[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 52 (Friday, March 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15833-15834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6388]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-66564; File No. SR-OPRA-2012-02]
Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate
Effectiveness of Proposed Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of
Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information To
Amend OPRA's Fee Schedule
March 9, 2012.
Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that
on March 8, 2012, the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'')
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') an
amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale
Reports and Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The proposed
amendment would revise OPRA's Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee and Usage-
based Vendor Fee and adopt a new Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional
Subscriber Fee. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit
comments from interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
\2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
\3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608
thereunder (formerly Rule 11Aa3-2). See Securities Exchange Act
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 SE.C. Docket 484 (March 31,
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at http://www.opradata.com.
The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of
last sale and quotation information on options that are traded on
the participant exchanges. The nine participants to the OPRA Plan
are BATS Exchange, Inc., Chicago Board Options Exchange,
Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated, International
Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ OMX PHLX,
Inc., NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE Amex, Inc., and NYSE Arca, Inc.
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I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment
The purpose of the amendment is to make a set of changes in OPRA's
Fee Schedule as follows: OPRA's Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee would be
increased from $1.00 per Nonprofessional Subscriber \4\ per month to
$1.25 per Nonprofessional Subscriber per month. The cap on OPRA's
Usage-based Vendor Fees for receipt of OPRA data by Nonprofessional
Subscribers would be increased commensurately to $1.25 per
Nonprofessional Subscriber per month.\5\ OPRA would also establish
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a new monthly ``Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee'' that
would cap each Vendor's combined obligation for Nonprofessional
Subscriber Fees and Usage-based Vendor Fees for Nonprofessional
Subscribers at $375,000 per month.
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\4\ OPRA defines a ``Subscriber,'' in general, as an entity or
person that receives OPRA data but does not redistribute it to third
parties, and defines a ``Nonprofessional Subscriber'' as a
Subscriber who is a ``Nonprofessional.'' OPRA's definition of the
term ``Nonprofessional'' is stated in its forms of ``Electronic
Subscriber Agreement'' and ``Hardcopy Subscriber Agreement.'' These
forms are available on OPRA's Web site, www.opradata.com.
\5\ OPRA's Fee Schedule provides that a Vendor may determine the
fee that it pays with respect to its distribution of current OPRA
data to a Nonprofessional Subscriber in one of two ways: either the
Vendor may pay OPRA's flat monthly Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee
(currently $1.00/month, proposed in this filing to be increased to
$1.25/month), or the Vendor may count the Nonprofessional
Subscriber's queries for OPRA data and pay Usage-based Vendor Fees
based on the actual usage of OPRA data by the Nonprofessional
Subscriber, subject to a cap that OPRA has always set at the amount
of the Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee. Many Vendors prefer to pay
the flat Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee, even though their aggregate
fees on the basis of Usage-based Vendor Fees might be lower and
could not be greater, due to the administrative simplicity of doing
so and the fact that the cost on a per Subscriber basis of doing so
is very small.
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OPRA's Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee and Usage-based Vendor Fees
were established at their current levels effective on January 1,
2000.\6\ OPRA has not increased these fees since then in large part
because of the simplicity of having the Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee
and the cap on Usage-based Vendor Fees for receipt of OPRA data by a
Nonprofessional Subscriber each set at $1.00. However, the effect over
a period of twelve years has been to increase the ratio of OPRA's
Professional Device Fee as compared to the Nonprofessional Subscriber
Fee. (For the year 2000, OPRA's weighted average Professional Device
Fee was approximately $12.55 per device; it is now $25.00/device.\7\)
OPRA believes that increasing its Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee will
restore an appropriate balance between its revenues derived from
Professional Subscriber Device-based Fees on the one hand and
Nonprofessional Subscriber Fees and Usage-based Vendor Fees for
Nonprofessional Subscribers on the other hand.
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\6\ See File No. SR-OPRA-99-02; Release No. 34-42152 (November
17, 1999). In File No. SR-OPRA-99-02, OPRA reduced the
Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee from $2.50 per Nonprofessional
Subscriber to the current $1.00 per Nonprofessional Subscriber.
\7\ In the year 2000, OPRA had a sliding scale for its
Professional Subscriber Fees, with different rates based on whether
a Professional Subscriber was a Member of one or more of the
Exchanges that were parties to the OPRA Plan and on the Professional
Subscriber's number of devices; OPRA's Professional Subscriber Fees
ranged from $10.50/device for an Exchange Member with 750 or more
devices to $27.00/device for a non-Member with nine or fewer
devices. Over the course of several years, OPRA made incremental
changes in its Professional Subscriber Fees to eliminate all
distinctions in these fees based on a Professional Subscriber's
status as a member or nonmember of an exchange that is a party to
the OPRA Plan or on the Subscriber's total number of OPRA-enabled
devices. See File No. SR-OPRA-2004-01; Release No. 34-49382
(February 25, 2004).
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In response to input from the Vendor community, OPRA is proposing
to introduce an ``Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee.'' The
Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee would limit the maximum
aggregate amount of Nonprofessional Subscriber Fees and Usage-based
Vendor Fees with respect to Nonprofessional Subscribers that any Vendor
would be required to pay with respect to its Nonprofessional
Subscribers. The proposed Enterprise Rate Nonprofessional Subscriber
Fee is $375,000 per month.
OPRA anticipates that these proposed changes in its fees will
result in an increase in its revenues of approximately $1,700,000 on an
annual basis at current usage rates.\8\ OPRA believes that this
increase will restore the relationship of its fees for Nonprofessional
Subscribers to its fees for Professional Subscribers and represent an
appropriate contribution to covering the overall costs of OPRA and its
member exchanges to which these fees may properly be applied.
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\8\ This projection is approximate for several reasons, among
them that the fee increase may cause some Vendors to review their
lists of Nonprofessional Subscribers for inactive accounts and may
cause some Vendors to begin paying Usage-based Vendor fees rather
than Nonprofessional Subscriber Fees.
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The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at
OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, http://opradata.com, and
on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.
II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment
OPRA designated this amendment as qualified to be put into effect
upon filing with the Commission in accordance with clause (i) of
paragraph (b)(3) of Rule 608 under the Act.\9\ OPRA intends to
implement the amendment on May 1, 2012.
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\9\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(3)(i).
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The Commission may summarily abrogate the amendment within sixty
days of its filing and require refiling and approval of the amendment
by Commission order pursuant to Rule 608(b)(2) under the Act \10\ if it
appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate
in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or the
maintenance of fair and orderly markets, to remove impediments to, and
perfect the mechanisms of, a national market system, or otherwise in
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
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\10\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(2).
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III. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed OPRA
Plan amendment is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by
any of the following methods:
Electronic Comments
Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
Send an email to [email protected]. Please include
File No. SR-OPRA-2012-02 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
Send paper comments in triplicate to Elizabeth M. Murphy,
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2012-02. This file
number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help
the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently,
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on
the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all
written statements with respect to the proposed plan amendment that are
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to
the proposed plan amendment between the Commission and any person,
other than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance
with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for Web site
viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F
Street NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the
hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filing also will be
available for inspection and copying at the principal office of OPRA.
All comments received will be posted without change; the Commission
does not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You
should submit only information that you wish to make available
publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2012-02
and should be submitted on or before April 6, 2012.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\11\
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\11\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
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Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-6388 Filed 3-15-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P