FINRA Waives Certain Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) Late Trade Reporting Fees in Connection With Hurricane Sandy

Regulatory Relief Related to Hurricane Sandy

Due to significant disruptions in normal business operations as a result of Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall along the mid-Atlantic Coast on October 29, 2012, FINRA will waive¹ TRACE late trade reporting fees² if a firm in an area affected by Hurricane Sandy³ reported certain transactions in TRACE-eligible securities late.⁴ The late trade reporting fee will be waived for transactions that were executed on Monday, October 29, 2012, or Tuesday, October 30, 2012, by firms located in the affected areas (or that have their fixed income operations in the affected areas), provided that the affected firms reported the transactions no later than Wednesday, October 31, 2012, by the TRACE system closing.

FINRA has identified a number of transactions that qualify for the waiver of the late trade reporting fee of $3.00, and will credit those firms with identified relevant transactions on their TRACE invoices for November 2012. However, upon receipt of the November invoice, if a firm has not received credit for transaction(s) it believes qualify for the fee waiver because its fixed income operations are located in one of the affected areas, the firm should contact TRACE Data Services by emailing [email protected] or calling (888) 507-3665, and provide a list of the transactions and the reason the transactions qualify for the waiver.

Questions regarding this Notice may be directed to:

^1.See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 68325 (November 30, 2012) (Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of File No. SR-FINRA-2012-051).

^2.See FINRA Rule 7730(b)(3).

^3. An affected area means any area, such as a state or a county, that the President declared a major disaster or for which the President signed a federal emergency declaration as a result of Hurricane Sandy (e.g., the state, or certain counties, of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia) (the "affected areas").

^4.See FINRA Rule 6730(a).