August 23, 2011
In March 2009, I submitted a petition for rulemaking pursuant to Rule 192(a) of the Commission's Rules of Practice. In that petition, I asked the Commission to amend Rule 146 to reflect the current name of the former Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. ("Phlx") as the Commission is now proposing in this release.
My petition also noted that when the Commission included Tier 1 of the Phlx in Rule 146(b) in 1998, the Phlx maintained an equity trading platform. Following the acquisition of the Phlx by The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. in 2008, the equity trading platform was terminated. It is my understanding that the NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. is currently a trading platform for equity options, index options and U.S. dollar-settled currency options.
My petition also urged that the Commission review the current standards of the NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. before simply amending Rule 146 to reflect its new name. When the Commission adopted Rule 146(b), it noted that "Congress intended for the Commission to monitor the listing requirements of the regional exchanges, consistent with its supervisory authority under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"), to ensure the continued integrity of these markets and the protection of investors." Commission Release No. 33-7494, 34-39542.
Accordingly, I reiterate my request that the Commission review the listing standards of the NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. and determine that those standards are "substantially similar" to the markets named in Section 18 of the Securities Act of 1933. In particular, the Commission review whether the securities underlying options listed on the NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. must be "covered securities" as defined in Section 18(b)(1)of the Securities Act of 1933.
(Attached File #1: s73111-1.pdf)