Document ID: SEC-2012-0435-0001
Agency: sec
Document Type: Notice
Title: Self-Regulatory Organizations; Proposed Rule Changes: Options Price Reporting Authority
Posted Date: 2012-03-16T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 52 (Friday, March 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15833-15834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6388]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-66564; File No. SR-OPRA-2012-02]

Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Proposed Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of 
Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information To 
Amend OPRA's Fee Schedule

 March 9, 2012.
    Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that 
on March 8, 2012, the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'') 
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') an 
amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale 
Reports and Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The proposed 
amendment would revise OPRA's Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee and Usage-
based Vendor Fee and adopt a new Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional 
Subscriber Fee. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit 
comments from interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by 
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608 
thereunder (formerly Rule 11Aa3-2). See Securities Exchange Act 
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 SE.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at http://www.opradata.com.
    The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of 
last sale and quotation information on options that are traded on 
the participant exchanges. The nine participants to the OPRA Plan 
are BATS Exchange, Inc., Chicago Board Options Exchange, 
Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated, International 
Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ OMX PHLX, 
Inc., NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE Amex, Inc., and NYSE Arca, Inc.
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I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment

    The purpose of the amendment is to make a set of changes in OPRA's 
Fee Schedule as follows: OPRA's Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee would be 
increased from $1.00 per Nonprofessional Subscriber \4\ per month to 
$1.25 per Nonprofessional Subscriber per month. The cap on OPRA's 
Usage-based Vendor Fees for receipt of OPRA data by Nonprofessional 
Subscribers would be increased commensurately to $1.25 per 
Nonprofessional Subscriber per month.\5\ OPRA would also establish

[[Page 15834]]

a new monthly ``Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee'' that 
would cap each Vendor's combined obligation for Nonprofessional 
Subscriber Fees and Usage-based Vendor Fees for Nonprofessional 
Subscribers at $375,000 per month.
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    \4\ OPRA defines a ``Subscriber,'' in general, as an entity or 
person that receives OPRA data but does not redistribute it to third 
parties, and defines a ``Nonprofessional Subscriber'' as a 
Subscriber who is a ``Nonprofessional.'' OPRA's definition of the 
term ``Nonprofessional'' is stated in its forms of ``Electronic 
Subscriber Agreement'' and ``Hardcopy Subscriber Agreement.'' These 
forms are available on OPRA's Web site, www.opradata.com.
    \5\ OPRA's Fee Schedule provides that a Vendor may determine the 
fee that it pays with respect to its distribution of current OPRA 
data to a Nonprofessional Subscriber in one of two ways: either the 
Vendor may pay OPRA's flat monthly Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee 
(currently $1.00/month, proposed in this filing to be increased to 
$1.25/month), or the Vendor may count the Nonprofessional 
Subscriber's queries for OPRA data and pay Usage-based Vendor Fees 
based on the actual usage of OPRA data by the Nonprofessional 
Subscriber, subject to a cap that OPRA has always set at the amount 
of the Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee. Many Vendors prefer to pay 
the flat Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee, even though their aggregate 
fees on the basis of Usage-based Vendor Fees might be lower and 
could not be greater, due to the administrative simplicity of doing 
so and the fact that the cost on a per Subscriber basis of doing so 
is very small.
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    OPRA's Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee and Usage-based Vendor Fees 
were established at their current levels effective on January 1, 
2000.\6\ OPRA has not increased these fees since then in large part 
because of the simplicity of having the Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee 
and the cap on Usage-based Vendor Fees for receipt of OPRA data by a 
Nonprofessional Subscriber each set at $1.00. However, the effect over 
a period of twelve years has been to increase the ratio of OPRA's 
Professional Device Fee as compared to the Nonprofessional Subscriber 
Fee. (For the year 2000, OPRA's weighted average Professional Device 
Fee was approximately $12.55 per device; it is now $25.00/device.\7\) 
OPRA believes that increasing its Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee will 
restore an appropriate balance between its revenues derived from 
Professional Subscriber Device-based Fees on the one hand and 
Nonprofessional Subscriber Fees and Usage-based Vendor Fees for 
Nonprofessional Subscribers on the other hand.
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    \6\ See File No. SR-OPRA-99-02; Release No. 34-42152 (November 
17, 1999). In File No. SR-OPRA-99-02, OPRA reduced the 
Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee from $2.50 per Nonprofessional 
Subscriber to the current $1.00 per Nonprofessional Subscriber.
    \7\ In the year 2000, OPRA had a sliding scale for its 
Professional Subscriber Fees, with different rates based on whether 
a Professional Subscriber was a Member of one or more of the 
Exchanges that were parties to the OPRA Plan and on the Professional 
Subscriber's number of devices; OPRA's Professional Subscriber Fees 
ranged from $10.50/device for an Exchange Member with 750 or more 
devices to $27.00/device for a non-Member with nine or fewer 
devices. Over the course of several years, OPRA made incremental 
changes in its Professional Subscriber Fees to eliminate all 
distinctions in these fees based on a Professional Subscriber's 
status as a member or nonmember of an exchange that is a party to 
the OPRA Plan or on the Subscriber's total number of OPRA-enabled 
devices. See File No. SR-OPRA-2004-01; Release No. 34-49382 
(February 25, 2004).
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    In response to input from the Vendor community, OPRA is proposing 
to introduce an ``Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee.'' The 
Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee would limit the maximum 
aggregate amount of Nonprofessional Subscriber Fees and Usage-based 
Vendor Fees with respect to Nonprofessional Subscribers that any Vendor 
would be required to pay with respect to its Nonprofessional 
Subscribers. The proposed Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber 
Fee is $375,000 per month.
    OPRA anticipates that these proposed changes in its fees will 
result in an increase in its revenues of approximately $1,700,000 on an 
annual basis at current usage rates.\8\ OPRA believes that this 
increase will restore the relationship of its fees for Nonprofessional 
Subscribers to its fees for Professional Subscribers and represent an 
appropriate contribution to covering the overall costs of OPRA and its 
member exchanges to which these fees may properly be applied.
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    \8\ This projection is approximate for several reasons, among 
them that the fee increase may cause some Vendors to review their 
lists of Nonprofessional Subscribers for inactive accounts and may 
cause some Vendors to begin paying Usage-based Vendor fees rather 
than Nonprofessional Subscriber Fees.
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    The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at 
OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, http://opradata.com, and 
on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.

II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment

    OPRA designated this amendment as qualified to be put into effect 
upon filing with the Commission in accordance with clause (i) of 
paragraph (b)(3) of Rule 608 under the Act.\9\ OPRA intends to 
implement the amendment on May 1, 2012.
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    \9\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(3)(i).
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    The Commission may summarily abrogate the amendment within sixty 
days of its filing and require refiling and approval of the amendment 
by Commission order pursuant to Rule 608(b)(2) under the Act \10\ if it 
appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate 
in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or the 
maintenance of fair and orderly markets, to remove impediments to, and 
perfect the mechanisms of, a national market system, or otherwise in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
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    \10\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(2).
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III. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment 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 No. SR-OPRA-2012-02 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-OPRA-2012-02. 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 plan amendment that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed plan amendment 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 principal office of OPRA. 
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-OPRA-2012-02 
and should be submitted on or before April 6, 2012.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\11\
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    \11\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
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Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-6388 Filed 3-15-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P