Document ID: SEC-2017-0914-0001
Agency: sec
Document Type: Notice
Title: Self-Regulatory Organizations; Proposed Rule Changes: Investors Exchange, LLC
Posted Date: 2017-06-01T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 104 (Thursday, June 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25400-25404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-11364]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-80788; File No. SR-IEX-2017-18]

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Investors Exchange LLC; Notice of 
Filing of Proposed Rule Change To Eliminate Requirements That Will Be 
Duplicative of CAT

May 26, 2017.
    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 May 15, 2017, Investors Exchange LLC (``IEX'' or the ``Exchange'') 
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 prepared by the self-regulatory 
organization. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit 
comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    Pursuant to the provisions of Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities 
Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''), and Rule 19b-4 thereunder, 
Investors Exchange LLC (``IEX'' or ``Exchange'') is filing with the 
Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'' or ``Commission'') a 
proposed rule change to eliminate Rule 11.420 (Order Audit Trail System 
Requirements) and amend Rule 8.220 to reflect a change to this rule 
once Members are effectively reporting to the consolidated audit trail 
(``CAT'') adopted pursuant to the National Market System Plan Governing 
the Consolidated Audit Trail (the ``CAT NMS Plan'' or ``Plan'') and the 
CAT's accuracy and reliability meets certain standards as described 
below.
    The text of the proposed rule change is available at the Exchange's 
Web site at www.iextrading.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 these statements may be examined at 
the places specified in Item IV below. The self-regulatory organization 
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 the 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose
(1) Background
    Bats BYX Exchange, Inc., Bats BZX Exchange, Inc., Bats EDGA 
Exchange, Inc., Bats EDGX Exchange, Inc., BOX Options Exchange LLC, C2 
Options Exchange, Incorporated, Chicago Board Options Exchange, 
Incorporated, Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., Financial Industry 
Regulatory Authority, Inc., International Securities Exchange, LLC, 
Investors Exchange LLC, ISE Gemini, LLC, ISE Mercury, LLC, Miami 
International Securities Exchange LLC, MIAX PEARL, LLC, NASDAQ BX, 
Inc., NASDAQ PHLX LLC, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, National Stock 
Exchange, Inc., New York Stock Exchange LLC, NYSE MKT LLC, and NYSE 
Arca, Inc. (collectively, the ``Participants'') filed with the 
Commission, pursuant to Section 11A of the Exchange Act \3\ and Rule 
608 of Regulation NMS thereunder,\4\ the CAT NMS Plan.\5\ The 
Participants filed the Plan to comply with Rule 613 of Regulation NMS 
under the Exchange Act. The Plan was published for comment in the 
Federal Register on May 17, 2016,\6\ and approved by the Commission, as 
modified, on November 15, 2016.\7\ On March 15, 2017, the Commission 
approved the new IEX Rule Series 11.600 to implement provisions of the 
CAT NMS Plan that are applicable to IEX Members.\8\
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    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \4\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \5\ See Letter from the Participants to Brent J. Fields, 
Secretary, Commission, dated September 30, 2014; and Letter from 
Participants to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Commission, dated 
February 27, 2015. On December 24, 2015, the Participants submitted 
an amendment to the CAT NMS Plan. See Letter from Participants to 
Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Commission, dated December 23, 2015.
    \6\ Securities Exchange Act Rel. No. 77724 (Apr. 27, 2016), 81 
FR 30614 (May 17, 2016).
    \7\ Securities Exchange Act Rel. No. 79318 (Nov. 15, 2016), 81 
FR 84696 (Nov. 23, 2016) (``Approval Order'').
    \8\ Securities Exchange Act Rel. No. 80255 (March 15, 2017), 82 
FR 14563 (March 21, 2017).
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    The CAT NMS Plan is designed to create, implement, and maintain a 
consolidated audit trail that will capture in a single consolidated 
data source customer and order event information for orders in NMS 
Securities and OTC

[[Page 25401]]

Equity Securities, across all markets, from the time of order inception 
through routing, cancellation, modification, or execution. Among other 
things, Section C.9 of Appendix C to the Plan, as modified by the 
Commission, requires each Participant to ``file with the SEC the 
relevant rule change filing to eliminate or modify its duplicative 
rules within six (6) months of the SEC's approval of the CAT NMS 
Plan.'' The Plan notes that ``the elimination of such rules and the 
retirement of such systems [will] be effective at such time as CAT Data 
meets minimum standards of accuracy and reliability.'' Finally, the 
Plan requires the rule filing to discuss the following:
    (i) Specific accuracy and reliability standards that will determine 
when duplicative systems will be retired, including, but not limited 
to, whether the attainment of a certain Error Rate should determine 
when a system duplicative of the CAT can be retired;
    (ii) whether the availability of certain data from Small Industry 
Members two years after the Effective Date would facilitate a more 
expeditious retirement of duplicative systems; and
    (iii) whether individual Industry Members can be exempted from 
reporting to duplicative systems once their CAT reporting meets 
specified accuracy and reliability standards, including, but not 
limited to, ways in which establishing cross-system regulatory 
functionality or integrating data from existing systems and the CAT 
would facilitate such Individual Industry Member exemptions.
    In response to these requirements, the proposed rule change deletes 
Rule 11.420 (the ``OATS Rule'') \9\ and adds new Supplementary Material 
to Rule 8.220 once the CAT achieves the specific accuracy and 
reliability standards described below and IEX has determined that its 
usage of the CAT Data has not revealed material issues that have not 
been corrected, confirmed that the CAT includes all data necessary to 
allow IEX to continue to meet its surveillance obligations,\10\ and 
confirmed that the Plan Processor is sufficiently meeting all of its 
obligations under the CAT NMS Plan.
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    \9\ Rule 11.420 incorporates in relevant part the requirements 
of FINRA Rule 7420 through 7460.
    \10\ IEX and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority 
(``FINRA'') are parties to a regulatory contract pursuant to which 
FINRA performs certain regulatory functions, including applicable 
surveillance, on behalf of IEX, subject to IEX's oversight. IEX and 
FINRA are also parties to several allocation agreements pursuant to 
Section 17d-1 of the Act pursuant to which certain other IEX 
regulatory functions are allocated to FINRA, including applicable 
surveillance. See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release No. 34-
78434 (July 28, 2016), 81 FR 51256 (August 3, 2016) (File No. 4-
700).
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(2) Specific Accuracy and Reliability Standards
    The first issue the Plan requires the proposed rule change to 
discuss is ``specific accuracy and reliability standards that will 
determine when duplicative systems will be retired, including, but not 
limited to, whether the attainment of a certain Error Rate should 
determine when a system duplicative of the CAT can be retired.'' IEX 
believes that relevant error rates are the primary, but not the sole, 
metric by which to determine the CAT's accuracy and reliability and 
will serve as the baseline requirement needed before the OATS Rule can 
be retired and requests for trading information pursuant to Rule 8.220 
can be adjusted.
    As discussed in Section A.3.(b) of Appendix C to the CAT NMS Plan, 
the Participants established an initial Error Rate, as defined in the 
Plan, of 5% on initially submitted data (i.e., data as submitted by a 
CAT Reporter before any required corrections are performed). The 
Participants noted in the Plan that their expectation was that ``error 
rates after reprocessing of error corrections will be de minimis.'' 
\11\ The Participants based this Error Rate on their consideration of 
``current and historical OATS Error Rates, the magnitude of new 
reporting requirements on the CAT Reporters and the fact that many CAT 
Reporters may have never been obligated to report data to an audit 
trail.'' \12\
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    \11\ See CAT NMS Plan, at C-23 n.102.
    \12\ CAT NMS Plan at C-23.
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    IEX agrees with the Participants' conclusion that a 5% pre-
correction threshold ``strikes the balance of adapting to a new 
reporting regime, while ensuring that the data provided to regulators 
will be capable of being used to conduct surveillance and market 
reconstruction, as well as having a sufficient level of accuracy to 
facilitate the retirement of existing regulatory reports and systems 
where possible.'' \13\ However, IEX believes that, when assessing the 
accuracy and reliability of the data for the purposes of retiring OATS, 
the error thresholds should be measured in more granular ways and 
should also include minimum error rates of post-correction data, which 
represents the data most likely to be used by IEX (or FINRA on its 
behalf) to conduct surveillance.\14\ Although IEX is proposing to 
measure the appropriate error rates in the aggregate, rather than firm-
by-firm, IEX believes that the error rates for equity securities should 
be measured separately from options since options orders are not 
currently reported regularly or included in OATS.
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    \13\ CAT NMS Plan at C-24.
    \14\ See note 10 supra.
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    To ensure the CAT's accuracy and reliability, IEX is proposing 
that, before OATS could be retired, the CAT would need to achieve a 
sustained error rate in each of the categories below for a period of at 
least 180 days of 5% or lower, measured on a pre-correction or as-
submitted basis and 2% or lower on a post-correction basis (measured at 
T+5).\15\ IEX proposes to measure the 5% pre-correction and 2% post-
correction thresholds by averaging the error rate across the period, 
not require a 5% pre-correction and 2% post-correction maximum each day 
for 180 consecutive days. IEX believes that measuring each of the 
thresholds over the course of 180 days will ensure that the CAT 
consistently meets minimum accuracy and reliability thresholds while 
also ensuring that single-day measurements do not unduly affect the 
overall measurements. IEX also proposes to measure the appropriate 
error rates in the aggregate, rather than firm-by-firm.
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    \15\ The Plan requires that the Plan Processor must ensure that 
regulators have access to corrected and linked order and Customer 
data by 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on T+5. See CAT NMS Plan, at C-15.
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    IEX is proposing to use error rates in each the following 
categories, measured separately for equities, to assess whether the 
threshold error rates are being met:
     Rejection Rates and Data Validations. Data validations for 
the CAT, while not expected to be designed the same as OATS, must be 
functionally equivalent to OATS in accordance with the CAT NMS Plan 
(i.e., the same types of basic data validations must be performed by 
the Plan Processor to comply with the CAT NMS Plan requirements). 
Appendix D of the Plan, for example, requires that certain file 
validations and syntax and context checks be performed.\16\ The 
specific validations can be determined only after the Plan Processor 
has finalized the Industry Member Technical Specifications; however, 
the Plan also requires the Plan Processor to provide daily statistics 
on rejection rates after the data has been processed, including the 
number of files rejected and accepted, the number of order events 
accepted and rejected, and the number of each type of report rejected. 
FINRA [sic] is proposing that, over the 180-day period, aggregate 
rejection rates (measured separately for equities and options) must be 
no more than 5% pre-correction or 2% post-correction across all CAT 
Reporters.
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    \16\ See CAT NMS Plan, at D-21.

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[[Page 25402]]

     Intra-Firm Linkages. The Plan requires that ``the Plan 
Processor must be able to link all related order events from all CAT 
Reporters involved in the lifecycle of an order.'' \17\ At a minimum, 
this requirement includes the creation of an order lifecycle between 
``[a]ll order events handled within an individual CAT Reporter, 
including orders routed to internal desks or departments with different 
functions (e.g., an internal ATS).'' \18\ IEX is proposing that 
aggregate intra-firm linkage rates across all Industry Member Reporters 
must be at least 95% pre-correction and 98% post-correction.
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    \17\ CAT NMS Plan, at D-8.
    \18\ Id.
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     Inter-Firm Linkages. The order linkage requirements in the 
Plan also require that the Plan Processor be able to create the 
lifecycle between orders routed between broker-dealers.\19\ IEX is 
proposing that at least a 95% pre-correction and 98% post-correction 
aggregate match rate be achieved for orders routed between two Industry 
Member Reporters.\20\
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    \19\ Id.
    \20\ This assumes linkage statistics will include both unlinked 
route reports and new orders where no related route report could be 
found.
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     Order Linkage Rates. In addition to creating linkages 
within and between broker-dealers, the Plan also includes requirements 
that the Plan Processor be able to create lifecycles to link various 
pieces of related orders. For example, the Plan requires linkages 
between customer orders and ``representative'' orders created in firm 
accounts for the purpose of facilitating a customer order, various legs 
of option/equity complex orders, riskless principal orders, and orders 
worked through average price accounts.\21\ IEX is proposing that there 
be at least a 95% pre-correction and 98% post-correction linkage rate 
for multi-legged orders (e.g., related equity/options orders, VWAP 
orders, riskless principal transactions).
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    \21\ See CAT NMS Plan, at D-8, D-9.
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     Exchange and TRF/ORF Match Rates. The Plan requires that 
an order lifecycle be created to link ``[o]rders routed from broker-
dealers to exchanges'' and ``[e]xecuted orders and trade reports.'' 
\22\ IEX is proposing at least a 95% pre-correction and 98% post-
correction aggregate match rate to each equity exchange for orders 
routed from Industry Members to an exchange and, for over-the-counter 
executions, the same match rate for orders linked to trade reports.
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    \22\ Id. at D-9.
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    In addition to these minimum error rates and matching thresholds 
that must be met before OATS can be retired, IEX believes that during 
the minimum 180-day period during which the thresholds are calculated, 
FINRA's use of the data in the CAT on behalf of IEX must confirm that 
(i) usage over that time period has not revealed material issues that 
have not been corrected, (ii) the CAT includes all data necessary to 
allow IEX to continue to meet its surveillance obligations, and (iii) 
the Plan Processor is sufficiently meeting all of its obligations under 
the CAT NMS Plan. IEX believes this time period to use the CAT Data is 
necessary to reveal any errors that may manifest themselves only after 
surveillance patterns and other queries have been run and to confirm 
that the Plan Processor is meeting its obligations and performing its 
functions adequately.
(3) Small Industry Member Data Availability
    The second issue the Plan requires the proposed rule change to 
address is ``whether the availability of certain data from Small 
Industry Members two years after the Effective Date would facilitate a 
more expeditious retirement of duplicative systems.'' IEX believes that 
there is no effective way to retire OATS until all current OATS 
reporters are reporting to the CAT. Although Technical Specifications 
for Industry Members are not yet available, IEX believes it would be 
inefficient, less reliable, and more costly to attempt to marry the 
OATS and CAT databases for a temporary period to allow some IEX members 
to report to CAT while others continue to report to OATS. Consequently, 
IEX believes that if the Plan is amended and FINRA makes a rule change 
\23\ such that all Small Industry Members \24\ that are OATS reporters 
must report to OATS beginning in November 2018 rather than November 
2019, it would substantially facilitate a more expeditious retirement 
of OATS. For this reason, IEX supports an amendment to the Plan that 
would require current OATS Reporters that are ``Small Industry 
Members'' to report two years after the Effective Date (instead of 
three). IEX intends to work with the other Participants to submit a 
proposed amendment to the Plan to require Small Industry Members that 
are OATS Reporters to report two years after the Effective Date. Based 
on FINRA's assessment of the impact to Small Industry Members, as 
described above,\25\ IEX believes that the burden on current OATS 
Reporters that are ``Small Industry Members'' would not be significant 
if those firms are required to report to CAT beginning in November 2018 
rather than November 2019. The burdens, however, are significantly 
greater for those firms that are not reporting to OATS currently; 
therefore, IEX does not believe it would be necessary or appropriate to 
accelerate CAT reporting for ``Small Industry Members'' that are not 
currently reporting to OATS, and IEX would not support an amendment to 
the Plan to accelerate CAT reporting for ``Small Industry Members'' 
that are not currently OATS Reporters.
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    \23\ IEX Rule 11.420 (in relevant part) incorporates FINRA Rules 
7430, 7440 and 7450 related to OATS reporting, providing that IEX 
Members must comply with such rules as if such rules were part of 
IEX's rules.
    \24\ FINRA has identified approximately 300 member firms that 
currently report to OATS and meet the definition of ``Small Industry 
Member;'' however, only ten of these firms submit information to 
OATS on their own behalf, and eight of the ten firms report very few 
orders to OATS (e.g., in one recent month, eight of the ten firms 
submitted fewer than 100 reports during the month, with four firms 
submitting fewer than 50). The vast majority of these 300 firms use 
third parties to fulfill their reporting obligations, and many of 
these third parties will begin reporting to CAT in November 2018. 
IEX is assessing how many of its Members are Small Industry Members.
    \25\ See supra note 24.
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(4) Individual Industry Member Exemptions
    The final issue the Plan requires the proposed rule change to 
address is ``whether individual Industry Members can be exempted from 
reporting to duplicative systems once their CAT reporting meets 
specified accuracy and reliability standards, including, but not 
limited to, ways in which establishing cross-system regulatory 
functionality or integrating data from existing systems and the CAT 
would facilitate such Individual Industry Member exemptions.''
    IEX believes that a single cut-over from OATS to CAT is highly 
preferable to a firm-by-firm approach and is not proposing to exempt 
members from the OATS requirements on a firm-by-firm basis. The primary 
benefit to a firm-by-firm exemptive approach would be to reduce the 
amount of time an individual firm is required to report to a legacy 
system (e.g., OATS) if it is also accurately and reliably reporting to 
the CAT. IEX believes that the overall accuracy and reliability 
thresholds for the CAT described above would need to be met under any 
conditions before firms could stop reporting to OATS, and there is no 
need to exempt members from OATS requirements on a firm-by-firm basis.

[[Page 25403]]

(5) Automated Submission of Trading Data
    In addition to the OATS rules, Rule 8. [sic] 8.220 (the ``EBS 
Rule'') will also be affected by the implementation of the CAT. The EBS 
Rule is IEX's rule regarding the automated submission of specific 
trading data to IEX (or FINRA on behalf of IEX) upon request using the 
FINRA Electronic Blue Sheet (``EBS'') system.
    Once broker-dealer reporting to the CAT has begun, the CAT will 
contain the data the Participants would otherwise have requested via 
the EBS system for purposes of NMS Securities. Consequently, IEX will 
not need to use the EBS system or request information pursuant to the 
EBS Rule for NMS Securities for time periods after CAT reporting has 
begun if the appropriate accuracy and reliability thresholds are 
achieved, including an acceptable accuracy rate for customer and 
account information. However, the EBS Rule cannot be completely removed 
from the IEX Rulebook immediately upon the CAT achieving the 
appropriate thresholds because IEX staff (or FINRA staff on behalf of 
IEX) may still need to request information pursuant to these rules for 
trading activity occurring before a member was reporting to the 
CAT.\26\
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    \26\ Firms are required to maintain the trade information for 
pre-CAT transactions in equities and options pursuant to applicable 
rules, such as books and records retention requirements, for the 
relevant time period, which is generally three or six years, 
depending upon the record. See 17 CFR 240.17a-3(a), 240.17a-4.
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    The proposed rule change includes new Supplementary Material .01 to 
clarify how IEX (or FINRA on behalf of IEX) will request data under 
these rules after members are reporting to the CAT. Specifically, the 
proposed Supplementary Material to the rule will note that IEX (or 
FINRA on behalf of IEX) will request information under the rule only if 
the information is not available in the CAT because, for example, the 
transactions in question occurred before the firm was reporting 
information to the CAT. In essence, under the new Supplementary 
Material, IEX (or FINRA on behalf of IEX) will make requests under 
these rules if and only if the information is not otherwise available 
through the CAT.
    However, as noted above, IEX believes that the CAT must meet 
certain minimum accuracy and reliability standards before IEX could 
rely on the CAT Data to replace existing regulatory tools, including 
EBS. Consequently, the proposed Supplementary Material will be 
implemented only after the thresholds set forth above with respect to 
OATS and an acceptable accuracy rate for customer and account 
information are achieved and at least a 180-day time period has passed 
to allow IEX staff (or FINRA staff on behalf of IEX) to use the CAT to 
ensure that it is functioning at a level sufficient to ensure that IEX 
can rely solely on the CAT for the data and that the CAT Plan Processor 
is fulfilling its obligations under the CAT NMS Plan.
    If the Commission approves the proposed rule change, IEX will 
announce the implementation date of the proposed rule change in a 
Regulatory Notice that will be published once IEX concludes the 
thresholds for accuracy and reliability described above have been met 
and that the Plan Processor is sufficiently meeting all of its 
obligations under the CAT NMS Plan.
2. Statutory Basis
    IEX believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the 
provisions of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,\27\ which require, among 
other things, that the IEX 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. IEX believes that the proposed rule change fulfills 
the obligation in the CAT NMS Plan for IEX to submit a proposed rule 
change to eliminate or modify duplicative rules. IEX believes that the 
approach set forth in the proposed rule change strikes the appropriate 
balance between ensuring that IEX is able to continue to fulfill its 
statutory obligation to protect investors and the public interest by 
ensuring its surveillance of market activity remains accurate and 
effective while also establishing a reasonable timeframe for 
elimination or modification of its rules that will be rendered 
duplicative after implementation of the CAT.
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    \27\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(6).
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B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    IEX 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. IEX notes that the proposed 
rule change implements provisions of the CAT NMS Plan, and is designed 
to assist IEX in meeting its regulatory obligations pursuant to the 
Plan. IEX also notes that the Proposed Rule Series implementing 
provisions of the CAT NMS Plan will apply equally to all firms that 
trade NMS Securities. In addition, all national securities exchanges 
and FINRA are proposing substantially similar rule filings. Therefore, 
this is not a competitive rule filing, and, therefore, it does not 
impose a burden on competition.

C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others

    Although written comments on the proposed rule change were not 
solicited, the Participants received comments from two commenters, the 
Financial Information Forum (``FIF'') and the Securities Industry and 
Financial Markets Association (``SIFMA''), regarding the retirement of 
systems related to the CAT.\28\ In its comment letters, with regard to 
the retirement of duplicative systems more generally, FIF recommended 
that the Participants continue the effort to incorporate current 
reporting obligations into the CAT in order to replace existing 
reportable systems with the CAT. In addition, FIF further recommended 
that, once a CAT Reporter achieved satisfactory reporting data quality, 
the CAT Reporter should be exempt from reporting to any duplicative 
reporting systems. FIF believed that these recommendations ``would 
serve both an underlying regulatory objective of more immediate and 
accurate access to data as well as an industry objective of reduced 
costs and burdens of regulatory oversight.'' \29\ In its comments about 
EBS specifically, FIF stated that the retirement of the EBS 
requirements should be a high priority, and that the CAT should be 
designed to include the requisite data elements to permit the rapid 
retirement of EBS.\30\ Similarly, SIFMA stated that ``the establishment 
of the CAT must be accompanied by the prompt elimination of duplicative 
systems,'' and ``recommend[ed] that the initial technical 
specifications be designed to facilitate the immediate retirement of . 
. . duplicative reporting systems.'' \31\
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    \28\ Letter from William H. Hebert, FIF, to Participants re: 
Milestone for Participants' rule change filings to eliminate/modify 
duplicative rules (Apr. 12, 2017) (``FIF Letter''); Letter from 
William H. Hebert, FIF, to Brent J. Fields, SEC re: Milestone for 
Participants' rule change filings to eliminate/modify duplicative 
rules (Apr. 12, 2017); and Letter from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., 
SIFMA, to Participants re: Selection of Thesys as CAT Processor 
(Apr. 4, 2017) (``SIFMA Letter'') at 2.
    \29\ FIF Letter at 2.
    \30\ FIF Letter at 2.
    \31\ SIFMA Letter at 2.

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[[Page 25404]]

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 Exchange consents, the Commission shall: (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 email to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include 
File Number SR-IEX-2017-18 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Brent J. Fields, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-IEX-2017-18. This file 
number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help 
the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, 
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on 
the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all 
written statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed rule change between the Commission and any person, other 
than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the 
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for Web site viewing and 
printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549 on official business days between the hours of 
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such filing also will be available 
for inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. All 
comments received will be posted without change; the Commission does 
not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should 
submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. All 
submissions should refer to File Number SR-IEX-2017-18, and should be 
submitted on or before June 22, 2017.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\32\
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    \32\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-11364 Filed 5-31-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P