Comprehensive Service 

subscription fee for not-for-profit organizations, 

academic institutions, or other entities or persons 

who desire the service for non-profit or research 

purposes. 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–63089; File No. SR–MSRB– 

2010–09] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

Municipal Securities Rulemaking 

Board; Notice of Filing of Proposed 

Rule Change Consisting of Fee 

Changes to Its Real-Time Transaction 

Price Service and Comprehensive 

Transaction Price Service, and 

Termination of Its T+1 Transaction 

Price Service 

October 13, 2010. 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘the 

Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on 

September 30, 2010, the Municipal 

Securities Rulemaking Board (‘‘Board’’ 

or ‘‘MSRB’’) filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’) 

the proposed rule change as described 

in Items I, II and III below, which Items 

have been prepared by the MSRB. 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 MSRB has filed with the 

Commission a proposed rule change 

relating to the MSRB’s Real-time 

Transaction Reporting System (‘‘RTRS’’). 

The proposed rule change consists of fee 

changes to the MSRB’s Real-Time 

Transaction Price Service and 

Comprehensive Transaction Price 

Service of RTRS and the consolidation 

into the Comprehensive Transaction 

Price Service of its existing T+1 

Transaction Price Service. In addition, 

the proposed rule change would change 

the name of the Real-Time Transaction 

Price Service to the ‘‘MSRB Real-Time 

Transaction Data Subscription Service’’ 

and would change the name of the 

Comprehensive Transaction Price 

Service to the ‘‘MSRB Comprehensive 

Transaction Data Subscription Service.’’ 

The MSRB proposes an effective date for 

this proposed rule change of January 1, 

2011. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is available on the MSRB’s Web site at 

http://www.msrb.org/Rules-andInterpretations/SEC-Filings/2010- 

Filings.aspx 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 

MSRB included statements concerning 

the purpose of and basis for the 

proposed rule change and discussed any 

comments it received on the proposed 

rule change. The text of these statements 

may be examined at the places specified 

in Item IV below. The Board 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 

In January 2005, the MSRB 

commenced operation of RTRS, also 

known as the ‘‘Transaction Data 

Program,’’ and its Real-Time Transaction 

Price Service providing a real-time 

stream of data representing municipal 

securities transaction reports made by 

brokers, dealers and municipal 

securities dealers (‘‘dealers’’) to RTRS, 

with an annual subscription fee of 

$5,000.3 The MSRB proposes to rename 

the Real-time Transaction Price Service 

as the ‘‘MSRB Real-Time Transaction 

Data Subscription Service’’ (the ‘‘RealTime Service’’) and to increase the 

annual subscription fee for the RealTime Service from $5,000 to $10,000 

beginning on January 1, 2011.4

The Comprehensive Transaction Price 

Service currently consists of a T+5 

Report of transaction data five business 

days after trade date and a T+20 Report 

of transaction data 20 business days 

after trade date. The MSRB proposes to 

rename the Comprehensive Transaction 

Price Service as the ‘‘MSRB 

Comprehensive Transaction Data 

Subscription Service’’ (the 

‘‘Comprehensive Service’’) and to 

increase the subscription fee for the 

Comprehensive Service from $2,000 

annually to $5,000 annually effective 

January 1, 2011.5 Additionally, the 

MSRB proposes to consolidate the free 

T+1 Transaction Price Service into the 

Comprehensive Service and to terminate 

the separate T+1 Transaction Price 

Service as of December 31, 2010. As 

amended and consolidated, the 

Comprehensive Service will continue to 

be made available through electronic 

file download over the internet, and it 

will include three reports: Transaction 

data one business day after the trade 

(T+1), transaction data five business 

days after the trade (T+5), and 

transaction data twenty business days 

after the trade (T+20). 

The MSRB continues to encourage 

information vendors—and various other 

entities that make securities data 

available to members of the securities 

industry and the public—to use the 

transaction data in their products and 

services and permits those parties to redisseminate the data, either in its 

original form or with enhancements to 

address the specific needs of specific 

data users. To this end, subscribers may 

(i) use the data for their internal 

business purposes; (ii) re-disseminate 

the data to their customers, clients and 

system users; and/or (iii) re-disseminate 

the data in other products or services 

that they offer to their customers, clients 

and system users, subject to certain 

terms and limitations, including those 

relating to proprietary and intellectual 

property rights of third parties in 

information provided by such third 

parties that is made available through 

the subscription. 

The purpose of the proposed rule 

change is to assess commercially 

reasonable fees for MSRB data services 

that will partially defray the costs and 

expenses of operating and administering 

MSRB market information programs. 

The MSRB has not increased the cost of 

the Real-Time Service since it was 

implemented approximately six years 

ago. Moreover, prior to January 2005, 

the MSRB offered, among other reports, 

two delayed transaction reports (the 

Inter-Dealer Report and the Combined 

Report) for $15,000 each. The proposed 

subscription fee for the Real-Time 

Service is less than either of these 

delayed transaction reports offered prior 

to January 2005. The MSRB has not 

increased the cost of the Comprehensive 

Service since November 2001, when it 

was introduced as the Daily 

Comprehensive Report. 

The proposed rule change is needed 

to help bring the Board’s revenues more 

closely in line with expenditures and to 

help ensure that subscription fees and 

revenues are reasonable. Currently, the 

Real-Time Service generates revenue of 

approximately $220,000 annually, and 

the Comprehensive Service generates 

revenue of approximately $48,000 

annually. No revenue is generated by 

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63884 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2010 / Notices 

6 15 U.S.C. 78o–4(b)(2)(J). 

7 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. 62175 

(May 26, 2010), 75 FR 30892. 

4See letter from Deven Sharma, President, 

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (‘‘S&P’’), to 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary, Commission, dated 

June 22, 2010 (‘‘S&P Letter’’) and letter from Susan 

Gaffney, Director, Federal Liaison Center, 

Government Finance Officers Association 

(‘‘GFOA’’), to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary, 

Commission, dated July 23, 2010 (‘‘GFOA Letter’’). 

5See letter from Ernesto A. Lanza, General 

Counsel, MSRB, to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary, 

Commission, dated September 16, 2010 (‘‘MSRB 

Letter’’). 

the T+1 Transaction Price Service. 

Consequently, all three services generate 

less than $300,000 of revenue per year. 

The cost of operating MSRB market 

information programs has been 

increasing annually. Fee revenue 

obtained through these subscription 

services covers only a small portion of 

RTRS operating costs. Even with the 

proposed increases, the MSRB does not 

expect subscription fees to cover more 

than a relatively small percentage of 

program costs. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The MSRB believes that the proposed 

rule change is consistent with Section 

15B(b)(2)(J) of the Act,6 which requires, 

in pertinent part, that the MSRB’s rules 

shall: 

Provide that each municipal securities 

broker and each municipal securities dealer 

shall pay to the Board such reasonable fees 

and charges as may be necessary or 

appropriate to defray the costs and expenses 

of operating and administering the Board. 

Such rules shall specify the amount of such 

fees and charges. 

The proposed rule change provides 

for commercially reasonable fees to 

partially offset costs associated with 

operating RTRS and producing and 

disseminating transaction reports to 

subscribers. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Board 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 since it would apply 

equally to all market participants that 

chose to subscribe to the services. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments Received on 

the Proposed Rule Change by Members, 

Participants, or Others 

Written comments were neither 

solicited nor received on 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 (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 or disapprove 

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–MSRB–2010–09 on the 

subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–MSRB–2010–09. 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 

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 

a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filing 

also will be available for inspection and 

copying at the MSRB’s offices. 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–MSRB–2010–09 and should 

be submitted on or before November 8, 

2010. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.7

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–26182 Filed 10–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–63086; File No. SR–MSRB– 

2010–03] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

Municipal Securities Rulemaking 

Board; Order Approving Proposed 

Rule Change Relating to Amendments 

to the Continuing Disclosure Service 

of the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal 

Market Access System (EMMA®) 

October 13, 2010. 

I. Introduction 

On May 20, 2010, the Municipal 

Securities Rulemaking Board (the 

‘‘MSRB’’) filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’), pursuant to Section 

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

of 1934 (the ‘‘Exchange Act’’) 1 and Rule 

19b–4 thereunder,2 a proposed rule 

change to amend the continuing 

disclosure service of the MSRB’s 

Electronic Municipal Market Access 

system (‘‘EMMA’’) to provide for the 

posting of credit rating information on 

the EMMA public Web site. The 

proposed rule change was published for 

comment in the Federal Register on 

June 2, 2010.3 The Commission received 

two comment letters regarding the 

MSRB’s proposed rule change.4 The 

MSRB responded to these comment 

letters in a letter dated September 16, 

2010.5 This order approves the 

proposed rule change. 

II. Background and Description of 

Proposal 

The proposed rule change would 

amend the EMMA continuing disclosure 

service to provide for the posting of 

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