Rulemaking Items for Discussion at the April 2012 Meeting

The FINRA Board of Governors will consider the following rulemaking items at its April 2012 meeting. After the April 19 meeting, FINRA will notify firms via email about the Board's actions on these items and anticipated next steps, if any.

FOCUS Report Supplementary Schedule
The Board will consider a proposed supplementary schedule for derivatives and other off-balance sheet items. The supplementary schedule, issued pursuant to FINRA Rule 4524 (Supplemental FOCUS Information), would only apply to carrying and clearing firms.

Markups, Commissions and Fees
The Board will consider proposed consolidated FINRA rules governing markups, commissions and fees.  The proposed rules, which were previously discussed in Regulatory Notice 11-08, reflect certain changes incorporated in response to comments.

OATS Reporting of Certain Market-Making and Customer Facilitation Orders
The Board will consider proposed amendments to the Order Audit Trail System (OATS) rules that would narrow the scope of the market-making exemption and require firms to report to OATS certain proprietary orders used to facilitate customer orders.

OCC Cleared OTC Options and Related Amendments
The Board will consider proposed amendments to FINRA Rules 2360 (Options) and 4210 (Margin Requirements) to revise how over-the-counter options cleared by the Options Clearing Corporation are treated under the options and margin rules.

"Public" Arbitrator Definition
The Board will consider proposed amendments to FINRA Rules 12100 and 13100 of the Customer and Industry Codes of Arbitration Procedure, respectively, to revise the definition of "public" arbitrator to exclude persons associated with a mutual fund or hedge fund from serving as public arbitrators and to require individuals to wait a specified period after ending certain affiliations before they may be permitted to serve as public arbitrators.

Pricing Proposals
The Board will consider pricing recommendations to adjust certain user and regulatory fees in order to adequately fund FINRA's regulatory responsibilities.

Stop Orders
The Board will consider a proposed rule regarding the handling of stop and stop limit orders.

Trading Activity Fee
The Board will consider a proposal to adjust the Trading Activity Fee (TAF) rate structure on covered equity securities to ensure proper funding of FINRA's regulatory program given the continued decline in share volume. The proposed rate adjustment is based on a 2011 rule filing that outlined the future process for establishing the TAF rate.