80_FR_74085 80 FR 73858 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing of a Proposed Rule Change To Adopt FINRA Rule 6191(b) and Amend FINRA Rule 7440 To Implement the Data Collection Requirements of the Regulation NMS Plan To Implement a Tick Size Pilot Program

80 FR 73858 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing of a Proposed Rule Change To Adopt FINRA Rule 6191(b) and Amend FINRA Rule 7440 To Implement the Data Collection Requirements of the Regulation NMS Plan To Implement a Tick Size Pilot Program

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 227 (November 25, 2015)

Page Range73858-73865
FR Document2015-29931

Federal Register, Volume 80 Issue 227 (Wednesday, November 25, 2015)
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 227 (Wednesday, November 25, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73858-73865]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-29931]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-76484; File No. SR-FINRA-2015-048]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Financial Industry Regulatory 
Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing of a Proposed Rule Change To Adopt 
FINRA Rule 6191(b) and Amend FINRA Rule 7440 To Implement the Data 
Collection Requirements of the Regulation NMS Plan To Implement a Tick 
Size Pilot Program

November 19, 2015.
    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 November 13, 2015, Financial Industry Regulatory

[[Page 73859]]

Authority, Inc. (``FINRA'') 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 FINRA. 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

    FINRA is proposing to adopt FINRA Rule 6191 and amend Rule 7440 to 
implement the Regulation NMS Plan to Implement a Tick Size Pilot 
Program (Plan).
    The text of the proposed rule change is available on FINRA's Web 
site at http://www.finra.org, at the principal office of FINRA 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, 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 may be examined at the places specified in 
Item IV below. 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
    On August 25, 2014, NYSE Group, Inc., on behalf of BATS Exchange, 
Inc., BATS Y-Exchange, Inc., Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., EDGA 
Exchange, Inc., EDGX Exchange, Inc., Financial Industry Regulatory 
Authority, Inc. (``FINRA''), NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ OMX PHLX LLC, 
the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, New York Stock Exchange LLC (``NYSE''), 
NYSE MKT LLC, and NYSE Arca, Inc. (collectively ``Participants''), 
filed with the Commission, pursuant to Section 11A of the Act \3\ and 
Rule 608 of Regulation NMS thereunder,\4\ the Plan to Implement a Tick 
Size Pilot Program (``Pilot'').\5\ The Participants filed the Plan to 
comply with an order issued by the Commission on June 24, 2014.\6\ The 
Plan\7\ was published for comment in the Federal Register on November 
7, 2014, and approved by the Commission, as modified, on May 6, 
2015.\8\
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    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \4\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \5\ See Letter from Brendon J. Weiss, Vice President, 
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., to Secretary, Commission, dated 
August 25, 2014.
    \6\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72460 (June 24, 
2014), 79 FR 36840 (June 30, 2014).
    \7\ Unless otherwise specified, capitalized terms used in this 
rule filing are based on the defined terms of the Plan.
    \8\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74892 (May 6, 2015), 
80 FR 27513 (May 13, 2015) (``Approval Order'').
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    The Plan is designed to allow the Commission, market participants, 
and the public to study and assess the impact of increment conventions 
on the liquidity and trading of the common stocks of small-
capitalization companies. Each Participant is required to comply, and 
to enforce compliance by its member organizations, as applicable, with 
the provisions of the Plan. As is described more fully below, the 
proposed rules would require member organizations to comply with the 
applicable data collection requirements of the Plan.
    The Pilot will include stocks of companies with $3 billion or less 
in market capitalization, an average daily trading volume of one 
million shares or less, and a volume weighted average price of at least 
$2.00 for every trading day. The Pilot will consist of a control group 
of approximately 1400 Pilot Securities and three test groups with 400 
Pilot Securities in each (selected by a stratified random sampling 
process).\9\ During the pilot, Pilot Securities in the control group 
will be quoted at the current tick size increment of $0.01 per share 
and will trade at the currently permitted increments. Pilot Securities 
in the first test group (``Test Group One'') will be quoted in $0.05 
minimum increments but will continue to trade at any price increment 
that is currently permitted.\10\ Pilot Securities in the second test 
group (``Test Group Two'') will be quoted in $0.05 minimum increments 
and will trade at $0.05 minimum increments subject to a midpoint 
exception, a retail investor order exception, and a negotiated trade 
exception.\11\ Pilot Securities in the third test group (``Test Group 
Three'') will be subject to the same quoting and trading increments as 
Test Group Two and also will be subject to the ``Trade-at'' requirement 
to prevent price matching by a market participant that is not 
displaying at a Trading Center's ``Best Protected Bid'' or ``Best 
Protected Offer,'' unless an enumerated exception applies.\12\ In 
addition to the exceptions provided under Test Group Two, an exception 
for Block Size orders and exceptions that mirror those under Rule 611 
of Regulation NMS \13\ will apply to the Trade-at requirement.
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    \9\ See Section V of the Plan for identification of Pilot 
Securities, including criteria for selection and grouping.
    \10\ See Section VI(B) of the Plan.
    \11\ See Section VI(C) of the Plan.
    \12\ See Section VI(D) of the Plan.
    \13\ 17 CFR 242.611.
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    In approving the Plan, the Commission noted that the Trading Center 
data reporting requirements would facilitate an analysis of the effects 
of the Pilot on liquidity (e.g., transaction costs by order size), 
execution quality (e.g., speed of order executions), market maker 
activity, competition between trading venues (e.g., routing frequency 
of market orders), transparency (e.g., choice between displayed and 
hidden orders), and market dynamics (e.g., rates and speed of order 
cancellations).\14\ The Commission noted that Market Maker 
profitability data would assist the Commission in evaluating the 
effect, if any, of a widened tick increment on market marker profits 
and any corresponding changes in the liquidity of small-capitalization 
securities.\15\
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    \14\ See Approval Order, 80 FR at 27543.
    \15\ See Approval Order, 80 FR at 27543.
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Compliance With the Data Collection Requirements of the Plan
    The Plan contains requirements for collecting and transmitting data 
to the Commission and to the public. Specifically, Appendix B.I to the 
Plan (Market Quality Statistics) requires Trading Centers \16\ to 
submit variety of market quality statistics, including information 
about an order's original size, whether the order was displayable or 
not, the cumulative number of orders, the cumulative number of shares 
of orders, and the cumulative number of shares executed within specific 
time increments, e.g., from 30 seconds to less than 60 seconds after 
the time of order receipt. This information shall be categorized by 
security, order type, original order size, hidden status, and coverage 
under Rule 605.\17\ Appendix B.I to the Plan also contains additional 
requirements for market orders and marketable limit orders, including 
the share-weighted average effective spread for executions of orders; 
the cumulative number of shares of orders executed

[[Page 73860]]

with price improvement; and, for shares executed with price 
improvement, the share-weighted average amount per share that prices 
were improved.
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    \16\ The Plan incorporates the definition of a ``Trading 
Center'' from Rule 600(b)(78) of Regulation NMS. Regulation NMS 
defines a ``Trading Center'' as ``a national securities exchange or 
national securities association that operates an SRO trading 
facility, an alternative trading system, an exchange market maker, 
an OTC market maker, or any other broker or dealer that executes 
orders internally by trading as principal or crossing orders as 
agent.'' See 17 CFR 242.600(b)(78).
    \17\ 17 CFR 242.605.
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    Appendix B.II to the Plan (Market and Marketable Limit Order Data) 
requires Trading Centers to submit information relating to market 
orders and marketable limit orders, including the time of order 
receipt, order type, the order size, the National Best Bid and National 
Best Offer (``NBBO'') quoted price, the NBBO quoted depth, the average 
execution price-share-weighted average, and the average execution time-
share-weighted average.
    The Plan requires Appendix B.I and B.II data to be submitted by 
Participants that operate a Trading Center, and by members of the 
Participants that operate Trading Centers. The Plan provides that each 
Participant that is the Designated Examining Authority (``DEA'') for a 
member of Participant that operates a Trading Center shall collect such 
data in a pipe delimited format, beginning six months prior to the 
Pilot Period and ending six months after the end of the Pilot Period. 
The Plan also requires the Participant, operating as DEA, to transmit 
this information to the SEC within 30 calendar days following month 
end.
    FINRA is therefore proposing Rule 6191(b) to set forth the 
requirements for the collection and transmission of data pursuant to 
Appendix B.I and B.II of the Plan. Proposed Rule 6191(b)(1) requires 
that a member that operates a Trading Center shall establish, maintain 
and enforce written policies and procedures that are reasonably 
designed to comply with the data collection and transmission 
requirements of Items I and II to Appendix B of the Plan, and a member 
that is a Market Maker shall establish, maintain and enforce written 
policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to comply with the 
data collection and transmission requirements of Item IV of Appendix B 
to the Plan and Item I of Appendix C of the Plan.
    Rule 6191(b)(2) requires that a member that operates a Trading 
Center subject to the Plan and for which FINRA is the DEA shall collect 
and transmit to FINRA the data described in Items I and II of Appendix 
B of the Plan with respect to each Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security 
for the period beginning six months prior to the Pilot Period through 
the trading day immediately preceding the Pilot Period; and each Pilot 
Security for the period beginning on the first day of the Pilot Period 
through six months after the end of the Pilot Period.
    Section IV of the Plan (Policies and Procedures) provides that each 
Participant that is the DEA of a member of a Participant operating a 
Trading Center is required to develop appropriate policies and 
procedures for collecting and reporting the data described in Items I 
and II of Appendix B, as applicable, to the DEA Participant. FINRA has 
determined that much of the data required by Appendix B.I and B.II to 
the Plan currently is reported to FINRA through the Order Audit Trail 
System (``OATS''). In the interest of increasing the efficiency of the 
data collection process and the consistency of that data to be 
collected under the Plan, FINRA proposes to use OATS as the vehicle 
through which Trading Centers must comply with their reporting 
obligations pursuant to Appendix B.I and B.II.
    Accordingly, proposed Rule 6191(b)(2) provides that members that 
operate Trading Centers that are subject to the Plan, and for which 
FINRA serves as the DEA, shall meet the data collection and reporting 
requirements in Items I and II of Appendix B by reporting the necessary 
order information in Pilot Securities and Pre-Pilot Data Collection 
Securities to OATS; however, because the current OATS reports do not 
contain all of the information required by Appendix B to the Plan, the 
proposed rule change adds four new fields to OATS to capture the 
necessary information for Pilot Securities and Pre-Pilot Data 
Collection Securities.\18\ Specifically, the proposed rule change would 
require OATS Reporting Members \19\ that operate a Trading Center to 
record and report the following information for orders involving Pilot 
Securities and Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities if FINRA serves as 
the member's DEA:
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    \18\ In addition to adding the new fields in the proposed rule 
change, FINRA will add additional values to existing fields that are 
necessitated by the Tick Size Pilot. These new values will be 
described fully in the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications. 
FINRA anticipates that, for order receipt or origination as well as 
on Desk Reports, there would be new Special Handling Codes, 
including one for slides and for counterparty restrictions. FINRA 
also will provide additional guidance in the OATS Reporting 
Technical Specifications regarding the use of existing values that 
may be affected by members participating in the Tick Size Pilot.
    \19\ Rule 7410(o) generally defines ``Reporting Member'' as a 
member that receives or originates an order and has an obligation to 
record and report information under Rules 7440 and 7450.
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     Whether the member is a Trading Center in either a Pilot 
Security or a Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security and, if the member is 
a participant on the Alternative Display Facility (``ADF''), the 
display size of the order;
     Whether the order is routable; and
     Whether the member is relying on the retail investor order 
exception with respect to the order.
    As an initial matter, only those OATS Reporting Members that 
operate a Trading Center and for which FINRA is the DEA are required to 
make any changes to their OATS reporting. OATS Reporting Members that 
do not operate Trading Centers or that have another self-regulatory 
organization as DEA will be permitted to leave the new fields blank 
(i.e., they are not required to populate the new Trading Center field 
to affirmatively indicate that they are not a Trading Center). OATS 
Reporting Members that operate Trading Centers will be required to 
indicate their status as a Trading Center on all OATS reports for new 
orders involving Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities and Pilot 
Securities, including new order reports, combined order/route reports, 
combined order execution reports, and cancel/replace reports. In 
addition, OATS Reporting Members that operate Trading Centers and that 
also are ADF Market Participants \20\ will be required to indicate 
their status as an ADF Market Participant and must indicate the display 
size of the order so that OATS can capture the information required by 
Appendix B regarding hidden and displayed size.\21\
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    \20\ Rule 6220(a)(3) defines ``ADF Market Participant'' or 
``Market Participant'' as a Registered Reporting ADF Market Maker, 
as defined in Rule 6220(a)(13), or a Registered Reporting ADF ECN, 
as defined in Rule 6220(a)(12).
    \21\ Sections I(a)(5), (29), and (30) of Appendix B to the Plan 
all require that hidden (i.e., non-displayed) order information be 
provided to the SEC.
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    As described above, the proposed rule change adds new OATS fields 
to capture whether an order in a Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security or 
a Pilot Security received by an OATS Reporting Member that operates a 
Trading Center is routable and whether the member is relying on the 
retail investor order exception in the Plan with respect to the order. 
These additional fields are necessary so that OATS can capture the 
information required by Item II(n) and II(o) of Appendix B to the Plan. 
This information will be required on all OATS reports for new orders, 
including New Order Reports, Combined Order/Route Reports, Combined 
Order/Execution Reports, and Cancel/Replace Reports.
    In addition to information on new orders, the proposed rule change 
requires OATS Reporting Members that operate Trading Centers and for 
which FINRA is the DEA to report executions in Pre-Pilot Data 
Collection Securities and Pilot Securities when the order, or

[[Page 73861]]

any part of the order, is executed on a venue that does not provide 
execution information to FINRA. Currently, OATS Reporting Members 
report to OATS the routing of any order to a non-FINRA member, which 
includes orders routed to a national securities exchange.\22\ For those 
exchanges that provide FINRA with execution information, FINRA is able 
to link the route to any executions occurring on the exchange. OATS 
data, however, does not currently link to executions occurring on 
venues that do not provide this information to FINRA (e.g., foreign 
exchanges). To provide the execution information required by Items I 
and II of Appendix B to the Plan, FINRA must collect the execution 
information, either from the venue to which the order was routed, or 
from the firm routing the order to the venue, to match the routed order 
to the execution. Because some venues do not provide execution data to 
FINRA, the proposed rule change would require members that route orders 
in a Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security or a Pilot Security to a venue 
that does not provide execution information to FINRA to report any 
execution on such venue through an OATS Execution Report or Combined 
Order/Execution Report.
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    \22\ See Rule 7440(c)(6).
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    To facilitate compliance with this provision, FINRA will identify 
in the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications those exchanges for 
which these reports are not necessary; thus, for orders routed to those 
identified exchanges, OATS Reporting Members would continue to report 
only routes to those exchanges rather than any executions occurring on 
those exchanges. For orders routed to a venue that is not identified, 
OATS Reporting Members would be required to report any executions on 
that venue in an OATS Execution Report or Combined Order/Execution 
Report.
    As set forth in Section VII of the Plan (Collection of Pilot Data), 
proposed Rule 6191(b)(2)(B) provides that FINRA shall transmit this 
data collected by Trading Centers required by Items I and II of 
Appendix B to the Plan, and collected pursuant to paragraph (b)(2)(A), 
to the SEC in a pipe delimited format on a disaggregated basis by 
Trading Center within 30 calendar days following month end. FINRA also 
shall make such data publicly available on the FINRA Web site on a 
monthly basis at no charge and will not identify the Trading Center 
that generated the data.
    Appendix B.IV (Daily Market Maker Participation Statistics) 
requires a Participant to collect data related to Market Maker 
participation from each Market Maker \23\ engaging in trading activity 
on a Trading Center operated by the Participant. FINRA is therefore 
proposing Rule 6191(b)(3) to gather data about a Market Maker's 
participation in Pilot Securities and Pre-Pilot Data Collection 
Securities. Proposed Rule 6191(b)(3)(A) provides that a member that is 
a Market Maker for which FINRA is the DEA shall collect and transmit to 
FINRA data relating to Item IV of Appendix B to the Plan with respect 
to activity conducted on any Trading Center in Pilot Securities and 
Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities in furtherance of its status as a 
registered Market Maker, including a Trading Center that executes 
trades otherwise than on a national securities exchange, for 
transactions that have settled or reached settlement date. The proposed 
rule requires Market Makers to transmit such data in a pipe delimited 
format, by 12 p.m. EST on T+4 for (1) transactions in each Pre-Pilot 
Data Collection Security for the period beginning six months prior to 
the Pilot Period through the trading day immediately preceding the 
Pilot Period; and (2) for transactions in each Pilot Security for the 
period beginning on the first day of the Pilot Period through six 
months after the end of the Pilot Period.
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    \23\ The Plan defines a Market Maker as ``a dealer registered 
with any self-regulatory organization, in accordance with the rules 
thereof, as (i) a market maker or (ii) a liquidity provider with an 
obligation to maintain continuous, two-sided trading interest.''
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    Proposed Rule 6191(b)(3)(B) provides that FINRA shall transmit the 
data relating to Market Maker activity required by Item IV of Appendix 
B to the Plan, and collected pursuant to paragraph (b)(3)(A) above, to 
the Participant operating the Trading Center on which such activity 
occurred in a pipe delimited format on a disaggregated basis by Market 
Maker during the Pre-Pilot and within 15 calendar days following month 
end during the Pilot Period.
    As required by the Plan, proposed Rule 6191(b)(3)(C) provides that 
FINRA shall transmit the data relating to Market Maker activity 
conducted otherwise than on a national securities exchange required by 
Item IV of Appendix B to the Plan, and collected pursuant to paragraph 
(b)(3)(A), to the SEC in a pipe delimited format, on a disaggregated 
basis by Trading Center, within 30 calendar days following month end. 
FINRA shall also make such data publicly available on the FINRA Web 
site on a monthly basis at no charge and will not identify the Trading 
Center that generated the data.\24\
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    \24\ FINRA notes that Appendix B.III, which requires a 
Participant that is a national securities exchange to collect daily 
Market Maker registration statistics, does not apply to FINRA. 
Accordingly, FINRA is not proposing a rule to implement this aspect 
of the Plan.
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    Appendix C.I (Market Maker Profitability) requires a Participant to 
collect data related to Market Maker profitability from each Market 
Maker for which it is the DEA. Specifically, the Participant is 
required to collect the total number of shares of orders executed by 
the Market Maker, the raw Market Maker realized trading profits, and 
the raw Market Maker unrealized trading profits. Data shall be 
collected for dates starting six months prior to the Pilot Period 
through six months after the end of the Pilot Period. This data shall 
be collected on a monthly basis, to be provided in a pipe delimited 
format to the Participant, as DEA, within 30 calendar days following 
month end. Appendix C.II (Aggregated Market Maker Profitability) 
requires the Participant, as DEA, to aggregate the Appendix C.I data, 
and to categorize this data by security as well as by the control group 
and each Test Group. That aggregated data shall contain information 
relating to total raw Market Maker realized trading profits, volume-
weighted average of raw Market Maker realized trading profits, the 
total raw Market Maker unrealized trading profits, and the volume-
weighted average of Market Maker unrealized trading profits.
    FINRA is therefore proposing Rule 6191(b)(4) to set forth the 
requirements for the collection and transmission of data pursuant to 
Appendix C.I and of the Plan. Proposed Rule 6191(b)(4)(A) requires that 
a member that is a Market Maker, and for which FINRA is the DEA, shall 
collect and transmit to FINRA the data described in Item I of Appendix 
C to the Plan, as modified by Paragraph (b)(5) with respect to 
executions in Pilot Securities that have settled or reached settlement 
date that were executed on any Trading Center. The proposed rule also 
requires members to provide such data in a pipe delimited format by 12 
p.m. EST on T+4 for (1) for executions during and outside of Regular 
Trading Hours in each Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security for the period 
beginning six months prior to the Pilot Period through the trading day 
immediately preceding the Pilot Period; and (2) for executions during 
and outside of Regular Trading Hours in each Pilot Security for the 
period beginning on the first day of the Pilot Period through six 
months after the end of the Pilot Period.
    Proposed Rule 6191(b)(4)(B) provides that FINRA shall collect this 
data and, on a monthly basis, transmit such data,

[[Page 73862]]

categorized by the control group and each Test Group, to the SEC in a 
pipe delimited format; provided, however, that the data transmitted to 
the SEC shall include the profitability statistics categorized by 
Market Maker and by security. In calculating unrealized trading 
profits, FINRA shall also report the number of excess (deficit) shares 
held by the Market Maker, the volume weighted average price of that 
excess (deficit) and the closing price of the security as reported by 
the primary listing exchange used in reporting unrealized profit. The 
proposed rule also provides that FINRA shall make this aggregated data, 
categorized by the control group and each Test Group, publicly 
available on the FINRA Web site on a monthly basis at no charge and 
will not identify the Market Makers that generated the data or the 
individual securities.
    FINRA also is proposing a rule setting forth the manner in which 
Market Maker participation and profitability will be calculated. 
Proposed Rule 6191(b)(5) provides that a member that is a Market Maker 
subject to the requirements of proposed Rule 6191(b)(3)(A) and 
(b)(4)(A) in a Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security or a Pilot Security, 
and for which FINRA is the DEA, shall be deemed to have satisfied the 
requirements of proposed Rule 6191(b)(3)(A) and (b)(4)(A), in addition 
to the requirements of Appendix B.IV and Item I of Appendix C, if such 
Market Maker submits to FINRA the specified data for any principal 
trade, not including riskless principal, in a Pre-Pilot Data Collection 
Security or a Pilot Security executed in furtherance of its status as a 
Market Maker on any Trading Center. The proposed rule requires Market 
Makers to submit (1) Ticker Symbol; (2) Trading Center where the trade 
was executed, or if not known, the destination where the order 
originally was routed for further handling and execution; (3) Time of 
execution; (4) Price; (5) Size; (6) Buy/sell; (7) for trades executed 
away from the Market Maker, a unique identifier, as specified by the 
Market Maker's DEA, that will allow the trade to be associated with the 
Trading Center where the trade was executed; and (8) for trades 
cancelled or corrected beyond T+3, whether the trade represents a 
cancellation or correction.
    FINRA is also proposing, through Supplementary Material, to clarify 
other aspects of the data collection requirements.\25\ Proposed 
Supplementary Material .02 relates to the use of the retail investor 
order flag for purposes of Appendix B.II(n) reporting. The Plan 
currently states that market and marketable limit orders shall include 
a ``yes/no'' field relating to the Retail Investor Order flag. FINRA is 
proposing Supplementary Material .02 to clarify that, for purposes of 
the reporting requirement in Appendix B.II(n), a Trading Center shall 
report ``y'' where it is relying upon the Retail Investor Order 
exception to Test Groups Two and Three, and ``n'' for all other 
instances. FINRA believes that requiring the identification of a Retail 
Investor Orders only where the exception may apply (i.e., Pilot 
Securities in Test Groups Two and Three) is consistent with Appendix 
B.II(n).
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    \25\ FINRA is also proposing Supplementary Material .01 to Rule 
6191 to clarify that certain enumerated terms used throughout Rule 
6191 shall have the same meaning as set forth in the Plan.
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    Supplementary Material .03 requires that members populate a field 
to identify whether an order is affected by the bands in place pursuant 
to the National Market System Plan to Address Extraordinary Market 
Volatility.\26\ Pursuant to the Limit-Up Limit-Down Plan, between 9:30 
a.m. and 4:00 p.m., the Securities Information Processor (``SIP'') 
calculates a lower price band and an upper price band for each NMS 
stock. These price bands represent a specified percentage above or 
below the stock's reference price, which generally is calculated based 
on reported transactions in that stock over the preceding five minutes. 
When one side of the market for an individual security is outside the 
applicable price band, the SIP identifies that quotation as non-
executable. When the other side of the market reaches the applicable 
price band (e.g., the offer reaches the lower price band), the security 
enters a Limit State. The stock would exit a Limit State if, within 15 
seconds of entering the Limit State, all Limit State Quotations were 
executed or canceled in their entirety. If the security does not exit a 
Limit State within 15 seconds, then the primary listing exchange 
declares a five-minute trading pause, which would be applicable to all 
markets trading the security.
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    \26\ See National Market System Plan to Address Extraordinary 
Market Volatility, Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67091 (May 
31, 2012), 77 FR 33498 (June 6, 2012) (File No. 4-631) (``Limit-Up 
Limit-Down Plan'').
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    FINRA and the other Participants have determined that it is 
appropriate to create a new flag for reporting orders that are affected 
by the Limit-Up Limit-Down bands. Accordingly, a Trading Center shall 
report a value of ``Y'' when the ability of an order to execute has 
been affected by the Limit-Up Limit-Down bands in effect at the time of 
order receipt. A Trading Center shall report a value of ``N'' when the 
ability of an order to execute has not been affected by the Limit-Up 
Limit-Down bands in effect at the time of order receipt.
    Supplementary Material .03 also requires, for dually-listed 
securities, that the Participant indicate whether the order was handled 
domestically, or routed to a foreign venue. Accordingly, the 
Participant will indicate, for purposes of Appendix B.I, whether the 
order was: (1) Fully executed domestically, or (2) fully or partially 
executed on a foreign market. For purposes of Appendix B.II, the 
Participant will classify all orders in dually-listed Pilot and Pre-
Pilot Securities as: (1) Directed to a domestic venue for execution; 
(2) may only be directed to a foreign venue for execution; or (3) was 
fully or partially directed to a foreign venue at the discretion of the 
member. FINRA believes that this proposed flag will better identify 
orders in dually-listed securities, as such orders that were executed 
in foreign venues would not be subject to the Plan's quoting and 
trading requirements, and could otherwise compromise the integrity of 
the data.
    Supplementary Material .04 relates to the time ranges specified in 
Appendix B.I.a(14), B.I.a(15), B.I.a(21) and B.I.a(22).\27\ FINRA and 
the other Participants have determined that it is appropriate to change 
the reporting times in these provisions to require more granular 
reporting for these categories. Accordingly, FINRA proposes to add 
Appendix B.I.a(14A), which will require Trading Centers to report the 
cumulative number of shares of orders executed from 100 microseconds to 
less than 1 millisecond after the time of order receipt. Appendix 
B.I.a(15) will be changed to require the cumulative number of shares of 
orders executed from 1 millisecond to less than 100 milliseconds after 
the time of order receipt. FINRA also proposes to add Appendix 
B.I.a(21A), which will require Trading Centers to report the

[[Page 73863]]

cumulative number of shares of orders canceled from 100 microseconds to 
less than 1 millisecond after the time of order receipt. Appendix 
B.I.a(22) will be changed to require the cumulative number of shares of 
orders canceled from 1 millisecond to less than 100 milliseconds after 
the time of order receipt. FINRA believes that these new reporting 
requirements will contribute to a meaningful analysis of the Pilot by 
producing more granular data on these points.\28\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \27\ Specifically, Appendix B.I.a(14) requires reporting of the 
cumulative number of shares of orders executed from 0 to less than 
100 microseconds after the time of order receipt; Appendix B.I.a(15) 
requires reporting of the cumulative number of shares of orders 
executed from 100 microseconds to less than 100 milliseconds after 
the time of order receipt; Appendix B.I.a(21) requires reporting of 
the cumulative number of shares of orders cancelled from 0 to less 
than 100 microseconds after the time of order receipt; and Appendix 
B.I.a(22) requires reporting of the cumulative number of shares of 
orders cancelled from 100 microseconds to less than 100 milliseconds 
after the time of order receipt.
    \28\ FINRA notes that it intends to file an exemptive request 
seeking relief from certain of the Plan's data collection 
requirements, including the requirements that Trading Centers report 
information in either microseconds or milliseconds, as not all 
Trading Centers currently capture and report orders in either 
microseconds or milliseconds.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Supplementary Material .05 relates to the requirement in Appendix 
B.I.a(33) requiring the share-weighted average BBO Spread of the 
reporting exchange as part of the market quality statistics to be 
reported. FINRA and the other Participants have determined that this 
requirement should apply to both the reporting exchange and to a 
Trading Center that displays such quote on the ADF, and is proposing to 
make this clarification through Supplementary Material .05.
    Supplementary Material .06 relates to the relevant measurement for 
purposes of Appendix B.I.a(31)-(33) reporting. Currently, the Plan 
states that this data shall be reported as of the time of order 
execution. FINRA and the other Participants believe that this 
information should more properly be captured at the time of order 
receipt, as evaluating share-weighted average prices at the time of 
order receipt is more consistent with the goal of observing the effect 
of the Pilot on the liquidity of Pilot Securities. FINRA is therefore 
proposing to make this change through Supplementary Material .06.\29\ 
This change will make these provisions consistent with the remainder of 
the statistics in Appendix B.I.a, which are all based on order receipt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \29\ This proposed change is also part of an exemptive request 
that FINRA and the other Participants will be submitting to the SEC 
pursuant to Rule 608(e) of Regulation NMS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Supplementary Material .07 clarifies that, for purposes of Appendix 
B.I.a(33), only a Trading Center that is displaying in its own name as 
a Trading Center when executing an order shall enter a value in this 
field. FINRA believes that the Appendix B.I.a(33) reporting requirement 
is only relevant for a Trading Center that is a display venue and not 
Trading Centers that may display through other Trading Centers (such as 
a market maker displaying a quote on a national securities exchange).
    Supplementary Material .08 addresses the status of not-held and 
auction orders for purposes of Appendix B.I reporting. Currently, 
Appendix B.I sets forth eight categories of orders, including market 
orders, marketable limit orders, and inside-the-quote resting limit 
orders, for which daily market quality statistics must be reported. 
Currently, Appendix B.I does not provide a category for not held 
orders, clean cross orders, auction orders, or orders received when the 
NBBO is crossed. FINRA and the other Participants have determined that 
it is appropriate to include separate categories both not held orders 
and auction orders for purposes of Appendix B reporting. FINRA is 
therefore proposing Supplementary Material .07 to provide that not held 
orders shall be included as an order type for purposes of Appendix B 
reporting, and shall be assigned the number (18). Clean cross orders 
shall be included as an order type for purposes of Appendix B 
reporting, and shall be assigned the number (19); auction orders shall 
be included an as order type for purposes of Appendix B reporting, and 
shall be assigned the number (20); and orders that cannot be otherwise 
be classified, including, for example, orders received when the NBBO is 
crossed shall be included as an order type for purposes of Appendix B 
reporting, and shall be assigned the number (21). All of these orders 
already are included in the scope of Appendix B; however, without this 
proposed change, these order types would be categorized with other 
orders, such as regular held orders, that should be able to be fully 
executed upon receipt, which would compromise the value of this data.
    FINRA is proposing Supplementary Material .09 to clarify the scope 
of the Plan as it relates to members that only execute orders for 
limited purposes. Specifically, FINRA and the other Participants 
believe that a member that only executes orders otherwise than on a 
national securities exchange for the purpose of (1) correcting a bona 
fide error related to the execution of a customer order; (2) purchasing 
a security from a customer at a nominal price solely for purposes of 
liquidating the customer's position; or (3) completing the fractional 
share portion of an order \30\ shall not be deemed a Trading Center for 
purposes of Appendix B to the Plan. FINRA is therefore proposing 
Supplementary Material .09 to make this clarification.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \30\ FINRA notes that where a member purchases a fractional 
share from a customer, the Trading Center that executes the 
remaining whole shares of that customer order would be subject to 
Appendix B of the Plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FINRA is proposing Supplementary Material .10 to clarify that, for 
purposes of the Plan, Trading Centers must begin the data collection 
required pursuant to Appendix B.I.a(1) through B.II.(y) to the Plan and 
Item I of Appendix C to the Plan on April 4, 2016. While FINRA will 
provide the information required by Appendix B and C to the Plan to the 
SEC during the Pre-Pilot period, the requirement that FINRA, as DEA, 
provide information to the SEC within 30 calendar days following month 
end and make such data publicly available on its Web site pursuant to 
Appendix B and C to the Plan shall commence as of the beginning of the 
Pilot Period.\31\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \31\ In its order approving the Plan, the SEC noted that the 
Pilot shall be implemented within one year of the date of 
publication of its order, e.g., by May 6, 2016. See Approval Order, 
80 FR at 27545. However, on November 6, 2015, the SEC extended the 
implementation date approximately five months to October 3, 2016. 
See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 76382 (November 6, 2015), 80 
FR 70284 (November 13, 2015).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FINRA is proposing Supplementary Material .11 to address the 
requirement in Appendix C.I(b) to the Plan that the calculation of raw 
Market Maker realized trading profits utilize a last in, first out 
(``LIFO'')-like method to determine which share prices shall be used in 
that calculation. FINRA and the other Participants believe that is more 
appropriate to utilize a methodology that yields LIFO-like results, 
rather than utilizing a LIFO-like method, and FINRA is therefore 
proposing Supplementary Material .11 to make this change.\32\ FINRA is 
proposing that, for purposes of Item I of Appendix C, the Participants 
shall calculate daily Market Maker realized profitability statistics 
for each trading day on a daily LIFO basis using reported trade price 
and shall include only trades executed on the subject trading day. The 
daily LIFO calculation shall not include any positions carried over 
from previous trading days. For purposes of Item I.c of Appendix C, the 
Participants shall calculate daily Market Maker unrealized 
profitability statistics for each trading day on an average price 
basis.

[[Page 73864]]

Specifically, the Participants must calculate the volume weighted 
average price of the excess (deficit) of buy volume over sell volume 
for the current trading day using reported trade price. The gain (loss) 
of the excess (deficit) of buy volume over sell volume shall be 
determined by using the volume weighted average price compared to the 
closing price of the security as reported by the primary listing 
exchange. In reporting unrealized trading profits, the Participant 
shall also report the number of excess (deficit) shares held by the 
Market Maker, the volume weighted average price of that excess 
(deficit) and the closing price of the security as reported by the 
primary listing exchange used in reporting unrealized profit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ Appendix C.I currently requires Market Maker profitability 
statistics to include (1) the total number of shares of orders 
executed by the Market Maker; (2) raw Market Maker realized trading 
profits, which is the difference between the market value of Market 
Maker shares and the market value of Market Maker purchases, using a 
LIFO-like method; and (3) raw Market Maker unrealized trading 
profits, which is the difference between the purchase or sale price 
of the end-of-day inventory position of the Market Maker and the 
Closing Price. In the case of a short position, the Closing Price 
from the sale will be subtracted; in the case of a long position, 
the purchase price will be subtracted from the Closing Price.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FINRA is proposing Supplementary Material .12 to address the 
securities that will be used for data collection purposes prior to the 
commencement of the Pilot. FINRA and the other Participants have 
determined that it is appropriate to collect data for a group of 
securities that is larger, and using different quantitative thresholds, 
than the group of securities that will Pilot Securities. FINRA is 
therefore proposing Supplementary Material .12 to define ``Pre-Pilot 
Data Collection Securities'' as the securities designated by the 
Participants for purposes of the data collection requirements described 
in Items I, II and IV of Appendix B and Item I of Appendix C to the 
Plan for the period beginning six months prior to the Pilot Period and 
ending on the trading day immediately preceding the Pilot Period. The 
Participants shall compile the list of Pre-Pilot Data Collection 
Securities by selecting all NMS stocks with a market capitalization of 
$5 billion or less, a Consolidated Average Daily Volume (CADV) of 2 
million shares or less and a closing price of $1 per share or more. The 
market capitalization and the closing price thresholds shall be applied 
to the last day of the Pre-Pilot measurement period, and the CADV 
threshold shall be applied to the duration of the Pre-Pilot measurement 
period. The Pre-Pilot measurement period shall be the three calendar 
months ending on the day when the Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities 
are selected. The Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities shall be 
selected thirty days prior to the commencement of the six-month Pre-
Pilot Period. On the trading day that is the first trading day of the 
Pilot Period through six months after the end of the Pilot Period, the 
data collection requirements will become applicable to the Pilot 
Securities only. A Pilot Security will only be eligible to be included 
in a Test Group if it was a Pre-Pilot Security.
    Finally, FINRA is proposing Supplementary Material .13, which 
states that the Rule shall be in effect during a pilot period to 
coincide with the pilot period for the Plan (including any extensions 
to the pilot period for the Plan).
    If the Commission approves the proposed rule change, the proposed 
rule change will be effective upon Commission approval. The 
implementation date will be April 4, 2016.
2. Statutory Basis
    FINRA believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the 
provisions of Section 15A(b)(6) of the Act,\33\ 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, and Section 15A(b)(9) of the Act,\34\ which requires 
that FINRA rules not impose any burden on competition that is not 
necessary or appropriate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \33\ 15 U.S.C. 78o-3(b)(6).
    \34\ 15 U.S.C. 78o-3(b)(9).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FINRA believes that this proposal is consistent with the Act 
because it implements and clarifies the provisions of the Plan, and is 
designed to assist FINRA in meeting its regulatory obligations pursuant 
to the Plan. In approving the Plan, the SEC noted that the Pilot was an 
appropriate, data-driven test that was designed to evaluate the impact 
of a wider tick size on trading, liquidity, and the market quality of 
securities of smaller capitalization companies, and was therefore in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act. FINRA believes that this 
proposal is in furtherance of the objectives of the Plan, as identified 
by the SEC, and is therefore consistent with the Act because the 
proposal implements and clarifies the requirements of the Plan and 
applies specific obligations to members in furtherance of compliance 
with the Plan.

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. FINRA notes that the proposed 
rule change implements the provisions of the Plan, and is designed to 
assist FINRA in meeting its regulatory obligations pursuant to the 
Plan. FINRA notes that the data collection requirements for members 
that operate Trading Centers will apply equally to all such members, as 
will the data collection requirements for Market Makers.
    FINRA estimates that there are approximately 250 members that 
operate Trading Centers, and for which FINRA is the DEA, that would be 
required to submit data pursuant to Appendix B.I and B.II. While the 
Plan imposes comprehensive data collection requirements on members that 
operate Trading Centers, FINRA notes that some of the data requirements 
are modeled upon Rule 605 data, and that it is leveraging existing OATS 
data and systems to assist firms in complying with their Appendix B.I 
and B.II reporting obligations. FINRA also estimates that there are 
approximately 100 members that qualify as Market Makers for which FINRA 
is the DEA. While the Plan imposes new reporting obligations on Market 
Makers, FINRA notes that some of the requested Market Maker 
profitability data may already be captured by members for internal 
purposes.

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 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:

[[Page 73865]]

Electronic Comments

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
     Send an email to [email protected]. Please include 
File Number SR-FINRA-2015-048 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Robert W. Errett, 
Deputy Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-FINRA-2015-048. 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 
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-2015-048 and should be 
submitted on or before December 16, 2015.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \35\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\35\
Brent J. Fields,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-29931 Filed 11-24-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P



                                              73858                   Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices

                                              representing its own interest, in essence               permit an analysis of this potential                  Commission process and review your
                                              possibly allowing a Trading Center to                   impact.                                               comments more efficiently, please use
                                              avoid displaying proprietary interest                                                                         only one method. The Commission will
                                                                                                      Definition of Retail Investor Order
                                              while still availing itself of the                                                                            post all comments on the Commission’s
                                              exception. By facilitating the display of                 To the extent that this clarification               Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/
                                              liquidity representing the Trading                      creates added competition by Trading                  rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
                                              Center’s capital commitment, the                        Centers to provide executions under the               submission, all subsequent
                                              proposal may facilitate the goals of the                exceptions of the Plan, some Trading                  amendments, all written statements
                                              Pilot.                                                  Centers may lose order flow to trading                with respect to the proposed rule
                                                                                                      centers that would not have been                      change that are filed with the
                                              Definition of Retail Investor Order                     permitted to execute these trades but for             Commission, and all written
                                                 The third proposal extends the                       the clarification. FINRA notes that                   communications relating to the
                                              definition of Retail Investor Order to                  others may gain from this increase in                 proposed rule change between the
                                              include any order received directly from                competition, so that the overall effect               Commission and any person, other than
                                              a natural person that did not originate                 could be beneficial.                                  those that may be withheld from the
                                              from a trading algorithm or any other                                                                         public in accordance with the
                                                                                                      C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
                                              computerized methodology, without                                                                             provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
                                                                                                      Statement on Comments on the
                                              requiring that such order be an agency                                                                        available for Web site viewing and
                                                                                                      Proposed Rule Change Received From
                                              or riskless principal order.                                                                                  printing in the Commission’s Public
                                                                                                      Members, Participants, or Others                      Reference Room, 100 F Street NE.,
                                                 In the absence of this change, many
                                              orders that are currently sent to Trading                 Written comments were neither                       Washington, DC 20549, on official
                                              Centers that otherwise satisfy the Retail               solicited nor received.                               business days between the hours of 10
                                              Order definition would not be eligible                  III. Date of Effectiveness of the                     a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filing
                                              for the exceptions of the Plan in the                                                                         also will be available for inspection and
                                                                                                      Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
                                              OTC market solely due to the capacity                                                                         copying at the principal office of
                                                                                                      Commission Action
                                              (or lack thereof) of that order. Retail                                                                       FINRA. All comments received will be
                                              customers could avail themselves of the                    Within 45 days of the date of                      posted without change; the Commission
                                              exemption by placing additional                         publication of this notice in the Federal             does not edit personal identifying
                                              conditions on the order, but this might                 Register or within such longer period (i)             information from submissions. You
                                              preclude some Trading Centers from                      as the Commission may designate up to                 should submit only information that
                                              being able to interact with these orders.               90 days of such date if it finds such                 you wish to make available publicly. All
                                              Therefore, this may provide greater                     longer period to be appropriate and                   submissions should refer to File
                                              liquidity to Test Group Two and Three                   publishes its reasons for so finding or               Number SR–FINRA–2015–047 and
                                              Pilot Securities.                                       (ii) as to which the self-regulatory                  should be submitted on or before
                                                                                                      organization consents, the Commission                 December 16, 2015.
                                              Anticipated Costs                                       will:                                                   For the Commission, by the Division of
                                              The Display Exception                                      (A) By order approve or disapprove                 Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
                                                                                                      such proposed rule change, or                         authority.35
                                                Under the clarification proposed,                        (B) institute proceedings to determine             Brent J. Fields,
                                              independent aggregation units not                       whether the proposed rule change                      Secretary.
                                              displaying quotations are not covered by                should be disapproved.
                                              the exception. Members that operate                                                                           [FR Doc. 2015–29930 Filed 11–24–15; 8:45 am]
                                              Trading Centers that utilize multiple                   IV. Solicitation of Comments                          BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

                                              independent aggregation units may be                      Interested persons are invited to
                                              disadvantaged compared to members                       submit written data, views and
                                              that operate Trading Centers with a                                                                           SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
                                                                                                      arguments concerning the foregoing,
                                              single independent aggregation unit, or                                                                       COMMISSION
                                                                                                      including whether the proposed rule
                                              members that do not utilize aggregation                 change is consistent with the Act.                    [Release No. 34–76484; File No. SR–FINRA–
                                              units. But this impact may be small, as                 Comments may be submitted by any of                   2015–048]
                                              there is no prohibition from multiple                   the following methods:
                                              independent aggregation units                                                                                 Self-Regulatory Organizations;
                                              providing quotations covered by the                     Electronic Comments                                   Financial Industry Regulatory
                                              exceptions. Thus all are eligible to take                 • Use the Commission’s Internet                     Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing of a
                                              advantage of the exceptions provide                     comment form (http://www.sec.gov/                     Proposed Rule Change To Adopt
                                              under the Plan.                                         rules/sro.shtml); or                                  FINRA Rule 6191(b) and Amend FINRA
                                                                                                        • Send an email to rule-comments@                   Rule 7440 To Implement the Data
                                              Capacity of the Order Displayed                         sec.gov. Please include File Number SR–               Collection Requirements of the
                                                 Trading Centers would be limited in                  FINRA–2015–047 on the subject line.                   Regulation NMS Plan To Implement a
                                              their capacity to transact under FINRA’s                                                                      Tick Size Pilot Program
                                                                                                      Paper Comments
                                              proposed exception to this rule. Some                                                                         November 19, 2015.
                                              orders that would be able to trade under                  • Send paper comments in triplicate                    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
                                              the exception as set forth in the Plan                  to Robert W. Errett, Deputy Secretary,                Securities Exchange Act of 1934
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES




                                              would no longer be eligible. These                      Securities and Exchange Commission,                   (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
                                              orders may thus have a lower                            100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC                     notice is hereby given that on November
                                              probability of execution and potentially                20549–1090.                                           13, 2015, Financial Industry Regulatory
                                              worse execution quality, if executed. It                All submissions should refer to File
                                              is difficult to assess the extent to which              Number SR–FINRA–2015–047. This file                     35 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
                                              this might occur prior to the Pilot, but                number should be included on the                        1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
                                              the data collected by the Plan will                     subject line if email is used. To help the              2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.




                                         VerDate Sep<11>2014   19:15 Nov 24, 2015   Jkt 238001   PO 00000   Frm 00161   Fmt 4703   Sfmt 4703   E:\FR\FM\25NON1.SGM    25NON1


                                                                      Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices                                                         73859

                                              Authority, Inc. (‘‘FINRA’’) filed with the              the Commission on June 24, 2014.6 The                    applies.12 In addition to the exceptions
                                              Securities and Exchange Commission                      Plan7 was published for comment in the                   provided under Test Group Two, an
                                              (‘‘SEC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) the proposed                Federal Register on November 7, 2014,                    exception for Block Size orders and
                                              rule change as described in Items I, II,                and approved by the Commission, as                       exceptions that mirror those under Rule
                                              and III below, which Items have been                    modified, on May 6, 2015.8                               611 of Regulation NMS 13 will apply to
                                              prepared by FINRA. The Commission is                       The Plan is designed to allow the                     the Trade-at requirement.
                                              publishing this notice to solicit                       Commission, market participants, and                        In approving the Plan, the
                                              comments on the proposed rule change                    the public to study and assess the                       Commission noted that the Trading
                                              from interested persons.                                impact of increment conventions on the                   Center data reporting requirements
                                                                                                      liquidity and trading of the common                      would facilitate an analysis of the
                                              I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s                       stocks of small-capitalization                           effects of the Pilot on liquidity (e.g.,
                                              Statement of the Terms of Substance of                  companies. Each Participant is required                  transaction costs by order size),
                                              the Proposed Rule Change                                to comply, and to enforce compliance                     execution quality (e.g., speed of order
                                                 FINRA is proposing to adopt FINRA                    by its member organizations, as                          executions), market maker activity,
                                              Rule 6191 and amend Rule 7440 to                        applicable, with the provisions of the                   competition between trading venues
                                              implement the Regulation NMS Plan to                    Plan. As is described more fully below,                  (e.g., routing frequency of market
                                              Implement a Tick Size Pilot Program                     the proposed rules would require                         orders), transparency (e.g., choice
                                              (Plan).                                                 member organizations to comply with                      between displayed and hidden orders),
                                                 The text of the proposed rule change                 the applicable data collection                           and market dynamics (e.g., rates and
                                              is available on FINRA’s Web site at                     requirements of the Plan.                                speed of order cancellations).14 The
                                              http://www.finra.org, at the principal                     The Pilot will include stocks of                      Commission noted that Market Maker
                                              office of FINRA and at the                              companies with $3 billion or less in                     profitability data would assist the
                                              Commission’s Public Reference Room.                     market capitalization, an average daily                  Commission in evaluating the effect, if
                                                                                                      trading volume of one million shares or                  any, of a widened tick increment on
                                              II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s                      less, and a volume weighted average                      market marker profits and any
                                              Statement of the Purpose of, and                        price of at least $2.00 for every trading                corresponding changes in the liquidity
                                              Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule                  day. The Pilot will consist of a control                 of small-capitalization securities.15
                                              Change                                                  group of approximately 1400 Pilot
                                                 In its filing with the Commission,                   Securities and three test groups with                    Compliance With the Data Collection
                                              FINRA included statements concerning                    400 Pilot Securities in each (selected by                Requirements of the Plan
                                              the purpose of and basis for the                        a stratified random sampling process).9                    The Plan contains requirements for
                                              proposed rule change and discussed any                  During the pilot, Pilot Securities in the                collecting and transmitting data to the
                                              comments it received on the proposed                    control group will be quoted at the                      Commission and to the public.
                                              rule change. The text of these statements               current tick size increment of $0.01 per                 Specifically, Appendix B.I to the Plan
                                              may be examined at the places specified                 share and will trade at the currently                    (Market Quality Statistics) requires
                                              in Item IV below. FINRA has prepared                    permitted increments. Pilot Securities in                Trading Centers 16 to submit variety of
                                              summaries, set forth in sections A, B,                  the first test group (‘‘Test Group One’’)                market quality statistics, including
                                              and C below, of the most significant                    will be quoted in $0.05 minimum                          information about an order’s original
                                              aspects of such statements.                             increments but will continue to trade at                 size, whether the order was displayable
                                                                                                      any price increment that is currently                    or not, the cumulative number of orders,
                                              A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s                       permitted.10 Pilot Securities in the                     the cumulative number of shares of
                                              Statement of the Purpose of, and                        second test group (‘‘Test Group Two’’)                   orders, and the cumulative number of
                                              Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule                  will be quoted in $0.05 minimum                          shares executed within specific time
                                              Change                                                  increments and will trade at $0.05                       increments, e.g., from 30 seconds to less
                                              1. Purpose                                              minimum increments subject to a                          than 60 seconds after the time of order
                                                 On August 25, 2014, NYSE Group,                      midpoint exception, a retail investor                    receipt. This information shall be
                                              Inc., on behalf of BATS Exchange, Inc.,                 order exception, and a negotiated trade                  categorized by security, order type,
                                                                                                      exception.11 Pilot Securities in the third               original order size, hidden status, and
                                              BATS Y-Exchange, Inc., Chicago Stock
                                                                                                      test group (‘‘Test Group Three’’) will be                coverage under Rule 605.17 Appendix
                                              Exchange, Inc., EDGA Exchange, Inc.,
                                                                                                      subject to the same quoting and trading                  B.I to the Plan also contains additional
                                              EDGX Exchange, Inc., Financial
                                                                                                      increments as Test Group Two and also                    requirements for market orders and
                                              Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.
                                                                                                      will be subject to the ‘‘Trade-at’’                      marketable limit orders, including the
                                              (‘‘FINRA’’), NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc.,
                                                                                                      requirement to prevent price matching                    share-weighted average effective spread
                                              NASDAQ OMX PHLX LLC, the Nasdaq
                                                                                                      by a market participant that is not                      for executions of orders; the cumulative
                                              Stock Market LLC, New York Stock
                                                                                                      displaying at a Trading Center’s ‘‘Best                  number of shares of orders executed
                                              Exchange LLC (‘‘NYSE’’), NYSE MKT
                                                                                                      Protected Bid’’ or ‘‘Best Protected
                                              LLC, and NYSE Arca, Inc. (collectively
                                                                                                      Offer,’’ unless an enumerated exception                    12 See  Section VI(D) of the Plan.
                                              ‘‘Participants’’), filed with the                                                                                  13 17  CFR 242.611.
                                              Commission, pursuant to Section 11A of                     6 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72460          14 See Approval Order, 80 FR at 27543.
                                              the Act 3 and Rule 608 of Regulation                    (June 24, 2014), 79 FR 36840 (June 30, 2014).               15 See Approval Order, 80 FR at 27543.
                                              NMS thereunder,4 the Plan to                               7 Unless otherwise specified, capitalized terms          16 The Plan incorporates the definition of a

                                              Implement a Tick Size Pilot Program                     used in this rule filing are based on the defined        ‘‘Trading Center’’ from Rule 600(b)(78) of
                                                                                                      terms of the Plan.                                       Regulation NMS. Regulation NMS defines a
                                              (‘‘Pilot’’).5 The Participants filed the
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                                                                                                         8 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74892
                                                                                                                                                               ‘‘Trading Center’’ as ‘‘a national securities exchange
                                              Plan to comply with an order issued by                  (May 6, 2015), 80 FR 27513 (May 13, 2015)                or national securities association that operates an
                                                                                                      (‘‘Approval Order’’).                                    SRO trading facility, an alternative trading system,
                                                3 15 U.S.C. 78k–1.                                       9 See Section V of the Plan for identification of
                                                                                                                                                               an exchange market maker, an OTC market maker,
                                                4 17 CFR 242.608.                                     Pilot Securities, including criteria for selection and   or any other broker or dealer that executes orders
                                                5 See Letter from Brendon J. Weiss, Vice              grouping.                                                internally by trading as principal or crossing orders
                                              President, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., to             10 See Section VI(B) of the Plan.                     as agent.’’ See 17 CFR 242.600(b)(78).
                                              Secretary, Commission, dated August 25, 2014.              11 See Section VI(C) of the Plan.                        17 17 CFR 242.605.




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                                              73860                   Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices

                                              with price improvement; and, for shares                 Participant that is the DEA of a member                     • Whether the member is relying on
                                              executed with price improvement, the                    of a Participant operating a Trading                     the retail investor order exception with
                                              share-weighted average amount per                       Center is required to develop                            respect to the order.
                                              share that prices were improved.                        appropriate policies and procedures for                     As an initial matter, only those OATS
                                                 Appendix B.II to the Plan (Market and                collecting and reporting the data                        Reporting Members that operate a
                                              Marketable Limit Order Data) requires                   described in Items I and II of Appendix                  Trading Center and for which FINRA is
                                              Trading Centers to submit information                   B, as applicable, to the DEA Participant.                the DEA are required to make any
                                              relating to market orders and marketable                FINRA has determined that much of the                    changes to their OATS reporting. OATS
                                              limit orders, including the time of order               data required by Appendix B.I and B.II                   Reporting Members that do not operate
                                              receipt, order type, the order size, the                to the Plan currently is reported to                     Trading Centers or that have another
                                              National Best Bid and National Best                     FINRA through the Order Audit Trail                      self-regulatory organization as DEA will
                                              Offer (‘‘NBBO’’) quoted price, the NBBO                 System (‘‘OATS’’). In the interest of                    be permitted to leave the new fields
                                              quoted depth, the average execution                     increasing the efficiency of the data                    blank (i.e., they are not required to
                                              price-share-weighted average, and the                   collection process and the consistency                   populate the new Trading Center field
                                              average execution time-share-weighted                   of that data to be collected under the                   to affirmatively indicate that they are
                                              average.                                                Plan, FINRA proposes to use OATS as                      not a Trading Center). OATS Reporting
                                                 The Plan requires Appendix B.I and                   the vehicle through which Trading                        Members that operate Trading Centers
                                              B.II data to be submitted by Participants               Centers must comply with their                           will be required to indicate their status
                                              that operate a Trading Center, and by                   reporting obligations pursuant to                        as a Trading Center on all OATS reports
                                              members of the Participants that operate                Appendix B.I and B.II.                                   for new orders involving Pre-Pilot Data
                                              Trading Centers. The Plan provides that                                                                          Collection Securities and Pilot
                                                                                                         Accordingly, proposed Rule
                                              each Participant that is the Designated                                                                          Securities, including new order reports,
                                                                                                      6191(b)(2) provides that members that
                                              Examining Authority (‘‘DEA’’) for a                                                                              combined order/route reports, combined
                                                                                                      operate Trading Centers that are subject
                                              member of Participant that operates a                                                                            order execution reports, and cancel/
                                                                                                      to the Plan, and for which FINRA serves
                                              Trading Center shall collect such data in                                                                        replace reports. In addition, OATS
                                                                                                      as the DEA, shall meet the data
                                              a pipe delimited format, beginning six                                                                           Reporting Members that operate Trading
                                                                                                      collection and reporting requirements in
                                              months prior to the Pilot Period and                                                                             Centers and that also are ADF Market
                                                                                                      Items I and II of Appendix B by
                                              ending six months after the end of the                                                                           Participants 20 will be required to
                                              Pilot Period. The Plan also requires the                reporting the necessary order
                                                                                                      information in Pilot Securities and Pre-                 indicate their status as an ADF Market
                                              Participant, operating as DEA, to                                                                                Participant and must indicate the
                                              transmit this information to the SEC                    Pilot Data Collection Securities to
                                                                                                      OATS; however, because the current                       display size of the order so that OATS
                                              within 30 calendar days following                                                                                can capture the information required by
                                              month end.                                              OATS reports do not contain all of the
                                                                                                      information required by Appendix B to                    Appendix B regarding hidden and
                                                 FINRA is therefore proposing Rule                                                                             displayed size.21
                                              6191(b) to set forth the requirements for               the Plan, the proposed rule change adds
                                                                                                      four new fields to OATS to capture the                      As described above, the proposed rule
                                              the collection and transmission of data                                                                          change adds new OATS fields to
                                              pursuant to Appendix B.I and B.II of the                necessary information for Pilot
                                                                                                      Securities and Pre-Pilot Data Collection                 capture whether an order in a Pre-Pilot
                                              Plan. Proposed Rule 6191(b)(1) requires                                                                          Data Collection Security or a Pilot
                                              that a member that operates a Trading                   Securities.18 Specifically, the proposed
                                                                                                      rule change would require OATS                           Security received by an OATS Reporting
                                              Center shall establish, maintain and                                                                             Member that operates a Trading Center
                                              enforce written policies and procedures                 Reporting Members 19 that operate a
                                                                                                      Trading Center to record and report the                  is routable and whether the member is
                                              that are reasonably designed to comply                                                                           relying on the retail investor order
                                              with the data collection and                            following information for orders
                                                                                                      involving Pilot Securities and Pre-Pilot                 exception in the Plan with respect to the
                                              transmission requirements of Items I
                                                                                                      Data Collection Securities if FINRA                      order. These additional fields are
                                              and II to Appendix B of the Plan, and
                                                                                                      serves as the member’s DEA:                              necessary so that OATS can capture the
                                              a member that is a Market Maker shall
                                                                                                         • Whether the member is a Trading                     information required by Item II(n) and
                                              establish, maintain and enforce written
                                                                                                      Center in either a Pilot Security or a Pre-              II(o) of Appendix B to the Plan. This
                                              policies and procedures that are
                                                                                                      Pilot Data Collection Security and, if the               information will be required on all
                                              reasonably designed to comply with the
                                                                                                      member is a participant on the                           OATS reports for new orders, including
                                              data collection and transmission
                                                                                                      Alternative Display Facility (‘‘ADF’’),                  New Order Reports, Combined Order/
                                              requirements of Item IV of Appendix B
                                                                                                      the display size of the order;                           Route Reports, Combined Order/
                                              to the Plan and Item I of Appendix C of
                                                                                                                                                               Execution Reports, and Cancel/Replace
                                              the Plan.                                                  • Whether the order is routable; and                  Reports.
                                                 Rule 6191(b)(2) requires that a
                                                                                                                                                                  In addition to information on new
                                              member that operates a Trading Center                     18 In addition to adding the new fields in the
                                                                                                                                                               orders, the proposed rule change
                                              subject to the Plan and for which FINRA                 proposed rule change, FINRA will add additional
                                                                                                      values to existing fields that are necessitated by the   requires OATS Reporting Members that
                                              is the DEA shall collect and transmit to
                                                                                                      Tick Size Pilot. These new values will be described      operate Trading Centers and for which
                                              FINRA the data described in Items I and                 fully in the OATS Reporting Technical                    FINRA is the DEA to report executions
                                              II of Appendix B of the Plan with                       Specifications. FINRA anticipates that, for order        in Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities
                                              respect to each Pre-Pilot Data Collection               receipt or origination as well as on Desk Reports,
                                                                                                      there would be new Special Handling Codes,               and Pilot Securities when the order, or
                                              Security for the period beginning six
                                                                                                      including one for slides and for counterparty
                                              months prior to the Pilot Period through                restrictions. FINRA also will provide additional           20 Rule 6220(a)(3) defines ‘‘ADF Market
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                                              the trading day immediately preceding                   guidance in the OATS Reporting Technical                 Participant’’ or ‘‘Market Participant’’ as a Registered
                                              the Pilot Period; and each Pilot Security               Specifications regarding the use of existing values      Reporting ADF Market Maker, as defined in Rule
                                              for the period beginning on the first day               that may be affected by members participating in         6220(a)(13), or a Registered Reporting ADF ECN, as
                                                                                                      the Tick Size Pilot.                                     defined in Rule 6220(a)(12).
                                              of the Pilot Period through six months                    19 Rule 7410(o) generally defines ‘‘Reporting            21 Sections I(a)(5), (29), and (30) of Appendix B
                                              after the end of the Pilot Period.                      Member’’ as a member that receives or originates an      to the Plan all require that hidden (i.e., non-
                                                 Section IV of the Plan (Policies and                 order and has an obligation to record and report         displayed) order information be provided to the
                                              Procedures) provides that each                          information under Rules 7440 and 7450.                   SEC.



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                                                                            Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices                                                  73861

                                              any part of the order, is executed on a                   Market Maker 23 engaging in trading                        Appendix C.I (Market Maker
                                              venue that does not provide execution                     activity on a Trading Center operated by                Profitability) requires a Participant to
                                              information to FINRA. Currently, OATS                     the Participant. FINRA is therefore                     collect data related to Market Maker
                                              Reporting Members report to OATS the                      proposing Rule 6191(b)(3) to gather data                profitability from each Market Maker for
                                              routing of any order to a non-FINRA                       about a Market Maker’s participation in                 which it is the DEA. Specifically, the
                                              member, which includes orders routed                      Pilot Securities and Pre-Pilot Data                     Participant is required to collect the
                                              to a national securities exchange.22 For                  Collection Securities. Proposed Rule                    total number of shares of orders
                                              those exchanges that provide FINRA                        6191(b)(3)(A) provides that a member                    executed by the Market Maker, the raw
                                              with execution information, FINRA is                      that is a Market Maker for which FINRA                  Market Maker realized trading profits,
                                              able to link the route to any executions                  is the DEA shall collect and transmit to                and the raw Market Maker unrealized
                                              occurring on the exchange. OATS data,                     FINRA data relating to Item IV of                       trading profits. Data shall be collected
                                              however, does not currently link to                       Appendix B to the Plan with respect to                  for dates starting six months prior to the
                                              executions occurring on venues that do                    activity conducted on any Trading                       Pilot Period through six months after
                                              not provide this information to FINRA                     Center in Pilot Securities and Pre-Pilot                the end of the Pilot Period. This data
                                              (e.g., foreign exchanges). To provide the                 Data Collection Securities in furtherance               shall be collected on a monthly basis, to
                                              execution information required by Items                   of its status as a registered Market                    be provided in a pipe delimited format
                                              I and II of Appendix B to the Plan,                       Maker, including a Trading Center that                  to the Participant, as DEA, within 30
                                              FINRA must collect the execution                          executes trades otherwise than on a                     calendar days following month end.
                                              information, either from the venue to                     national securities exchange, for                       Appendix C.II (Aggregated Market
                                              which the order was routed, or from the                   transactions that have settled or reached               Maker Profitability) requires the
                                              firm routing the order to the venue, to                   settlement date. The proposed rule                      Participant, as DEA, to aggregate the
                                              match the routed order to the execution.                  requires Market Makers to transmit such                 Appendix C.I data, and to categorize
                                              Because some venues do not provide                        data in a pipe delimited format, by 12                  this data by security as well as by the
                                              execution data to FINRA, the proposed                     p.m. EST on T+4 for (1) transactions in                 control group and each Test Group. That
                                              rule change would require members that                    each Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security                 aggregated data shall contain
                                              route orders in a Pre-Pilot Data                          for the period beginning six months                     information relating to total raw Market
                                              Collection Security or a Pilot Security to                prior to the Pilot Period through the                   Maker realized trading profits, volume-
                                              a venue that does not provide execution                   trading day immediately preceding the                   weighted average of raw Market Maker
                                              information to FINRA to report any                        Pilot Period; and (2) for transactions in               realized trading profits, the total raw
                                              execution on such venue through an                        each Pilot Security for the period                      Market Maker unrealized trading profits,
                                              OATS Execution Report or Combined                         beginning on the first day of the Pilot                 and the volume-weighted average of
                                              Order/Execution Report.                                   Period through six months after the end                 Market Maker unrealized trading profits.
                                                 To facilitate compliance with this                     of the Pilot Period.                                       FINRA is therefore proposing Rule
                                              provision, FINRA will identify in the                        Proposed Rule 6191(b)(3)(B) provides                 6191(b)(4) to set forth the requirements
                                              OATS Reporting Technical                                  that FINRA shall transmit the data                      for the collection and transmission of
                                              Specifications those exchanges for                        relating to Market Maker activity                       data pursuant to Appendix C.I and of
                                              which these reports are not necessary;                    required by Item IV of Appendix B to                    the Plan. Proposed Rule 6191(b)(4)(A)
                                              thus, for orders routed to those                          the Plan, and collected pursuant to                     requires that a member that is a Market
                                              identified exchanges, OATS Reporting                      paragraph (b)(3)(A) above, to the                       Maker, and for which FINRA is the
                                              Members would continue to report only                     Participant operating the Trading Center                DEA, shall collect and transmit to
                                              routes to those exchanges rather than                     on which such activity occurred in a                    FINRA the data described in Item I of
                                              any executions occurring on those                         pipe delimited format on a                              Appendix C to the Plan, as modified by
                                              exchanges. For orders routed to a venue                   disaggregated basis by Market Maker                     Paragraph (b)(5) with respect to
                                              that is not identified, OATS Reporting                    during the Pre-Pilot and within 15                      executions in Pilot Securities that have
                                              Members would be required to report                       calendar days following month end                       settled or reached settlement date that
                                              any executions on that venue in an                        during the Pilot Period.                                were executed on any Trading Center.
                                              OATS Execution Report or Combined                            As required by the Plan, proposed
                                                                                                                                                                The proposed rule also requires
                                              Order/Execution Report.                                   Rule 6191(b)(3)(C) provides that FINRA
                                                                                                                                                                members to provide such data in a pipe
                                                 As set forth in Section VII of the Plan                shall transmit the data relating to
                                                                                                                                                                delimited format by 12 p.m. EST on T+4
                                              (Collection of Pilot Data), proposed Rule                 Market Maker activity conducted
                                              6191(b)(2)(B) provides that FINRA shall                                                                           for (1) for executions during and outside
                                                                                                        otherwise than on a national securities
                                              transmit this data collected by Trading                                                                           of Regular Trading Hours in each Pre-
                                                                                                        exchange required by Item IV of
                                              Centers required by Items I and II of                                                                             Pilot Data Collection Security for the
                                                                                                        Appendix B to the Plan, and collected
                                              Appendix B to the Plan, and collected                                                                             period beginning six months prior to the
                                                                                                        pursuant to paragraph (b)(3)(A), to the
                                              pursuant to paragraph (b)(2)(A), to the                                                                           Pilot Period through the trading day
                                                                                                        SEC in a pipe delimited format, on a
                                              SEC in a pipe delimited format on a                                                                               immediately preceding the Pilot Period;
                                                                                                        disaggregated basis by Trading Center,
                                              disaggregated basis by Trading Center                                                                             and (2) for executions during and
                                                                                                        within 30 calendar days following
                                              within 30 calendar days following                                                                                 outside of Regular Trading Hours in
                                                                                                        month end. FINRA shall also make such
                                              month end. FINRA also shall make such                                                                             each Pilot Security for the period
                                                                                                        data publicly available on the FINRA
                                              data publicly available on the FINRA                                                                              beginning on the first day of the Pilot
                                                                                                        Web site on a monthly basis at no
                                              Web site on a monthly basis at no                                                                                 Period through six months after the end
                                                                                                        charge and will not identify the Trading
                                              charge and will not identify the Trading                                                                          of the Pilot Period.
                                                                                                        Center that generated the data.24                          Proposed Rule 6191(b)(4)(B) provides
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                                              Center that generated the data.
                                                 Appendix B.IV (Daily Market Maker                        23 The Plan defines a Market Maker as ‘‘a dealer
                                                                                                                                                                that FINRA shall collect this data and,
                                              Participation Statistics) requires a                      registered with any self-regulatory organization, in    on a monthly basis, transmit such data,
                                                                                                        accordance with the rules thereof, as (i) a market
                                              Participant to collect data related to                    maker or (ii) a liquidity provider with an obligation   exchange to collect daily Market Maker registration
                                              Market Maker participation from each                      to maintain continuous, two-sided trading interest.’’   statistics, does not apply to FINRA. Accordingly,
                                                                                                          24 FINRA notes that Appendix B.III, which             FINRA is not proposing a rule to implement this
                                                22 See   Rule 7440(c)(6).                               requires a Participant that is a national securities    aspect of the Plan.



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                                              73862                     Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices

                                              categorized by the control group and                     Supplementary Material .02 relates to                 Down bands in effect at the time of
                                              each Test Group, to the SEC in a pipe                    the use of the retail investor order flag             order receipt. A Trading Center shall
                                              delimited format; provided, however,                     for purposes of Appendix B.II(n)                      report a value of ‘‘N’’ when the ability
                                              that the data transmitted to the SEC                     reporting. The Plan currently states that             of an order to execute has not been
                                              shall include the profitability statistics               market and marketable limit orders shall              affected by the Limit-Up Limit-Down
                                              categorized by Market Maker and by                       include a ‘‘yes/no’’ field relating to the            bands in effect at the time of order
                                              security. In calculating unrealized                      Retail Investor Order flag. FINRA is                  receipt.
                                              trading profits, FINRA shall also report                 proposing Supplementary Material .02                     Supplementary Material .03 also
                                              the number of excess (deficit) shares                    to clarify that, for purposes of the                  requires, for dually-listed securities, that
                                              held by the Market Maker, the volume                     reporting requirement in Appendix                     the Participant indicate whether the
                                              weighted average price of that excess                    B.II(n), a Trading Center shall report ‘‘y’’          order was handled domestically, or
                                              (deficit) and the closing price of the                   where it is relying upon the Retail                   routed to a foreign venue. Accordingly,
                                              security as reported by the primary                      Investor Order exception to Test Groups               the Participant will indicate, for
                                              listing exchange used in reporting                       Two and Three, and ‘‘n’’ for all other                purposes of Appendix B.I, whether the
                                              unrealized profit. The proposed rule                     instances. FINRA believes that requiring              order was: (1) Fully executed
                                              also provides that FINRA shall make                      the identification of a Retail Investor               domestically, or (2) fully or partially
                                              this aggregated data, categorized by the                 Orders only where the exception may                   executed on a foreign market. For
                                              control group and each Test Group,                       apply (i.e., Pilot Securities in Test                 purposes of Appendix B.II, the
                                              publicly available on the FINRA Web                      Groups Two and Three) is consistent                   Participant will classify all orders in
                                              site on a monthly basis at no charge and                 with Appendix B.II(n).                                dually-listed Pilot and Pre-Pilot
                                              will not identify the Market Makers that                    Supplementary Material .03 requires                Securities as: (1) Directed to a domestic
                                              generated the data or the individual                     that members populate a field to                      venue for execution; (2) may only be
                                              securities.                                              identify whether an order is affected by              directed to a foreign venue for
                                                                                                       the bands in place pursuant to the                    execution; or (3) was fully or partially
                                                 FINRA also is proposing a rule setting                National Market System Plan to Address                directed to a foreign venue at the
                                              forth the manner in which Market                         Extraordinary Market Volatility.26                    discretion of the member. FINRA
                                              Maker participation and profitability                    Pursuant to the Limit-Up Limit-Down                   believes that this proposed flag will
                                              will be calculated. Proposed Rule                        Plan, between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.,                better identify orders in dually-listed
                                              6191(b)(5) provides that a member that                   the Securities Information Processor                  securities, as such orders that were
                                              is a Market Maker subject to the                         (‘‘SIP’’) calculates a lower price band               executed in foreign venues would not be
                                              requirements of proposed Rule                            and an upper price band for each NMS                  subject to the Plan’s quoting and trading
                                              6191(b)(3)(A) and (b)(4)(A) in a Pre-Pilot               stock. These price bands represent a                  requirements, and could otherwise
                                              Data Collection Security or a Pilot                      specified percentage above or below the               compromise the integrity of the data.
                                              Security, and for which FINRA is the                     stock’s reference price, which generally                 Supplementary Material .04 relates to
                                              DEA, shall be deemed to have satisfied                   is calculated based on reported                       the time ranges specified in Appendix
                                              the requirements of proposed Rule                        transactions in that stock over the                   B.I.a(14), B.I.a(15), B.I.a(21) and
                                              6191(b)(3)(A) and (b)(4)(A), in addition                 preceding five minutes. When one side                 B.I.a(22).27 FINRA and the other
                                              to the requirements of Appendix B.IV                     of the market for an individual security              Participants have determined that it is
                                              and Item I of Appendix C, if such                        is outside the applicable price band, the             appropriate to change the reporting
                                              Market Maker submits to FINRA the                        SIP identifies that quotation as non-                 times in these provisions to require
                                              specified data for any principal trade,                  executable. When the other side of the                more granular reporting for these
                                              not including riskless principal, in a                   market reaches the applicable price                   categories. Accordingly, FINRA
                                              Pre-Pilot Data Collection Security or a                  band (e.g., the offer reaches the lower               proposes to add Appendix B.I.a(14A),
                                              Pilot Security executed in furtherance of                price band), the security enters a Limit              which will require Trading Centers to
                                              its status as a Market Maker on any                      State. The stock would exit a Limit State             report the cumulative number of shares
                                              Trading Center. The proposed rule                        if, within 15 seconds of entering the                 of orders executed from 100
                                              requires Market Makers to submit (1)                     Limit State, all Limit State Quotations               microseconds to less than 1 millisecond
                                              Ticker Symbol; (2) Trading Center                        were executed or canceled in their                    after the time of order receipt. Appendix
                                              where the trade was executed, or if not                  entirety. If the security does not exit a             B.I.a(15) will be changed to require the
                                              known, the destination where the order                   Limit State within 15 seconds, then the               cumulative number of shares of orders
                                              originally was routed for further                        primary listing exchange declares a five-             executed from 1 millisecond to less than
                                              handling and execution; (3) Time of                      minute trading pause, which would be                  100 milliseconds after the time of order
                                              execution; (4) Price; (5) Size; (6) Buy/                 applicable to all markets trading the                 receipt. FINRA also proposes to add
                                              sell; (7) for trades executed away from                  security.                                             Appendix B.I.a(21A), which will require
                                              the Market Maker, a unique identifier,                      FINRA and the other Participants                   Trading Centers to report the
                                              as specified by the Market Maker’s DEA,                  have determined that it is appropriate to
                                              that will allow the trade to be associated               create a new flag for reporting orders                   27 Specifically, Appendix B.I.a(14) requires

                                              with the Trading Center where the trade                  that are affected by the Limit-Up Limit-              reporting of the cumulative number of shares of
                                                                                                                                                             orders executed from 0 to less than 100
                                              was executed; and (8) for trades                         Down bands. Accordingly, a Trading                    microseconds after the time of order receipt;
                                              cancelled or corrected beyond T+3,                       Center shall report a value of ‘‘Y’’ when             Appendix B.I.a(15) requires reporting of the
                                              whether the trade represents a                           the ability of an order to execute has                cumulative number of shares of orders executed
                                              cancellation or correction.                              been affected by the Limit-Up Limit-                  from 100 microseconds to less than 100
                                                                                                                                                             milliseconds after the time of order receipt;
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                                                 FINRA is also proposing, through                                                                            Appendix B.I.a(21) requires reporting of the
                                              Supplementary Material, to clarify other                 enumerated terms used throughout Rule 6191 shall      cumulative number of shares of orders cancelled
                                                                                                       have the same meaning as set forth in the Plan.       from 0 to less than 100 microseconds after the time
                                              aspects of the data collection                             26 See National Market System Plan to Address       of order receipt; and Appendix B.I.a(22) requires
                                              requirements.25 Proposed                                 Extraordinary Market Volatility, Securities           reporting of the cumulative number of shares of
                                                                                                       Exchange Act Release No. 67091 (May 31, 2012), 77     orders cancelled from 100 microseconds to less
                                               25 FINRA is also proposing Supplementary                FR 33498 (June 6, 2012) (File No. 4–631) (‘‘Limit-    than 100 milliseconds after the time of order
                                              Material .01 to Rule 6191 to clarify that certain        Up Limit-Down Plan’’).                                receipt.



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                                                                       Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices                                                    73863

                                              cumulative number of shares of orders                      Supplementary Material .08 addresses               therefore proposing Supplementary
                                              canceled from 100 microseconds to less                   the status of not-held and auction orders            Material .09 to make this clarification.
                                              than 1 millisecond after the time of                     for purposes of Appendix B.I reporting.                 FINRA is proposing Supplementary
                                              order receipt. Appendix B.I.a(22) will be                Currently, Appendix B.I sets forth eight             Material .10 to clarify that, for purposes
                                              changed to require the cumulative                        categories of orders, including market               of the Plan, Trading Centers must begin
                                              number of shares of orders canceled                      orders, marketable limit orders, and                 the data collection required pursuant to
                                              from 1 millisecond to less than 100                      inside-the-quote resting limit orders, for           Appendix B.I.a(1) through B.II.(y) to the
                                              milliseconds after the time of order                     which daily market quality statistics                Plan and Item I of Appendix C to the
                                              receipt. FINRA believes that these new                   must be reported. Currently, Appendix                Plan on April 4, 2016. While FINRA
                                              reporting requirements will contribute                   B.I does not provide a category for not              will provide the information required by
                                              to a meaningful analysis of the Pilot by                 held orders, clean cross orders, auction             Appendix B and C to the Plan to the
                                              producing more granular data on these                    orders, or orders received when the                  SEC during the Pre-Pilot period, the
                                              points.28                                                NBBO is crossed. FINRA and the other                 requirement that FINRA, as DEA,
                                                 Supplementary Material .05 relates to                 Participants have determined that it is              provide information to the SEC within
                                              the requirement in Appendix B.I.a(33)                    appropriate to include separate                      30 calendar days following month end
                                              requiring the share-weighted average                     categories both not held orders and                  and make such data publicly available
                                              BBO Spread of the reporting exchange                     auction orders for purposes of Appendix              on its Web site pursuant to Appendix B
                                              as part of the market quality statistics to              B reporting. FINRA is therefore                      and C to the Plan shall commence as of
                                              be reported. FINRA and the other                         proposing Supplementary Material .07                 the beginning of the Pilot Period.31
                                              Participants have determined that this                   to provide that not held orders shall be                FINRA is proposing Supplementary
                                              requirement should apply to both the                                                                          Material .11 to address the requirement
                                                                                                       included as an order type for purposes
                                              reporting exchange and to a Trading                                                                           in Appendix C.I(b) to the Plan that the
                                                                                                       of Appendix B reporting, and shall be
                                              Center that displays such quote on the                                                                        calculation of raw Market Maker
                                                                                                       assigned the number (18). Clean cross
                                              ADF, and is proposing to make this                                                                            realized trading profits utilize a last in,
                                                                                                       orders shall be included as an order
                                              clarification through Supplementary                                                                           first out (‘‘LIFO’’)-like method to
                                              Material .05.                                            type for purposes of Appendix B
                                                                                                                                                            determine which share prices shall be
                                                 Supplementary Material .06 relates to                 reporting, and shall be assigned the
                                                                                                                                                            used in that calculation. FINRA and the
                                              the relevant measurement for purposes                    number (19); auction orders shall be
                                                                                                                                                            other Participants believe that is more
                                              of Appendix B.I.a(31)–(33) reporting.                    included an as order type for purposes
                                                                                                                                                            appropriate to utilize a methodology
                                              Currently, the Plan states that this data                of Appendix B reporting, and shall be
                                                                                                                                                            that yields LIFO-like results, rather than
                                              shall be reported as of the time of order                assigned the number (20); and orders
                                                                                                                                                            utilizing a LIFO-like method, and
                                              execution. FINRA and the other                           that cannot be otherwise be classified,
                                                                                                                                                            FINRA is therefore proposing
                                              Participants believe that this                           including, for example, orders received              Supplementary Material .11 to make
                                              information should more properly be                      when the NBBO is crossed shall be                    this change.32 FINRA is proposing that,
                                              captured at the time of order receipt, as                included as an order type for purposes               for purposes of Item I of Appendix C,
                                              evaluating share-weighted average                        of Appendix B reporting, and shall be                the Participants shall calculate daily
                                              prices at the time of order receipt is                   assigned the number (21). All of these               Market Maker realized profitability
                                              more consistent with the goal of                         orders already are included in the scope             statistics for each trading day on a daily
                                              observing the effect of the Pilot on the                 of Appendix B; however, without this                 LIFO basis using reported trade price
                                              liquidity of Pilot Securities. FINRA is                  proposed change, these order types                   and shall include only trades executed
                                              therefore proposing to make this change                  would be categorized with other orders,              on the subject trading day. The daily
                                              through Supplementary Material .06.29                    such as regular held orders, that should             LIFO calculation shall not include any
                                              This change will make these provisions                   be able to be fully executed upon                    positions carried over from previous
                                              consistent with the remainder of the                     receipt, which would compromise the                  trading days. For purposes of Item I.c of
                                              statistics in Appendix B.I.a, which are                  value of this data.                                  Appendix C, the Participants shall
                                              all based on order receipt.                                FINRA is proposing Supplementary                   calculate daily Market Maker unrealized
                                                 Supplementary Material .07 clarifies                  Material .09 to clarify the scope of the             profitability statistics for each trading
                                              that, for purposes of Appendix B.I.a(33),                Plan as it relates to members that only              day on an average price basis.
                                              only a Trading Center that is displaying
                                                                                                       execute orders for limited purposes.
                                              in its own name as a Trading Center
                                                                                                       Specifically, FINRA and the other                       31 In its order approving the Plan, the SEC noted
                                              when executing an order shall enter a                                                                         that the Pilot shall be implemented within one year
                                                                                                       Participants believe that a member that
                                              value in this field. FINRA believes that                                                                      of the date of publication of its order, e.g., by May
                                                                                                       only executes orders otherwise than on               6, 2016. See Approval Order, 80 FR at 27545.
                                              the Appendix B.I.a(33) reporting
                                                                                                       a national securities exchange for the               However, on November 6, 2015, the SEC extended
                                              requirement is only relevant for a
                                              Trading Center that is a display venue                   purpose of (1) correcting a bona fide                the implementation date approximately five months
                                                                                                       error related to the execution of a                  to October 3, 2016. See Securities Exchange Act
                                              and not Trading Centers that may                                                                              Release No. 76382 (November 6, 2015), 80 FR 70284
                                              display through other Trading Centers                    customer order; (2) purchasing a                     (November 13, 2015).
                                              (such as a market maker displaying a                     security from a customer at a nominal                   32 Appendix C.I currently requires Market Maker


                                              quote on a national securities exchange).                price solely for purposes of liquidating             profitability statistics to include (1) the total
                                                                                                       the customer’s position; or (3)                      number of shares of orders executed by the Market
                                                                                                                                                            Maker; (2) raw Market Maker realized trading
                                                 28 FINRA notes that it intends to file an exemptive   completing the fractional share portion              profits, which is the difference between the market
                                              request seeking relief from certain of the Plan’s data   of an order 30 shall not be deemed a                 value of Market Maker shares and the market value
                                              collection requirements, including the requirements      Trading Center for purposes of                       of Market Maker purchases, using a LIFO-like
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                                              that Trading Centers report information in either                                                             method; and (3) raw Market Maker unrealized
                                              microseconds or milliseconds, as not all Trading
                                                                                                       Appendix B to the Plan. FINRA is
                                                                                                                                                            trading profits, which is the difference between the
                                              Centers currently capture and report orders in                                                                purchase or sale price of the end-of-day inventory
                                              either microseconds or milliseconds.                        30 FINRA notes that where a member purchases      position of the Market Maker and the Closing Price.
                                                 29 This proposed change is also part of an            a fractional share from a customer, the Trading      In the case of a short position, the Closing Price
                                              exemptive request that FINRA and the other               Center that executes the remaining whole shares of   from the sale will be subtracted; in the case of a
                                              Participants will be submitting to the SEC pursuant      that customer order would be subject to Appendix     long position, the purchase price will be subtracted
                                              to Rule 608(e) of Regulation NMS.                        B of the Plan.                                       from the Closing Price.



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                                              73864                   Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices

                                              Specifically, the Participants must                     included in a Test Group if it was a Pre-                meeting its regulatory obligations
                                              calculate the volume weighted average                   Pilot Security.                                          pursuant to the Plan. FINRA notes that
                                              price of the excess (deficit) of buy                      Finally, FINRA is proposing                            the data collection requirements for
                                              volume over sell volume for the current                 Supplementary Material .13, which                        members that operate Trading Centers
                                              trading day using reported trade price.                 states that the Rule shall be in effect                  will apply equally to all such members,
                                              The gain (loss) of the excess (deficit) of              during a pilot period to coincide with                   as will the data collection requirements
                                              buy volume over sell volume shall be                    the pilot period for the Plan (including                 for Market Makers.
                                              determined by using the volume                          any extensions to the pilot period for
                                                                                                                                                                 FINRA estimates that there are
                                              weighted average price compared to the                  the Plan).
                                                                                                        If the Commission approves the                         approximately 250 members that
                                              closing price of the security as reported                                                                        operate Trading Centers, and for which
                                              by the primary listing exchange. In                     proposed rule change, the proposed rule
                                                                                                      change will be effective upon                            FINRA is the DEA, that would be
                                              reporting unrealized trading profits, the                                                                        required to submit data pursuant to
                                              Participant shall also report the number                Commission approval. The
                                                                                                      implementation date will be April 4,                     Appendix B.I and B.II. While the Plan
                                              of excess (deficit) shares held by the                                                                           imposes comprehensive data collection
                                              Market Maker, the volume weighted                       2016.
                                                                                                                                                               requirements on members that operate
                                              average price of that excess (deficit) and              2. Statutory Basis                                       Trading Centers, FINRA notes that some
                                              the closing price of the security as
                                                                                                         FINRA believes that the proposed rule                 of the data requirements are modeled
                                              reported by the primary listing exchange
                                                                                                      change is consistent with the provisions                 upon Rule 605 data, and that it is
                                              used in reporting unrealized profit.
                                                                                                      of Section 15A(b)(6) of the Act,33 which                 leveraging existing OATS data and
                                                 FINRA is proposing Supplementary                     requires, among other things, that                       systems to assist firms in complying
                                              Material .12 to address the securities                  FINRA rules must be designed to                          with their Appendix B.I and B.II
                                              that will be used for data collection                   prevent fraudulent and manipulative                      reporting obligations. FINRA also
                                              purposes prior to the commencement of                   acts and practices, to promote just and                  estimates that there are approximately
                                              the Pilot. FINRA and the other                          equitable principles of trade, and, in                   100 members that qualify as Market
                                              Participants have determined that it is                 general, to protect investors and the                    Makers for which FINRA is the DEA.
                                              appropriate to collect data for a group of              public interest, and Section 15A(b)(9) of                While the Plan imposes new reporting
                                              securities that is larger, and using                    the Act,34 which requires that FINRA                     obligations on Market Makers, FINRA
                                              different quantitative thresholds, than                 rules not impose any burden on                           notes that some of the requested Market
                                              the group of securities that will Pilot                 competition that is not necessary or                     Maker profitability data may already be
                                              Securities. FINRA is therefore proposing                appropriate.                                             captured by members for internal
                                              Supplementary Material .12 to define                       FINRA believes that this proposal is                  purposes.
                                              ‘‘Pre-Pilot Data Collection Securities’’ as             consistent with the Act because it
                                              the securities designated by the                        implements and clarifies the provisions                  C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
                                              Participants for purposes of the data                   of the Plan, and is designed to assist                   Statement on Comments on the
                                              collection requirements described in                    FINRA in meeting its regulatory                          Proposed Rule Change Received From
                                              Items I, II and IV of Appendix B and                    obligations pursuant to the Plan. In                     Members, Participants, or Others
                                              Item I of Appendix C to the Plan for the                approving the Plan, the SEC noted that
                                              period beginning six months prior to the                                                                           Written comments were neither
                                                                                                      the Pilot was an appropriate, data-                      solicited nor received.
                                              Pilot Period and ending on the trading                  driven test that was designed to evaluate
                                              day immediately preceding the Pilot                     the impact of a wider tick size on                       III. Date of Effectiveness of the
                                              Period. The Participants shall compile                  trading, liquidity, and the market                       Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
                                              the list of Pre-Pilot Data Collection                   quality of securities of smaller                         Commission Action
                                              Securities by selecting all NMS stocks                  capitalization companies, and was
                                              with a market capitalization of $5                      therefore in furtherance of the purposes                    Within 45 days of the date of
                                              billion or less, a Consolidated Average                 of the Act. FINRA believes that this                     publication of this notice in the Federal
                                              Daily Volume (CADV) of 2 million                        proposal is in furtherance of the                        Register or within such longer period (i)
                                              shares or less and a closing price of $1                objectives of the Plan, as identified by                 as the Commission may designate up to
                                              per share or more. The market                           the SEC, and is therefore consistent with                90 days of such date if it finds such
                                              capitalization and the closing price                    the Act because the proposal                             longer period to be appropriate and
                                              thresholds shall be applied to the last                 implements and clarifies the                             publishes its reasons for so finding or
                                              day of the Pre-Pilot measurement                        requirements of the Plan and applies                     (ii) as to which the self-regulatory
                                              period, and the CADV threshold shall be                 specific obligations to members in                       organization consents, the Commission
                                              applied to the duration of the Pre-Pilot                furtherance of compliance with the                       will:
                                              measurement period. The Pre-Pilot                       Plan.                                                       (A) By order approve or disapprove
                                              measurement period shall be the three                                                                            such proposed rule change, or
                                              calendar months ending on the day                       B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
                                              when the Pre-Pilot Data Collection                      Statement on Burden on Competition                          (B) institute proceedings to determine
                                              Securities are selected. The Pre-Pilot                                                                           whether the proposed rule change
                                                                                                        FINRA does not believe that the
                                              Data Collection Securities shall be                                                                              should be disapproved.
                                                                                                      proposed rule change will result in any
                                              selected thirty days prior to the                       burden on competition that is not                        IV. Solicitation of Comments
                                              commencement of the six-month Pre-                      necessary or appropriate in furtherance
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                                              Pilot Period. On the trading day that is                of the purposes of the Act. FINRA notes                    Interested persons are invited to
                                              the first trading day of the Pilot Period               that the proposed rule change                            submit written data, views and
                                              through six months after the end of the                 implements the provisions of the Plan,                   arguments concerning the foregoing,
                                              Pilot Period, the data collection                       and is designed to assist FINRA in                       including whether the proposed rule
                                              requirements will become applicable to                                                                           change is consistent with the Act.
                                              the Pilot Securities only. A Pilot                        33 15   U.S.C. 78o–3(b)(6).                            Comments may be submitted by any of
                                              Security will only be eligible to be                      34 15   U.S.C. 78o–3(b)(9).                            the following methods:


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                                                                        Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 2015 / Notices                                                 73865

                                              Electronic Comments                                       DEPARTMENT OF STATE                                     This modification does not apply to
                                                                                                                                                              any other measures imposed pursuant to
                                                • Use the Commission’s Internet                         [Public Notice: 9358]
                                                                                                                                                              the INKSNA and announced in Public
                                              comment form (http://www.sec.gov/                                                                               Notice 9251 published on September 2,
                                                                                                        Modification of Iran, North Korea, and
                                              rules/sro.shtml); or                                                                                            2015 (80 FR 53222).
                                                                                                        Syria Nonproliferation Act Measures
                                                • Send an email to rule-comments@                       Against a Russian Entity                                Dated: November 19, 2015.
                                              sec.gov. Please include File Number SR–
                                                                                                        AGENCY: Department of State.                          Thomas M. Countryman,
                                              FINRA–2015–048 on the subject line.
                                                                                                        ACTION: Notice.                                       Assistant Secretary of State for International
                                              Paper Comments                                                                                                  Security and Nonproliferation.
                                                                                                        SUMMARY:   A decision has been made,                  [FR Doc. 2015–30058 Filed 11–24–15; 8:45 am]
                                                • Send paper comments in triplicate                     pursuant to the Iran, North Korea, and                BILLING CODE 4710–27–P
                                              to Robert W. Errett, Deputy Secretary,                    Syria Nonproliferation Act, to modify
                                              Securities and Exchange Commission,                       nonproliferation measures pursuant to
                                              100 F Street NE., Washington, DC                          this Act on a Russian foreign person.                 DEPARTMENT OF STATE
                                              20549–1090.                                               DATES: Effective Date: November 25,
                                              All submissions should refer to File                      2015.                                                 [Public Notice: 9356]
                                              Number SR–FINRA–2015–048. This file                       FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
                                              number should be included on the                          Pamela K. Durham, Office of Missile,                  Notice of Meeting of Advisory
                                              subject line if email is used. To help the                Biological, and Chemical                              Committee on International Law
                                              Commission process and review your                        Nonproliferation, Bureau of
                                              comments more efficiently, please use                     International Security and                               A meeting of the Department of
                                              only one method. The Commission will                      Nonproliferation, Department of State,                State’s Advisory Committee on
                                              post all comments on the Commission’s                     Telephone (202) 647–4930.                             International Law will take place on
                                              Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/                    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On                         Thursday, December 10, from 9:30 a.m.
                                              rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the                           September 2, 2015, the United States                  to 5:00 p.m. at the George Washington
                                              submission, all subsequent                                Government announced the imposition                   University Law School, Michael K.
                                              amendments, all written statements                        of measures including the following                   Young Faculty Conference Center, 716
                                              with respect to the proposed rule                         against Rosoboronexport (ROE) (Russia)                20th Street NW., 5th Floor, Washington,
                                              change that are filed with the                            and any successor, sub-unit, or                       DC. Principal Deputy Legal Adviser
                                              Commission, and all written                               subsidiary thereof: ‘‘No department or                Mary McLeod will chair the meeting,
                                                                                                        agency of the United States Government                which will be open to the public up to
                                              communications relating to the
                                                                                                        may procure or enter into any contract                the capacity of the conference room. It
                                              proposed rule change between the
                                                                                                        for the procurement of any goods,                     is anticipated that the agenda of the
                                              Commission and any person, other than                     technology, or services from
                                              those that may be withheld from the                                                                             meeting will cover a range of current
                                                                                                        [Rosoboronexport (ROE) (Russia) and                   international legal topics, including the
                                              public in accordance with the                             any successor, sub-unit, or subsidiary
                                              provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be                                                                             development of non-legally binding
                                                                                                        thereof], except to the extent that the               norms and instruments, the
                                              available for Web site viewing and                        Secretary of State otherwise may
                                              printing in the Commission’s Public                                                                             International Criminal Court and the
                                                                                                        determine . . . .’’ (See 80 FR 53222,
                                              Reference Room, 100 F Street NE.,                                                                               ‘‘crime of aggression,’’ the upcoming
                                                                                                        Public Notice 9251; and 80 FR 65844,
                                              Washington, DC 20549, on official                         Public Notice 9329).                                  ICRC Commentaries on the Geneva
                                              business days between the hours of 10                       The United States Government has                    Conventions, and issues related to cross-
                                              a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filing                     decided to modify the measure                         border electronic data access.
                                              also will be available for inspection and                 described above against ROE and any                      Members of the public who wish to
                                              copying at the principal office of                        successor, sub-unit, or subsidiary                    attend should contact the Office of the
                                              FINRA. All comments received will be                      thereof as follows. The measure                       Legal Adviser by December 7 at
                                              posted without change; the Commission                     described above shall not apply to                    thorntonnc@state.gov or 202–776–8356
                                              does not edit personal identifying                        subcontracts at any tier with ROE and                 and provide their name, professional
                                              information from submissions. You                         any successor, sub-unit, or subsidiary                affiliation, address, and phone number.
                                              should submit only information that                       thereof made on behalf of the United                  A valid photo ID is required for
                                              you wish to make available publicly. All                  States Government for goods,                          admission to the meeting. Attendees
                                              submissions should refer to File                          technology, and services for the                      who require reasonable accommodation
                                              Number SR–FINRA–2015–048 and                              maintenance, repair, overhaul, or                     should make their requests by December
                                              should be submitted on or before                          sustainment of Mi-17 helicopters for the              4. Late requests will be considered but
                                                                                                        purpose of providing assistance to the
                                              December 16, 2015.                                                                                              might not be possible to accommodate.
                                                                                                        security forces of Afghanistan, as well as
                                                For the Commission, by the Division of                  for the purpose of combating terrorism                   Dated: November 19, 2015.
                                              Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated                and violent extremism globally.                       Nicole C. Thornton,
                                              authority.35                                                Such subcontracts include the                       Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser,
                                              Brent J. Fields,                                          purchase of spare parts, supplies, and                Executive Director, Advisory Committee on
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                                              Secretary.                                                related services for these purposes. This             International Law, United States Department
                                              [FR Doc. 2015–29931 Filed 11–24–15; 8:45 am]              modification applies retroactively as of              of State.
                                                                                                        the effective date of the sanctions, and              [FR Doc. 2015–30063 Filed 11–24–15; 8:45 am]
                                              BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
                                                                                                        will remain in place for two years from               BILLING CODE 4710–08–P
                                                                                                        that date, except to the extent that the
                                                                                                        Secretary of State may otherwise
                                                35 17   CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).                            determine.


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Document Created: 2018-03-01 11:16:11
Document Modified: 2018-03-01 11:16:11
CategoryRegulatory Information
CollectionFederal Register
sudoc ClassAE 2.7:
GS 4.107:
AE 2.106:
PublisherOffice of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
SectionNotices
FR Citation80 FR 73858 

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