Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Adopt Rule 14.11 To Permit the Trading, Pursuant to Unlisted Trading Privileges, of Managed Portfolio Shares, Which Are Shares of Actively Managed Exchange-Traded Funds for Which the Portfolio Is Disclosed in Accordance With Standard Mutual Fund Disclosure Rules, 7339-7352 [2020-02415]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 2020 / Notices
Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR
3020.30 et seq., and 39 CFR 3015.5;
Public Representative: Kenneth R.
Moeller; Comments Due: February 10,
2020.
3. Docket No(s).: MC2020–89 and
CP2020–88; Filing Title: USPS Request
to Add Priority Mail Contract 590 to
Competitive Product List and Notice of
Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing
Acceptance Date: January 31, 2020;
Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR
3020.30 et seq., and 39 CFR 3015.5;
Public Representative: Curtis E. Kidd;
Comments Due: February 10, 2020.
4. Docket No(s).: MC2020–90 and
CP2020–89; Filing Title: USPS Request
to Add Priority Mail & First-Class
Package Service Contract 140 to
Competitive Product List and Notice of
Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing
Acceptance Date: January 31, 2020;
Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR
3020.30 et seq., and 39 CFR 3015.5;
Public Representative: Curtis E. Kidd;
Comments Due: February 10, 2020.
5. Docket No(s).: MC2020–91 and
CP2020–90; Filing Title: USPS Request
to Add Priority Mail Contract 591 to
Competitive Product List and Notice of
Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing
Acceptance Date: January 31, 2020;
Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR
3020.30 et seq., and 39 CFR 3015.5;
Public Representative: Kenneth R.
Moeller; Comments Due: February 10,
2020.
6. Docket No(s).: MC2020–92 and
CP2020–91; Filing Title: USPS Request
to Add Priority Mail Contract 592 to
Competitive Product List and Notice of
Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing
Acceptance Date: January 31, 2020;
Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR
3020.30 et seq., and 39 CFR 3015.5;
Public Representative: Kenneth R.
Moeller; Comments Due: February 11,
2020.
This Notice will be published in the
Federal Register.
Erica A. Barker,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020–02399 Filed 2–6–20; 8:45 am]
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BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–88110; File No. SR–
CboeEDGX–2020–003]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe
EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing
and Immediate Effectiveness of a
Proposed Rule Change To Adopt Rule
14.11 To Permit the Trading, Pursuant
to Unlisted Trading Privileges, of
Managed Portfolio Shares, Which Are
Shares of Actively Managed ExchangeTraded Funds for Which the Portfolio
Is Disclosed in Accordance With
Standard Mutual Fund Disclosure
Rules
February 3, 2020.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
notice is hereby given that on January
21, 2020, Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.
(the ‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘EDGX’’) filed with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) the
proposed rule change as described in
Items I and II below, which Items have
been prepared by the Exchange. The
Exchange filed the proposal as a ‘‘noncontroversial’’ proposed rule change
pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(iii) of
the Act 3 and Rule 19b–4(f)(6)
thereunder.4 The Commission is
publishing this notice to solicit
comments on the proposed rule change
from interested persons.
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Terms of Substance of
the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the
‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘EDGX’’) is filing with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’) a
proposed rule change to adopt Rule
14.11 to permit the trading, pursuant to
unlisted trading privileges, of Managed
Portfolio Shares, which are shares of
actively managed exchange-traded
funds for which the portfolio is
disclosed in accordance with standard
mutual fund disclosure rules.
Additionally, the Exchange proposes to
make corresponding changes to Rule
14.1(a) to reference Managed Portfolio
Shares and proposed Rule 14.11, where
applicable. The text of the proposed rule
change is provided in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change
is also available on the Exchange’s
website (https://markets.cboe.com/us/
options/regulation/rule_filings/edgx/),
1 15
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.
3 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(iii).
4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6).
2 17
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at the Exchange’s Office of the
Secretary, 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, the
Exchange 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. The
Exchange 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
The Exchange proposes to adopt Rule
14.11 to permit the trading, pursuant to
unlisted trading privileges (‘‘UTP’’), of
Managed Portfolio Shares,5 which
substantially conforms to Cboe BZX
Exchange, Inc. (‘‘BZX’’) Rule 14.11(k).6
Additionally, the Exchange proposes to
make corresponding changes to Rule
14.1(a) to reference Managed Portfolio
Shares and proposed Rule 14.11, where
applicable.
The Exchange does not currently list
any securities as a primary listing
market. Consistent with this fact,
Exchange Rule 14.1(a) currently states
that all securities traded on the
Exchange are traded pursuant to UTP
and that the Exchange will not list any
securities before first filing and
obtaining Commission approval of rules
that incorporate qualitative listing
criteria and comply with Rules 10A–3 7
(‘‘Rule 10A–3’’) and 10C–1 8 (‘‘Rule
10C–1’’) under the Act. Therefore, the
provisions of existing Rules 14.2
5 Managed Portfolio Shares are actively managed
exchange-traded funds for which the portfolio is
disclosed in accordance with standard mutual fund
disclosure rules.
6 See Securities and Exchange Act Release No.
87759 (December 16, 2019) 84 FR 70223 (December
20, 2019) (SR–CboeBZX–2019–047) (the ‘‘BZX
Approval Order’’).
7 Rule 10A–3 obligates the Exchange to prohibit
the initial or continued listing of any security of an
issuer that is not in compliance with certain
required standards. See 17 CFR 240.10A–3.
8 Rule 10C–1 obligates the Exchange to establish
listing standards that require each member of a
listed issuer’s compensation committee to be a
member of the issuer’s board and to be
independent, as well as establish certain factors that
an issuer must consider when evaluating the
independence of a director. See 17 CFR
240.10C–1.
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 2020 / Notices
through 14.9 and proposed Rule 14.11
that permit the listing of certain Equity
Securities 9 will not be effective until
the Exchange files a proposed rule
change under Section 19(b)(2) under the
Exchange Act to amend its rules to
comply with Rule 10A–3 and 10C–1
under the Exchange Act and to
incorporate qualitative listing criteria,
and such proposed rule change is
approved by the Commission.
Considering the foregoing, the Exchange
proposes to adopt Rule 14.11 as set forth
below.
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Proposed Listing Rules
Proposed Rule 14.11(a) provides that
the Exchange will consider for trading,
whether by listing or pursuant to UTP,
Managed Portfolio Shares that meet the
criteria of Rule 14.11.10
Proposed Rule 14.11(b) provides that
Rule 14.11 is applicable only to
Managed Portfolio Shares and that,
except to the extent inconsistent with
Rule 14.11, or unless the context
otherwise requires, the rules and
procedures of the Exchange’s Board of
Directors shall be applicable to the
trading on the Exchange of such
9 As provided in Rule 14.1(a), the term ‘‘Equity
Security’’ means, but is not limited to, common
stock, secondary classes of common stock, preferred
stock and similar issues, shares or certificates of
beneficial interest of trusts, notes, limited
partnership interests, warrants, certificates of
deposit for common stock, convertible debt
securities, ADRs, CVRs, Investment Company Units,
Trust Issued Receipts (including those based on
Investment Shares), Commodity-Based Trust
Shares, Currency Trust Shares, Partnership Units,
Equity-Linked Securities, Commodity-Linked
Securities, Currency-Linked Securities, Portfolio
Depositary Receipts and Equity-Linked Debt
Securities. Further, the Exchange now proposes to
include the term ‘‘Managed Portfolio Shares’’ to the
definition of Equity Security.
10 The Exchange notes that the unique
components of Managed Portfolio Shares were
addressed in an amended application for exemptive
relief that was filed on April 4, 2019 (the
‘‘Application’’) and for which public notice was
issued on April 8, 2019 (the ‘‘Notice’’) (File No.
812–14405) and subsequent order granting certain
exemptive relief to Precidian Funds LLC
(‘‘Precidian’’); Precidian ETFs Trust and Precidian
ETF Trust II; and Foreside Fund Services, LLC
issued on May 20, 2019 (the ‘‘Order’’ and,
collectively, with the Application and the Notice,
the ‘‘Exemptive Order’’). Specifically, the Notice
stated that the Commission ‘‘believes that the
alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
maintain an ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
prices close to its NAV. The Commission
recognizes, however, that the lack of full
transparency may cause the ActiveShares ETFs to
trade with spreads and premiums/discounts that are
larger than those of comparable, fully transparent
ETFs. Nonetheless, as long as arbitrage continues to
keep the ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
price and NAV close, and does so efficiently so that
spreads remain narrow, the Commission believes
that investors would benefit from the opportunity
to invest in active strategies through a vehicle that
offers the traditional benefits of ETFs.’’ See
Investment Company Act Release Nos. 33440.
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securities. Proposed Rule 14.11(b)
provides further that Managed Portfolio
Shares are included within the
definition of ‘‘security’’ or ‘‘securities’’
as such terms are used in the Rules of
the Exchange.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(1) provides
that the Exchange will file separate
proposals under Section 19(b) of the Act
before the listing and trading of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(2) provides
that transactions in Managed Portfolio
Shares will occur only during Regular
Trading Hours.11
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(3) provides
that the Exchange will implement and
maintain written surveillance
procedures for Managed Portfolio
Shares. As part of these surveillance
procedures, the Investment Company’s
investment adviser will upon request by
the Exchange or FINRA, on behalf of the
Exchange, make available to the
Exchange or FINRA the daily portfolio
holdings of each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(4) provides
that, if the investment adviser to the
Investment Company issuing Managed
Portfolio Shares is registered as a
broker-dealer or is affiliated with a
broker-dealer, such investment adviser
will erect and maintain a ‘‘fire wall’’
between the investment adviser and
personnel of the broker-dealer or brokerdealer affiliate, as applicable, with
respect to access to information
concerning the composition of and/or
changes to such Investment Company
portfolio and/or the Creation Basket.
Any person related to the investment
adviser or Investment Company who
makes decisions pertaining to the
Investment Company’s portfolio
composition or has access to
information regarding the Investment
Company’s portfolio composition or
changes thereto or the Creation Basket
must be subject to procedures designed
to prevent the use and dissemination of
material nonpublic information
regarding the applicable Investment
Company portfolio or changes thereto or
the Creation Basket.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5) provides
that any person or entity, including an
AP Representative, custodian, Reporting
Authority, distributor, or administrator,
who has access to information regarding
the Investment Company’s portfolio
composition or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket, must be subject to
procedures designed to prevent the use
and dissemination of material
11 As defined in Rule 1.5(y), the term ‘‘Regular
Trading Hours’’ means the time between 9:30 a.m.
and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
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nonpublic information regarding the
applicable Investment Company
portfolio or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket. Moreover, if any such
person or entity is registered as a brokerdealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer,
such person or entity will erect and
maintain a ‘‘fire wall’’ between the
person or entity and the broker-dealer
with respect to access to information
concerning the composition and/or
changes to such Investment Company
portfolio or Creation Basket.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(1) defines the
term ‘‘Managed Portfolio Share’’ as a
security that (a) represents an interest in
an investment company registered
under the Investment Company Act of
1940 (‘‘Investment Company’’)
organized as an open-end management
investment company, that invests in a
portfolio of securities selected by the
Investment Company’s investment
adviser consistent with the Investment
Company’s investment objectives and
policies; (b) is issued in a Creation Unit,
or multiples thereof, in return for a
designated portfolio of instruments
(and/or an amount of cash) with a value
equal to the next determined net asset
value and delivered to the Authorized
Participant (as defined in the
Investment Company’s Form N–1A filed
with the Commission) through a
Confidential Account; (c) when
aggregated into a Redemption Unit, or
multiples thereof, may be redeemed for
a designated portfolio of instruments
(and/or an amount of cash) with a value
equal to the next determined net asset
value delivered to the Confidential
Account for the benefit of the
Authorized Participant; and (d) the
portfolio holdings for which are
disclosed within at least 60 days
following the end of every fiscal
quarter.12
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(2) defines the
term ‘‘Verified Intraday Indicative
Value’’ (‘‘VIIV’’) as the indicative value
of a Managed Portfolio Share based on
all of the holdings of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares as of the close
of business on the prior business day
and, for corporate actions, based on the
applicable holdings as of the opening of
business on the current business day,
priced and disseminated in one second
intervals during Regular Trading Hours
by the Reporting Authority.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(3) defines the
term ‘‘AP Representative’’ as an
unaffiliated broker-dealer with which an
12 For purposes of this filing, references to a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares are referred to
interchangeably as a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares or as a ‘‘Fund’’ and shares of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares are generally referred to
as the ‘‘Shares’’.
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 2020 / Notices
Authorized Participant has signed an
agreement to establish a Confidential
Account for the benefit of such
Authorized Participant, that will deliver
or receive, on behalf of the Authorized
Participant, all consideration to or from
the Investment Company in a creation
or redemption. An AP Representative
will not be permitted to disclose the
Creation Basket to any person, including
the Authorized Participants.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(4) defines the
term ‘‘Confidential Account’’ as an
account owned by an Authorized
Participant and held with an AP
Representative on behalf of the
Authorized Participant. The account
will be established and governed by
contractual agreement between the AP
Representative and the Authorized
Participant solely for the purposes of
creation and redemption, while keeping
confidential the Creation Basket
constituents of each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares, including from the
Authorized Participant. The books and
records of the Confidential Account will
be maintained by the AP Representative
on behalf of the Authorized Participant.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(5) defines the
term ‘‘Creation Basket’’ as on any given
business day the names and quantities
of the specified instruments (and/or an
amount of cash) that are required for an
AP Representative to deposit in-kind on
behalf of an Authorized Participant in
exchange for a Creation Unit and the
names and quantities of the specified
instruments (and/or an amount of cash)
that will be transferred in-kind to an AP
Representative on behalf of an
Authorized Participant in exchange for
a Redemption Unit, which will be
identical and will be transmitted to each
AP Representative before the
commencement of trading.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(6) defines the
term ‘‘Creation Unit’’ as a specified
minimum number of Managed Portfolio
Shares issued by an Investment
Company at the request of an
Authorized Participant in return for a
designated portfolio of instruments and/
or cash.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(7) defines the
term ‘‘Redemption Unit’’ as a specified
minimum number of Managed Portfolio
Shares that may be redeemed to an
Investment Company at the request of
an AP in return for a portfolio of
instruments and/or cash.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(8) defines the
term ‘‘Reporting Authority’’ in respect
of a particular series of Managed
Portfolio Shares as the Exchange, the
exchange that lists a particular series of
Managed Portfolio Shares (if the
Exchange is trading such series
pursuant to UTP), an institution, or a
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reporting service designated by the
Investment Company as the official
source for calculating and reporting
information relating to such series,
including, the net asset value (the
‘‘NAV’’), the VIIV, or other information
relating to the issuance, redemption or
trading of Managed Portfolio Shares. A
series of Managed Portfolio Shares may
have more than one Reporting
Authority, each having different
functions.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(9) provides
that the term ‘‘Normal Market
Conditions’’ includes, but is not limited
to, the absence of trading halts in the
applicable financial markets generally;
operational issues (e.g., systems failure)
causing dissemination of inaccurate
market information; or force majeure
type events such as natural or manmade
disaster, act of God, armed conflict, act
of terrorism, riot or labor disruption or
any similar intervening circumstance.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1) sets forth
initial listing criteria applicable to
Managed Portfolio Shares. Proposed
Rule 14.11(d)(1)(A) provides that, for
each series of Managed Portfolio Shares,
the Exchange will establish a minimum
number of Managed Portfolio Shares
required to be outstanding at the time of
commencement of trading on the
Exchange. In addition, proposed Rule
14.11(d)(1)(B) provides that the
Exchange will obtain a representation
from the Investment Company that
issues each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares that the NAV per share for the
series will be calculated daily and that
the NAV will be made available to all
market participants at the same time.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(C) provides
that all Managed Portfolio Shares shall
have a stated investment objective,
which shall be adhered to under Normal
Market Conditions.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2) provides
that each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares will be listed and traded subject
to application of the following
continued listing criteria. Proposed Rule
14.11(d)(2)(A) provides that the VIIV for
Managed Portfolio Shares will be widely
disseminated by the Reporting
Authority and/or by one or more major
market data vendors in one second
intervals during Regular Trading Hours
and will be disseminated to all market
participants at the same time. Proposed
Rule 14.11(d)(2)(B) provides that the
Exchange will consider the suspension
of trading in or removal from listing of
or termination of UTP for a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares under any of
the following circumstances: (i) If,
following the initial twelve-month
period after commencement of trading
on the Exchange of a series of Managed
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7341
Portfolio Shares, there are fewer than 50
beneficial holders of the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares for 30 or more
consecutive trading days; (ii) if the
Exchange has halted trading in a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares because the
VIIV is interrupted pursuant to Rule
14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such interruption
persists past the trading day in which it
occurred or is no longer available; (iii)
if the Exchange has halted trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares
because the NAV with respect to such
series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not
disseminated to all market participants
at the same time, the holdings of such
series of Managed Portfolio Shares are
not made available on at least a
quarterly basis as required under the
Investment Company Act of 1940 (the
‘‘1940 Act’’), or such holdings are not
made available to all market
participants at the same time pursuant
to Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such issue
persists past the trading day in which it
occurred; (iv) if the Exchange has halted
trading in a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares pursuant to 14.11(d)(2)(C)(i),
such issue persists past the trading day
in which it occurred; (v) if the
Investment Company issuing the
Managed Portfolio Shares has failed to
file any filings required by the
Commission or if the Exchange is aware
that the Investment Company is not in
compliance with the conditions of any
currently applicable exemptive order or
no-action relief granted by the
Commission or Commission staff to the
Investment Company with respect to the
series of Managed Portfolio Shares; (vi)
if any of the continued listing
requirements set forth in Rule 14.11 are
not continuously maintained; or (vii) if
such other event shall occur or
condition exists which, in the opinion
of the Exchange, makes further dealings
on the Exchange inadvisable.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(i)
provides that the Exchange may
consider all relevant factors in
exercising its discretion to halt trading
in a series of Managed Portfolio Shares.
Trading may be halted because of
market conditions or for reasons that, in
the view of the Exchange, make trading
in the series of Managed Portfolio
Shares inadvisable. These may include:
(a) The extent to which trading is not
occurring in the securities and/or the
financial instruments composing the
portfolio; or (b) whether other unusual
conditions or circumstances detrimental
to the maintenance of a fair and orderly
market are present.13
13 The Exchange notes that the Application
provides that the Investment Company or their
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Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii)
provides that, if the Exchange becomes
aware that: (a) The Verified Intraday
Indicative Value of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares is not being calculated
or disseminated in one second intervals,
as required; (b) the net asset value with
respect to a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares is not disseminated to all market
participants at the same time; (c) the
holdings of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares are not made available
on at least a quarterly basis as required
under the 1940 Act; or (d) such holdings
are not made available to all market
participants at the same time, (except as
otherwise permitted under the currently
applicable exemptive order or no-action
relief granted by the Commission or
Commission staff to the Investment
Company with respect to the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares), it will halt
trading in such series until such time as
the Verified Intraday Indicative Value,
the net asset value, or the holdings are
available, as required.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(D) provides
that, upon termination of an Investment
Company, the Exchange requires that
Managed Portfolio Shares issued in
connection with such entity be removed
from Exchange listing.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(E) provides
that voting rights shall be as set forth in
the applicable Investment Company
prospectus and/or statement of
additional information.
Proposed Rule 14.11(e), which relates
to limitation of Exchange liability,
provides that neither the Exchange, the
Reporting Authority, when the
Exchange is acting in the capacity of a
Reporting Authority, nor any agent of
the Exchange shall have any liability for
damages, claims, losses or expenses
caused by any errors, omissions, or
delays in calculating or disseminating
any current portfolio value; the current
value of the portfolio of securities
required to be deposited to the open-end
management investment company in
agent will request that the Exchange halt trading in
the applicable series of Managed Portfolio Shares
where: (i) The intraday indicative values calculated
by the calculation engine(s) differ by more than 25
basis points for 60 seconds in connection with
pricing of the Verified Intraday Indicative Value; or
(ii) holdings representing 10% or more of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares’ portfolio have become
subject to a trading halt or otherwise do not have
readily available market quotations. Any such
requests will be one of many factors considered in
order to determine whether to halt trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares and the
Exchange retains sole discretion in determining
whether trading should be halted. As provided in
the Application and Notice, each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares would employ a pricing
verification agent to continuously compare two
intraday indicative values during Regular Trading
Hours in order to ensure the accuracy of the
Verified Intraday Indicative Value.
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connection with issuance of Managed
Portfolio Shares; the VIIV; the amount of
any dividend equivalent payment or
cash distribution to holders of Managed
Portfolio Shares; NAV; or other
information relating to the purchase,
redemption, or trading of Managed
Portfolio Shares, resulting from any
negligent act or omission by the
Exchange, the Reporting Authority
when the Exchange is acting in the
capacity of a Reporting Authority, or
any agent of the Exchange, or any act,
condition, or cause beyond the
reasonable control of the Exchange, its
agent, or the Reporting Authority, when
the Exchange is acting in the capacity of
a Reporting Authority, including, but
not limited to, an act of God; fire; flood;
extraordinary weather conditions; war;
insurrection; riot; strike; accident;
action of government; communications
or power failure; equipment or software
malfunction; or any error, omission, or
delay in the reports of transactions in
one or more underlying securities.
Proposed Rule 14.11(f), which relates
to disclosures, provides that the
provisions of paragraph (f) apply only to
series of Managed Portfolio Shares that
are the subject of an order by the
Commission exempting such series from
certain prospectus delivery
requirements under Section 24(d) of the
Investment Company Act of 1940 and
are not otherwise subject to prospectus
delivery requirements under the
Securities Act of 1933. The Exchange
will inform its Members regarding
application of this subparagraph to a
particular series of Managed Portfolio
Shares by means of an information
circular prior to commencement of
trading in such series.
The Exchange requires that members
provide to all purchasers of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares a written
description of the terms and
characteristics of those securities, in a
form prepared by the open-end
management investment company
issuing such securities, not later than
the time a confirmation of the first
transaction in such series is delivered to
such purchaser. In addition, members
shall include such a written description
with any sales material relating to a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares that
is provided to customers or the public.
Any other written materials provided by
a member to customers or the public
making specific reference to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares as an
investment vehicle must include a
statement in substantially the following
form: ‘‘A circular describing the terms
and characteristics of (the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares) has been
prepared by the (open-end management
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investment company name) and is
available from your broker. It is
recommended that you obtain and
review such circular before purchasing
(the series of Managed Portfolio
Shares).’’
A member carrying an omnibus
account for a non-member broker-dealer
is required to inform such non-member
that execution of an order to purchase
a series of Managed Portfolio Shares for
such omnibus account will be deemed
to constitute agreement by the nonmember to make such written
description available to its customers on
the same terms as are directly applicable
to members under this rule.
Upon request of a customer, a member
shall also provide a prospectus for the
particular series of Managed Portfolio
Shares.
Key Features of Managed Portfolio
Shares
While each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares will be actively
managed and, to that extent, similar to
Investment Company Units (as defined
in Rule 14.2), and more specifically
managed fund shares.14 Managed
Portfolio Shares differ from managed
fund shares in the following important
respects.15 The primary listing market
14 ‘‘Managed fund shares’’ are a type of
Investment Company Unit. While not defined by
Exchange Rules, BZX Rule 14.11(i) defines a
managed fund share as ‘‘a security that (i)
represents an interest in a registered investment
company (‘‘Investment Company’’) organized as an
open-end management investment company or
similar entity, that invests in a portfolio of
securities selected by the Investment Company’s
investment adviser consistent with the Investment
Company’s investment objectives and policies; (ii)
is issued in a specified aggregate minimum number
in return for a deposit of a specified portfolio of
securities and/or a cash amount with a value equal
to the next determined net asset value; and (iii)
when aggregated in the same specified minimum
number, may be redeemed at a holder’s request,
which holder will be paid a specified portfolio of
securities and/or cash with a value equal to the next
determined net asset value.’’
15 The Exchange notes that these unique
components of Managed Portfolio Shares were
addressed in an amended application for exemptive
relief that was filed on April 4, 2019 (the
‘‘Application’’) and for which public notice was
issued on April 8, 2019 (the ‘‘Notice’’) (File No.
812–14405) and subsequent order granting certain
exemptive relief to Precidian Funds LLC
(‘‘Precidian’’); Precidian ETFs Trust and Precidian
ETF Trust II; and Foreside Fund Services, LLC
issued on May 20, 2019 (the ‘‘Order’’ and,
collectively, with the Application and the Notice,
the ‘‘Exemptive Order’’). Specifically, the Notice
stated that the Commission ‘‘believes that the
alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
maintain an ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
prices close to its NAV. The Commission
recognizes, however, that the lack of full
transparency may cause the ActiveShares ETFs to
trade with spreads and premiums/discounts that are
larger than those of comparable, fully transparent
ETFs. Nonetheless, as long as arbitrage continues to
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for a series of managed fund shares
generally requires daily dissemination
of the ‘‘disclosed portfolio’’.16 In
contrast to managed fund shares, the
portfolio for a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares will be disclosed at
least quarterly in accordance with
normal disclosure requirements
otherwise applicable to open-end
investment companies registered under
the 1940 Act.17 The composition of the
portfolio of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares would not be available
at commencement of Exchange listing
and/or trading. Second, in connection
with the creation and redemption of
shares in Creation Unit or Redemption
Unit size (as described below), the
delivery of any portfolio securities in
kind will be effected through a
Confidential Account (as described
below) for the benefit of the creating or
redeeming AP (as described further
below in ‘‘Creation and Redemption of
Shares’’) without disclosing the identity
of such securities to the AP.
For each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares, an estimated value—the VIIV—
that reflects an estimated intraday value
of a fund’s portfolio will be
disseminated. Specifically, the VIIV will
be based upon all of a series’ holdings
as of the close of the prior business day
and, for corporate actions, based on the
applicable holdings as of the opening of
business on the current business day,
and will be widely disseminated by the
Reporting Authority and/or one or more
major market data vendors in one
second intervals during Regular Trading
Hours. The dissemination of the VIIV
will allow investors to determine the
estimated intra-day value of the
keep the ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
price and NAV close, and does so efficiently so that
spreads remain narrow, the Commission believes
that investors would benefit from the opportunity
to invest in active strategies through a vehicle that
offers the traditional benefits of ETFs.’’ See
Investment Company Act Release Nos. 33440 and
33477.
16 See e.g., BZX Rule 14.11(i)(3)(B) which defines
the term ‘‘Disclosed Portfolio’’ as the identities and
quantities of the securities and other assets held by
the Investment Company that will form the basis for
the Investment Company’s calculation of NAV at
the end of the business day. BZX Rule
14.11(i)(4)(B)(ii)(a) requires that the Disclosed
Portfolio will be disseminated at least once daily
and will be made available to all market
participants at the same time.
17 Form N–PORT requires reporting of a fund’s
complete portfolio holdings on a position-byposition basis on a quarterly basis within 60 days
after fiscal quarter end. Investors can obtain a
fund’s Statement of Additional Information, its
Shareholder Reports, its Form N–CSR, filed twice
a year, and its Form N–CEN, filed annually. A
fund’s SAI and Shareholder Reports are available
free upon request from the Investment Company,
and those documents and the Form N–PORT, Form
N–CSR, and Form N–CEN may be viewed on-screen
or downloaded from the Commission’s website at
www.sec.gov.
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underlying portfolio of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares and will
provide a close estimate of that value
throughout the trading day.
The Exchange believes that market
makers will be able to make efficient
and liquid markets priced near the
ETF’s intraday value as long as a VIIV
is disseminated in one second
intervals,18 and market makers employ
market making techniques such as
‘‘statistical arbitrage,’’ including
correlation hedging, beta hedging, and
dispersion trading, which is currently
used throughout the financial services
industry, to make efficient markets in
exchange-traded products.19 For
Managed Portfolio Shares, market
makers may use the knowledge of a
Fund’s means of achieving its
investment objective, as described in the
applicable Fund registration statement
(the ‘‘Registration Statement’’), to
construct a hedging proxy for a Fund to
manage a market maker’s quoting risk in
connection with trading Fund Shares.
Market makers can then conduct
statistical arbitrage between their
hedging proxy (for example, the Russell
1000 Index) and Shares of a Fund,
buying and selling one against the other
over the course of the trading day. This
ability should permit market makers to
make efficient markets in an issue of
Managed Portfolio Shares without
18 The Exchange notes that the Commission
reached the same conclusion in the Notice,
specifically stating: ‘‘The Commission believes that
the alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
maintain an ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
prices close to its NAV.’’ See the Notice at 19.
19 Statistical arbitrage enables a trader to
construct an accurate proxy for another instrument,
allowing it to hedge the other instrument or buy or
sell the instrument when it is cheap or expensive
in relation to the proxy. Statistical analysis permits
traders to discover correlations based purely on
trading data without regard to other fundamental
drivers. These correlations are a function of
differentials, over time, between one instrument or
group of instruments and one or more other
instruments. Once the nature of these price
deviations have been quantified, a universe of
securities is searched in an effort to, in the case of
a hedging strategy, minimize the differential. Once
a suitable hedging proxy has been identified, a
trader can minimize portfolio risk by executing the
hedging basket. The trader then can monitor the
performance of this hedge throughout the trade
period making corrections where warranted. In the
case of correlation hedging, the analysis seeks to
find a proxy that matches the pricing behavior of
a fund. In the case of beta hedging, the analysis
seeks to determine the relationship between the
price movement over time of a fund and that of
another stock. Dispersion trading is a hedged
strategy designed to take advantage of relative value
differences in implied volatilities between an index
and the component stocks of that index. Such
trading strategies will allow market participants to
engage in arbitrage between series of Managed
Portfolio Shares and other instruments, both
through the creation and redemption process and
strictly through arbitrage without such processes.
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precise knowledge 20 of a fund’s
underlying portfolio.21 This is similar to
certain other existing exchange traded
products (for example, ETFs that invest
in foreign securities that do not trade
during U.S. trading hours), in which
spreads may be generally wider in the
early days of trading and then narrow as
market makers gain more confidence in
their real-time hedges.
To protect the identity and weightings
of the portfolio holdings, a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares would sell
and redeem their shares in Creation
Units and Redemption Units to APs
only through an AP Representative. As
such, on each business day, before
commencement of trading in Shares on
the Exchange, each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares will provide to an AP
Representative of each AP the names
and quantities of the instruments
comprising a Creation Basket, i.e. the
Deposit Instruments or ‘‘Redemption
Instruments’’ and the estimated
‘‘Balancing Amount’’ (if any),22 for that
day (as further described below). This
information will permit APs to purchase
Creation Units or redeem Redemption
Units through an in-kind transaction
with a Fund, as described below.
Creations and Redemptions of Shares
In connection with the creation and
redemption of Creation Units and
Redemption Units, the delivery or
receipt of any portfolio securities inkind will be required to be effected
20 Using the various trading methodologies
described above, both APs and other market
participants will be able to hedge exposures by
trading correlative portfolios, securities or other
proxy instruments, thereby enabling an arbitrage
functionality throughout the trading day. For
example, if an AP believes that Shares of a Fund
are trading at a price that is higher than the value
of its underlying portfolio based on the VIIV, the
AP may sell Shares short and purchase securities
that the AP believes will track the movements of a
Fund’s portfolio until the spread narrows and the
AP executes offsetting orders or the AP enters an
order through its AP Representative to create Fund
Shares. Upon the completion of the Creation Unit,
the AP will unwind its correlative hedge. Similarly,
a non-AP market participant would be able to
perform an identical function but, because it would
not be able to create or redeem directly, would have
to employ an AP to create or redeem Shares on its
behalf.
21 APs that enter into their own separate
Confidential Accounts shall have enough
information to ensure that they are able to comply
with applicable regulatory requirements. For
example, for purposes of net capital requirements,
the maximum Securities Haircut applicable to the
securities in a Creation Basket, as determined under
Rule 15c3–1, will be disclosed daily on each Fund’s
website.
22 The Balancing Amount is the cash amount
necessary for the applicable Fund to receive or pay
to compensate for the difference between the value
of the securities delivered as part of a redemption
and the NAV, to the extent that such values are
different.
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through a Confidential Account 23 with
an AP Representative,24 which will be a
broker-dealer such as broker-dealer
affiliates of JP Morgan Chase, State
Street Bank and Trust, or Bank of New
York Mellon, for the benefit of an AP.25
An AP must be a Depository Trust
Company (‘‘DTC’’) Participant that has
executed a ‘‘Participant Agreement’’
with the applicable distributor (the
‘‘Distributor’’) with respect to the
creation and redemption of Creation
Units and Redemption Units and
formed a Confidential Account for its
benefit in accordance with the terms of
the Participant Agreement. For purposes
of creations or redemptions, all
transactions will be effected through the
respective AP’s Confidential Account,
for the benefit of the AP without
disclosing the identity of such securities
to the AP. The Funds will offer and
redeem Creation Units and Redemption
Units on a continuous basis at the NAV
per Share next determined after receipt
of an order in proper form. The NAV per
Share of each Fund will be determined
as of the close of regular trading each
business day. Funds will sell and
redeem Creation Units and Redemption
Units only on business days.
Each AP Representative will be given,
before the commencement of trading
each business day, the Creation Basket
for that day. The published Creation
Basket will apply until a new Creation
Basket is announced on the following
business day, and there will be no intraday changes to the Creation Basket
except to correct errors in the published
23 Transacting through a Confidential Account is
designed to be very similar to transacting through
any broker-dealer account, except that the AP
Representative will be bound to keep the names and
weights of the portfolio securities confidential. Each
service provider that has access to the identity and
weightings of securities in a Fund’s Creation Basket
or portfolio securities, such as a Fund’s custodian
or pricing verification agent, shall be restricted
contractually from disclosing that information to
any other person, or using that information for any
purpose other than providing services to the Fund.
To comply with certain recordkeeping requirements
applicable to APs, the AP Representative will
maintain and preserve, and make available to the
Commission, certain required records related to the
securities held in the Confidential Account.
24 Each AP shall enter into its own separate
Confidential Account with an AP Representative.
25 Each Fund will identify one or more entities to
enter into a contractual arrangement with the Fund
to serve as an AP Representative. In selecting
entities to serve as AP Representatives, a Fund will
obtain representations from the entity related to the
confidentiality of the Fund’s Creation Basket and
portfolio securities, the effectiveness of information
barriers, and the adequacy of insider trading
policies and procedures. In addition, as a brokerdealer, Section 15(g) of the Act requires the AP
Representative to establish, maintain, and enforce
written policies and procedures reasonably
designed to prevent the misuse of material,
nonpublic information by the AP Representative or
any person associated with the AP Representative.
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Creation Basket. In order to keep costs
low and permit Funds to be as fully
invested as possible, Shares will be
purchased and redeemed in Creation
Units and Redemption Units and
generally on an in-kind basis.
Accordingly, except where the purchase
or redemption will include cash under
the circumstances required or
determined permissible by the Fund,
APs will be required to purchase
Creation Units by making an in-kind
deposit of specified instruments
(‘‘Deposit Instruments’’), and APs
redeeming their Shares will receive an
in-kind transfer of Redemption
Instruments through the AP
Representative in their Confidential
Account.26
In the case of a creation, the AP 27
would enter into an irrevocable creation
order with a Fund and then direct the
AP Representative to purchase the
necessary basket of portfolio securities.
The AP Representative would then
purchase the necessary securities in the
Confidential Account. In purchasing the
necessary securities, the AP
Representative would use methods such
as breaking the purchase into multiple
purchases and transacting in multiple
marketplaces. Once the necessary basket
of securities has been acquired, the
purchased securities held in the
Confidential Account would be
contributed in-kind to the applicable
Fund.
Other market participants that are not
APs will not have the ability to create
or redeem shares directly with a Fund.
Rather, if other market participants wish
to create or redeem Shares in a Fund,
they will have to do so through an AP.
Placement of Purchase Orders
Each Fund will issue Shares through
the Distributor on a continuous basis at
NAV. The Exchange represents that the
issuance of Shares will operate in a
manner substantially similar to that of
other ETFs. Each Fund will issue Shares
only at the NAV per Share next
determined after an order in proper
form is received.
The Distributor will furnish
acknowledgements to those placing
orders that the orders have been
accepted, but the Distributor may reject
26 Funds must comply with the federal securities
laws in accepting Deposit Instruments and
satisfying redemptions with Redemption
Instruments, including that the Deposit Instruments
and Redemption Instruments are sold in
transactions that would be exempt from registration
under the 1933 Act.
27 An AP will issue execution instructions to the
AP Representative and be responsible for all
associated profit or losses. Like a traditional ETF,
the AP has the ability to sell the basket securities
at any point during Regular Trading Hours.
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any order which is not submitted in
proper form, as described in a Fund’s
prospectus or Statement of Additional
Information (‘‘SAI’’). The NAV of each
Fund is expected to be determined once
each business day at a time determined
by the board of the Investment Company
(‘‘Board’’), currently anticipated to be as
of the close of the regular trading
session on the NYSE (ordinarily 4:00
p.m. E.T.) (the ‘‘Valuation Time’’). Each
Fund will establish a cut-off time
(‘‘Order Cut-Off Time’’) for purchase
orders in proper form. To initiate a
purchase of Shares, an AP must submit
to the Distributor an irrevocable order to
purchase such Shares after the most
recent prior Valuation Time.
Purchases of Shares will be settled inkind and/or cash for an amount equal to
the applicable NAV per Share
purchased plus applicable ‘‘Transaction
Fees,’’ as discussed below.
Generally, all orders to purchase
Creation Units must be received by the
Distributor no later than the end of
Regular Trading Hours on the date such
order is placed (‘‘Transmittal Date’’) in
order for the purchaser to receive the
NAV per Share determined on the
Transmittal Date. In the case of custom
orders made in connection with
creations or redemptions in whole or in
part in cash, the order must be received
by the Distributor, no later than the
Order Cut-Off Time.28
Authorized Participant Redemption
The Shares may be redeemed to a
Fund in Redemption Unit size or
multiples thereof as described below.
Redemption orders of Redemption Units
must be placed by or through an AP
(‘‘AP Redemption Order’’). Each Fund
will establish an Order Cut-Off Time for
redemption orders of Redemption Units
in proper form. Redemption Units of a
Fund will be redeemable at their NAV
per Share next determined after receipt
of a request for redemption by the
Investment Company in the manner
specified below before the Order Cut-Off
Time. To initiate an AP Redemption
Order, an AP must submit to the
Distributor an irrevocable order to
redeem such Redemption Unit after the
most recent prior Valuation Time but
not later than the Order Cut-Off Time.
In the case of a redemption, the AP
would enter into an irrevocable
redemption order, and then instruct the
AP Representative to sell the underlying
basket of securities that it will receive
in the redemption. As with the purchase
28 A ‘‘custom order’’ is any purchase or
redemption of Shares made in whole or in part on
a cash basis, as provided in the Registration
Statement.
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of securities, the AP Representative
would be required to obfuscate the sale
of the portfolio securities it will receive
as redemption proceeds using similar
tactics.
Consistent with the provisions of
Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act and Rule
22e–2 thereunder, the right to redeem
will not be suspended, nor payment
upon redemption delayed, except for:
(1) Any period during which the
Exchange is closed other than
customary weekend and holiday
closings, (2) any period during which
trading on the Exchange is restricted, (3)
any period during which an emergency
exists as a result of which disposal by
a Fund of securities owned by it is not
reasonably practicable or it is not
reasonably practicable for a Fund to
determine its NAV, and (4) for such
other periods as the Commission may by
order permit for the protection of
shareholders.
It is expected that redemptions will
occur primarily in-kind, although
redemption payments may also be made
partly or wholly in cash. The Participant
Agreement signed by each AP will
require establishment of a Confidential
Account to receive distributions of
securities in-kind upon redemption.29
Each AP will be required to open a
Confidential Account with an AP
Representative in order to facilitate
orderly processing of redemptions.
After receipt of a Redemption Order,
a Fund’s custodian (‘‘Custodian’’) will
typically deliver securities to the
Confidential Account with a value
approximately equal to the value of the
Shares 30 tendered for redemption at the
Cut-Off time. The Custodian will make
delivery of the securities by appropriate
entries on its books and records
transferring ownership of the securities
to the AP’s Confidential Account,
subject to delivery of the Shares
redeemed. The AP Representative of the
Confidential Account will in turn
liquidate the securities based on
instructions from the AP. The AP
29 The terms of each Confidential Account will be
set forth as an exhibit to the applicable Participant
Agreement, which will be signed by each AP. The
Authorized Participant will be free to choose an AP
Representative for its Confidential Account from a
list of broker-dealers that have signed
confidentiality agreements with the Fund. The
Authorized Participant will be free to negotiate
account fees and brokerage charges with its selected
AP Representative. The Authorized Participant will
be responsible to pay all fees and expenses charged
by the AP Representative of its Confidential
Account.
30 If the NAV of the Shares redeemed differs from
the value of the securities delivered to the
applicable Confidential Account, the applicable
Fund will receive or pay a cash Balancing Amount
to compensate for the difference between the value
of the securities delivered and the NAV.
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Representative will pay the liquidation
proceeds net of expenses plus or minus
any cash Balancing Amount to the AP
through DTC. The redemption securities
that the Confidential Account receives
are expected to mirror the portfolio
holdings of a Fund pro rata. To the
extent a Fund distributes portfolio
securities through an in-kind
distribution to more than one
Confidential Account for the benefit of
the accounts’ respective APs, each Fund
expects to distribute a pro rata portion
of the portfolio securities selected for
distribution to each redeeming AP.
If the AP would receive a security that
it is restricted from receiving, for
example if the AP is engaged in a
distribution of the security, a Fund will
deliver cash equal to the value of that
security. APs will provide the AP
Representative with a list of restricted
securities applicable to the AP on a
daily basis, and a Fund will substitute
cash for those securities in the
applicable Confidential Account.
The Investment Company will accept
a Redemption Order in proper form. A
Redemption Order is subject to
acceptance by the Investment Company
and must be preceded or accompanied
by an irrevocable commitment to deliver
the requisite number of Shares. At the
time of settlement, an AP will initiate a
delivery of the Shares plus or minus any
cash Balancing Amounts, and less the
expenses of liquidation.
Surveillance
The Exchange believes that its
surveillance procedures are adequate to
properly monitor the trading of
Managed Portfolio Shares on the
Exchange during all trading sessions
and to deter and detect violations of
Exchange rules and the applicable
federal securities laws. Trading of
Managed Portfolio Shares through the
Exchange will be subject to the
Exchange’s surveillance procedures for
derivative products. The Exchange will
require the issuer of each series of
Managed Portfolio Shares listed on the
Exchange to represent to the Exchange
that it will advise the Exchange of any
failure by a Fund to comply with the
continued listing requirements, and,
pursuant to its obligations under
Section 19(g)(1) of the Exchange Act, the
Exchange will surveil for compliance
with the continued listing requirements.
Specifically, the Exchange will
implement real-time surveillances that
monitor for the continued dissemination
of the VIIV. The Exchange will also have
surveillances designed to alert Exchange
personnel where shares of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares are trading
away from the VIIV. As noted in
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proposed Rule 14.11(b)(3), the
Investment Company’s investment
adviser will upon request make
available to the Exchange and/or
FINRA, on behalf of the Exchange, the
daily portfolio holdings of each series of
Managed Portfolio Shares. The
Exchange believes that this is
appropriate because it will provide the
Exchange or FINRA, on behalf of the
Exchange, with access to the daily
portfolio holdings of any series of
Managed Portfolio Shares upon request
on an as needed basis. The Exchange
believes that the ability to access the
information on an as needed basis will
provide it with sufficient information to
perform the necessary regulatory
functions associated with listing and
trading series of Managed Portfolio
Shares on the Exchange, including the
ability to monitor compliance with the
initial and continued listing
requirements as well as the ability to
surveil for manipulation of the shares.
The Exchange notes that the
Exemptive Order restricts the investable
universe for a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares to include only certain
instruments that trade on a U.S.
exchange, contemporaneously with the
Shares, and in cash and cash
equivalents.31 As such, any equity
instruments or futures held by a Fund
operating under the Exemptive Order or
a substantively identical exemptive
order would trade on markets that are a
member of Intermarket Surveillance
Group (‘‘ISG’’) or affiliated with a
member of ISG or with which the
Exchange has in place a comprehensive
surveillance sharing agreement.32 While
future exemptive relief applicable to
Managed Portfolio Shares may expand
the investable universe, the Exchange
notes that proposed Rule 14.11(b)(1)
would require the Exchange to file
separate proposals under Section 19(b)
of the Act before listing and trading any
31 As described in the Notice, each series would
invest only in ETFs and exchange-traded notes,
common stocks, preferred stocks, American
depositary receipts, real estate investment trusts,
commodity pools, metals trusts, currency trusts and
futures. All of these instruments will trade on a U.S.
exchange contemporaneously with the Shares. The
reference assets of the exchange-traded futures in
which a Fund may invest would be assets that the
Fund could invest in directly, or in the case of an
index future, based on an index of a type of asset
that the Fund could invest in directly. A Fund may
also invest in cash and cash equivalents. No Fund
would buy securities that are illiquid investments
(as defined in rule 22e–4(a)(8) under the 1940 Act)
at the time of purchase, borrow for investment
purposes or hold short positions. See Notice at 12,
footnote 24.
32 For a list of the current members of ISG, see
www.isgportal.com. The Exchange notes that cash
equivalents may trade on markets that are members
of ISG or with which the Exchange has in place a
comprehensive surveillance sharing agreement.
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series of Managed Portfolio Shares and
such proposal would describe the
investable universe for any such series
of Managed Portfolio Shares along with
the Exchange’s surveillance procedures
applicable to such series.
In addition, the Exchange also has a
general policy prohibiting the
distribution of material, non-public
information by its employees.
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Trading Halts
As proposed above, the Exchange may
consider all relevant factors in
exercising its discretion to halt trading
in a series of Managed Portfolio Shares.
Trading may be halted because of
market conditions or for reasons that, in
the view of the Exchange, make trading
in the series of Managed Portfolio
Shares inadvisable. These may include:
(i) The extent to which trading is not
occurring in the securities and/or the
financial instruments composing the
portfolio; or (ii) whether other unusual
conditions or circumstances detrimental
to the maintenance of a fair and orderly
market are present. Additionally, the
Exchange would halt trading as soon as
practicable where the Exchange
becomes aware that: (i) The VIIV of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not
being calculated or disseminated in one
second intervals, as required; (ii) the net
asset value with respect to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not
disseminated to all market participants
at the same time; (iii) the holdings of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares are
not made available on at least a
quarterly basis as required under the
1940 Act; or (iv) such holdings are not
made available to all market
participants at the same time, (except as
otherwise permitted under the currently
applicable exemptive order or no-action
relief granted by the Commission or
Commission staff to the Investment
Company with respect to the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares) (collectively,
‘‘Availability of Information Halts’’).
The Exchange would halt trading in
such series of Managed Portfolio Shares
until such time as the VIIV, the NAV, or
the holdings are available, as required.
Availability of Information
As noted above, Form N–PORT
requires reporting of a fund’s complete
portfolio holdings on a position-byposition basis on a quarterly basis
within 60 days after fiscal quarter end.
Investors can obtain a fund’s Statement
of Additional Information, its
Shareholder Reports, its Form N–CSR,
filed twice a year, and its Form N–CEN,
filed annually. A fund’s SAI and
Shareholder Reports are available free
upon request from the Investment
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Company, and those documents and the
Form N–PORT, Form N–CSR, and Form
N–CEN may be viewed on-screen or
downloaded from the Commission’s
website at www.sec.gov.
Information regarding market price
and trading volume of the Shares will be
continually available on a real-time
basis throughout the day on brokers’
computer screens and other electronic
services. Information regarding the
previous day’s closing price and trading
volume information for the Shares will
be published daily in the financial
section of newspapers. Quotation and
last sale information for the Shares will
be available via the Consolidated Tape
Association (‘‘CTA’’) high-speed line. In
addition, the VIIV, as defined in
proposed Rule 14.11(c)(2), will be
widely disseminated by the Reporting
Authority and/or one or more major
market data vendors in one second
intervals during Regular Trading Hours.
Trading Rules
The Exchange deems Managed
Portfolio Shares to be equity securities,
thus rendering trading in the Shares
subject to the Exchange’s existing rules
governing the trading of equity
securities. Managed Portfolio Shares
will trade on the Exchange only during
Regular Trading Hours as provided in
proposed Rule 14.11(b)(2). As provided
in Exchange Rule 11.6(i), the minimum
price variation for quoting and entry of
orders in securities traded on the
Exchange is $0.01, with the exception of
securities that are priced less than
$1.00, for which the minimum price
variation for order entry is $0.0001.
Information Circular
Prior to the commencement of trading
of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares,
the Exchange will inform its members in
an Information Circular (‘‘Circular’’) of
the special characteristics and risks
associated with trading the Shares.
Specifically, the Circular will discuss
the following: (1) The procedures for
purchases and redemptions of Shares;
(2) EDGX Rule 3.7, which imposes
suitability obligations on Exchange
members with respect to recommending
transactions in the Shares to customers;
(3) how information regarding the VIIV
is disseminated; (4) the requirement that
members deliver a prospectus to
investors purchasing newly issued
Shares prior to or concurrently with the
confirmation of a transaction; (5) trading
information; and (6) that the portfolio
holdings of the Shares are not disclosed
on a daily basis.
In addition, the Circular will
reference that Funds are subject to
various fees and expenses described in
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the Registration Statement. The Circular
will discuss any exemptive, no-action,
and interpretive relief granted by the
Commission from any rules under the
Act. The Circular will also disclose that
the NAV for the Shares will be
calculated after 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time
each trading day.
Proposed Amendments to Rule 14.1(a)
Based on the Exchange’s proposal to
adopt Rule 14.11, the Exchange also
seeks to make corresponding changes to
Rule 14.1(a). Specifically, Rule 14.1(a)
currently provides that the provisions of
Rules 14.2 through 14.9 that permit the
listing of certain Equity Securities will
not be effective until the Exchange files
a proposed rule change under Section
19(b)(2) under the Exchange Act to
amend its rules to comply with Rule
10A–3 and 10C–1 under the Exchange
Act and to incorporate qualitative listing
criteria, and such proposed rule change
is approved by the Commission.
Therefore, the Exchange proposes to
amend Rule 14.1(a) to include Rule
14.11 in the aforementioned
provision.33 The Exchange proposes to
amend Rule 14.1(a) to include Managed
Portfolio Shares in the list of specified
Equity Securities.
2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the
proposal is consistent with Section 6(b)
of the Act 34 in general and Section
6(b)(5) of the Act 35 in particular in that
it is designed to prevent fraudulent and
manipulative acts and practices, to
promote just and equitable principles of
trade, to remove impediments to and
perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market and a national market
system, and, in general, to protect
investors and the public interest.
The Exchange believes that proposed
Rule 14.11 will remove impediments to
and perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market a national market system.
Specifically, the proposed amendment
raises no substantive issues that have
not otherwise been considered by the
Commission in the BZX Approval
Order, because this proposal is
substantively identical to that proposal,
with the exception that the Exchange is
only proposing to trade series of
Managed Portfolio Shares pursuant to
unlisted trading privileges, while BZX is
proposing to both list and trade series of
Managed Portfolio Shares.
The Exchange also believes that
proposed Rule 14.11 is designed to
33 All relevant securities are listed under
Exchange Rule 14.1(a).
34 15 U.S.C. 78f.
35 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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prevent fraudulent and manipulative
acts and practices in that the proposed
rules relating to listing and trading of
Managed Portfolio Shares provide
specific initial and continued listing
criteria required to be met by such
securities. Proposed Rule 14.11(d) sets
forth initial and continued listing
criteria applicable to Managed Portfolio
Shares. Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(A)
provides that, for each series of
Managed Portfolio Shares, the Exchange
will establish a minimum number of
Managed Portfolio Shares required to be
outstanding at the time of
commencement of trading on the
Exchange. In addition, proposed Rule
14.11(d)(1)(B) provides that the
Exchange will obtain a representation
from the Investment Company that
issues each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares that the NAV per share for the
series will be calculated daily and that
the NAV will be made available to all
market participants at the same time.36
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(C) provides
that all Managed Portfolio Shares shall
have a stated investment objective,
which shall be adhered to under normal
market conditions.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2) provides
that each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares will be listed and traded subject
to application of the specified continued
listing criteria, as described above.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(A) provides
that the VIIV for Managed Portfolio
Shares will be widely disseminated by
the Reporting Authority and/or one or
more major market data vendors in one
second intervals during Regular Trading
Hours and will be disseminated to all
market participants at the same time.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(B) provides
that the Exchange will consider the
suspension of trading in or removal of
listing of or termination of UTP for a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares
under any of the following
circumstances: (i) If, following the
initial twelve-month period after
commencement of trading on the
Exchange of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares, there are fewer than 50
beneficial holders of the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares for 30 or more
consecutive trading days; (ii) if the
Exchange has halted trading in a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares because the
Verified Intraday Indicative Value is
interrupted pursuant to Rule
14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such interruption
36 Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) provides that if
the Exchange becomes aware that the NAV with
respect to a series of Managed Portfolio Shares is
not disseminated to all market participants at the
same time, it will halt trading in such series until
such time as the NAV is available to all market
participants at the same time.
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persists past the trading day in which it
occurred or is no longer available; (iii)
if the Exchange has halted trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares
because the net asset value with respect
to such series of Managed Portfolio
Shares is not disseminated to all market
participants at the same time, the
holdings of such series of Managed
Portfolio Shares are not made available
on at least a quarterly basis as required
under the 1940 Act, or such holdings
are not made available to all market
participants at the same time pursuant
to Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such issue
persists past the trading day in which it
occurred; (iv) if the Exchange has halted
trading in a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares pursuant to Rule
14.11(d)(2)(C)(i), such issue persists past
the trading day in which it occurred; (v)
if the Investment Company issuing the
Managed Portfolio Shares has failed to
file any filings required by the
Commission or if the Exchange is aware
that the Investment Company is not in
compliance with the conditions of any
currently applicable exemptive order or
no-action relief granted by the
Commission or Commission staff to the
Investment Company with respect to the
series of Managed Portfolio Shares; (vi)
if any of the continued listing
requirements set forth in Rule 14.11 are
not continuously maintained; or (vii) if
such other event shall occur or
condition exists which, in the opinion
of the Exchange, makes further dealings
on the Exchange inadvisable. Proposed
Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(i) provides that the
Exchange may consider all relevant
factors in exercising its discretion to
halt trading in the series of Managed
Portfolio Shares. Trading may be halted
because of market conditions or for
reasons that, in the view of the
Exchange, make trading in the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares inadvisable.
These may include: (a) The extent to
which trading is not occurring in the
securities and/or the financial
instruments composing the portfolio; or
(b) whether other unusual conditions or
circumstances detrimental to the
maintenance of a fair and orderly
market are present.37
37 The Exchange notes that the Application
provides that the Investment Company or their
agent will request that the Exchange halt trading in
the applicable series of Managed Portfolio Shares
where: (i) The intraday indicative values calculated
by the calculation engine(s) differ by more than 25
basis points for 60 seconds in connection with
pricing of the Verified Intraday Indicative Value; or
(ii) holdings representing 10% or more of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares’ portfolio have become
subject to a trading halt or otherwise do not have
readily available market quotations. Any such
requests will be one of many factors considered in
order to determine whether to halt trading in a
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7347
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii)
provides that, if the Exchange becomes
aware that: (a) The VIIV of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not being
calculated or disseminated in one
second intervals, as required; (b) the net
asset value with respect to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not
disseminated to all market participants
at the same time; (c) the holdings of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares are
not made available on at least a
quarterly basis as required under the
1940 Act; or (d) such holdings are not
made available to all market
participants at the same time (except as
otherwise permitted under the currently
applicable exemptive order or no-action
relief granted by the Commission or
Commission staff to the Investment
Company with respect to the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares), it will halt
trading in such series until such time as
the VIIV, the net asset value, or the
holdings are available, as required.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(D) provides
that, upon termination of an Investment
Company, the Exchange requires that
Managed Portfolio Shares issued in
connection with such entity be removed
from Exchange listing. Proposed Rule
14.11(d)(2)(E) provides that voting rights
shall be as set forth in the applicable
Investment Company prospectus and/or
Statement of Additional Information.
The Exchange also notes that the Notice
provides that an issuer will comply with
Regulation Fair Disclosure, which
prohibits selective disclosure of any
material non-public information, which
otherwise do not apply to issuers of
Managed Portfolio Shares.38
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(4) provides
that, if the investment adviser to the
Investment Company issuing Managed
Portfolio Shares is registered as a
broker-dealer or is affiliated with a
broker-dealer, such investment adviser
will erect and maintain a ‘‘fire wall’’
between the investment adviser and
personnel of the broker-dealer or brokerdealer affiliate, as applicable, with
respect to access to information
concerning the composition of and/or
changes to such Investment Company
portfolio and/or the Creation Basket.
Any person related to the investment
adviser or Investment Company who
makes decisions pertaining to the
Investment Company’s portfolio
composition or has access to
information regarding the Investment
Company’s portfolio composition or
changes thereto or the Creation Basket
series of Managed Portfolio Shares and the
Exchange retains sole discretion in determining
whether trading should be halted.
38 See Notice at 15.
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must be subject to procedures designed
to prevent the use and dissemination of
material nonpublic information
regarding the applicable Investment
Company portfolio or changes thereto or
the Creation Basket. Proposed Rule
14.11(b)(5) provides that, any person or
entity, including an AP Representative,
custodian, Reporting Authority,
distributor, or administrator, who has
access to information regarding the
Investment Company’s portfolio
composition or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket, must be subject to
procedures designed to prevent the use
and dissemination of material
nonpublic information regarding the
applicable Investment Company
portfolio or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket. Moreover, if any such
person or entity is registered as a brokerdealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer,
such person or entity will erect and
maintain a ‘‘fire wall’’ between the
person or entity and the broker-dealer
with respect to access to information
concerning the composition and/or
changes to such Investment Company
portfolio or Creation Basket.39
39 The Exchange notes that the Order dismissed
concerns raised by a third party related to potential
violation of Section 10(b) of the Act, stating that
‘‘Contrary to the contentions advanced in the thirdparty submissions, the provision of the basket
composition information to the AP Representative
or use of that information by the AP Representative
as provided for in the Application should not give
rise to insider trading violations under section 10(b)
of the Exchange Act.’’ The notice goes on to say that
an AP Representative ‘‘acting as an agent of another
broker-dealer (‘‘AP’’) will be given information
concerning the identity and weightings of the
basket of securities that the ETF would exchange for
its shares (but not information concerning the
issuers of those underlying securities). The AP
Representative is provided this information by the
ETF so that, pursuant to instructions received from
an AP, the AP Representative may undertake the
purchase or redemption of the ETF’s Shares (in the
form of creation units) and the purchase or sale of
the basket of securities that are exchanged for
creation units. The ETFs will provide this
information to an AP Representative on a
confidential basis, the AP Representative is subject
to a duty of non-disclosure (which includes an
obligation not to provide this information to an AP),
and the AP Representative may not use the
information in any way except to facilitate the
operation of the ETF by purchasing or selling the
basket of securities and to exchange it with the ETF
to complete an AP’s orders to purchase or redeem
the ETF’s Shares. Furthermore, section 15(g) of the
Exchange Act requires an AP Representative, as a
registered broker, to establish, maintain, and
enforce written policies and procedures reasonably
designed to prevent the misuse of material
nonpublic information by the AP Representative or
any person associated with the AP Representative.’’
The Order goes on to say ‘‘For the foregoing
reasons, it is found that granting the requested
exemptions is appropriate in and consistent with
the public interest and consistent with the
protection of investors and the purposes fairly
intended by the policy and provisions of the Act.
It is further found that the terms of the proposed
transactions, including the consideration to be paid
or received, are reasonable and fair and do not
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The Exchange believes that these
proposed rules are designed to prevent
fraudulent and manipulative acts and
practices related to the listing and
trading of Managed Portfolio Shares
because they provide meaningful
requirements about both the data that
will be made publicly available about
the Shares as well as the information
that will only be available to certain
parties and the controls on such
information. Specifically, the Exchange
believes that the requirements related to
information protection enumerated
under proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5) 40 will
act as a strong safeguard against any
misuse and improper dissemination of
information related to a Fund’s portfolio
composition, the Creation Basket, or
changes thereto. The requirement that
any person or entity implement
procedures to prevent the use and
dissemination of material nonpublic
information regarding the portfolio or
Creation Basket will act to prevent any
individual or entity from sharing such
information externally and the internal
‘‘fire wall’’ requirements applicable
where an entity is a registered brokerdealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer
will act to make sure that no entity will
be able to misuse the data for their own
purposes. As such, the Exchange
believes that this proposal is designed to
prevent fraudulent and manipulative
acts and practices.
The Exchange believes that market
makers will be able to make efficient
and liquid markets priced near the VIIV,
as long as market makers have
knowledge of a Fund’s means of
achieving its investment objective, even
without daily disclosure of a fund’s
underlying portfolio.41 The Exchange
involve overreaching on the part of any person
concerned, and that the proposed transactions are
consistent with the policy of each registered
investment company concerned and with the
general purposes of the Act.’’ See Order at 2, 3, and
4.
40 As described above, proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5)
provides that any person or entity, including an AP
Representative, custodian, Reporting Authority,
distributor, or administrator, who has access to
information regarding the Investment Company’s
portfolio composition or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket, must be subject to procedures
designed to prevent the use and dissemination of
material nonpublic information regarding the
applicable Investment Company portfolio or
changes thereto or the Creation Basket. Moreover,
if any such person or entity is registered as a brokerdealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer, such
person or entity will erect and maintain a ‘‘fire
wall’’ between the person or entity and the brokerdealer with respect to access to information
concerning the composition and/or changes to such
Investment Company portfolio or Creation Basket.
41 The Exchange notes that the Commission
reached the same conclusion in the Notice,
specifically stating: ‘‘The Commission believes that
the alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
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believes that market makers will employ
risk-management techniques to make
efficient markets in exchange traded
products. This ability should permit
market makers to make efficient markets
in shares without knowledge of a fund’s
underlying portfolio.
The Exchange understands that
traders use statistical analysis to derive
correlations between different sets of
instruments to identify opportunities to
buy or sell one set of instruments when
it is mispriced relative to the others. For
Managed Portfolio Shares, market
makers utilizing statistical arbitrage use
the knowledge of a fund’s means of
achieving its investment objective, as
described in the applicable fund
registration statement, to construct a
hedging proxy for a fund to manage a
market maker’s quoting risk in
connection with trading fund shares.
Market makers will then conduct
statistical arbitrage between their
hedging proxy (for example, the Russell
1000 Index) and shares of a fund,
buying and selling one against the other
over the course of the trading day.
Eventually, at the end of each day, they
will evaluate how their proxy performed
in comparison to the price of a fund’s
shares, and use that analysis as well as
knowledge of risk metrics, such as
volatility and turnover, to enhance their
proxy calculation to make it a more
efficient hedge.
Market makers have indicated that
there will be sufficient data to run a
statistical analysis which will lead to
spreads being tightened substantially
around the VIIV. This is similar to
certain other existing exchange traded
products (for example, ETFs that invest
in foreign securities that do not trade
during U. S. trading hours), in which
spreads may be generally wider in the
early days of trading and then narrow as
market makers gain more confidence in
their real-time hedges.
Market makers also indicated that, as
with some other new exchange-traded
products, spreads would tend to narrow
as market makers gain more confidence
in the accuracy of their hedges and their
ability to adjust these hedges in realtime relative to the published VIIV and
gain an understanding of the applicable
market risk metrics such as volatility
and turnover, and as natural buyers and
sellers enter the market. Other relevant
factors cited by market makers were that
a fund’s investment objectives are
clearly disclosed in the applicable
prospectus, the existence of quarterly
portfolio disclosure and the ability to
create shares in creation unit size or
maintain an ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
prices close to its NAV.’’ See the Notice at 19.
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redeem in redemption unit size through
an AP.
The real-time dissemination of a
Fund’s VIIV together with the right of
APs to create and redeem each day at
the NAV will be sufficient for market
participants to value and trade Shares in
a manner that will not lead to
significant deviations between the
shares’ Bid/Ask Price and NAV.
The pricing efficiency with respect to
trading a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares will generally rest on the ability
of market participants to arbitrage
between the Shares and a fund’s
portfolio, in addition to the ability of
market participants to assess a fund’s
underlying value accurately enough
throughout the trading day in order to
hedge positions in shares effectively.
Professional traders can buy Shares that
they perceive to be trading at a price
less than that which will be available at
a subsequent time, and sell Shares they
perceive to be trading at a price higher
than that which will be available at a
subsequent time. It is expected that, as
part of their normal day-to-day trading
activity, market makers assigned to
Shares by the Exchange, off-exchange
market makers, firms that specialize in
electronic trading, hedge funds and
other professionals specializing in shortterm, non-fundamental trading
strategies will assume the risk of being
‘‘long’’ or ‘‘short’’ shares through such
trading and will hedge such risk wholly
or partly by simultaneously taking
positions in correlated assets 42 or by
netting the exposure against other,
offsetting trading positions—much as
such firms do with existing ETFs and
other equities. Disclosure of a fund’s
investment objective and principal
investment strategies in its prospectus
and SAI, along with the dissemination
of the VIIV in one second intervals,
should permit professional investors to
engage easily in this type of hedging
activity.43
42 Price correlation trading is used throughout the
financial industry. It is used to discover both
trading opportunities to be exploited, such as
currency pairs and statistical arbitrage, as well as
for risk mitigation such as dispersion trading and
beta hedging. These correlations are a function of
differentials, over time, between one or multiple
securities pricing. Once the nature of these price
deviations have been quantified, a universe of
securities is searched in an effort to, in the case of
a hedging strategy, minimize the differential. Once
a suitable hedging basket has been identified, a
trader can minimize portfolio risk by executing the
hedging basket. The trader then can monitor the
performance of this hedge throughout the trade
period, making corrections where warranted.
43 With respect to trading in the Shares, market
participants would manage risk in a variety of ways.
It is expected that market participants will be able
to determine how to trade Shares at levels
approximating the VIIV without taking undue risk
by gaining experience with how various market
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With respect to trading of the Shares,
the ability of market participants to buy
and sell Shares at prices near the VIIV
is dependent upon their assessment that
the VIIV is a reliable, indicative realtime value for a Fund’s underlying
holdings. Market participants are
expected to accept the VIIV as a reliable,
indicative real-time value because (1)
the VIIV will be calculated and
disseminated based on a Fund’s actual
portfolio holdings, (2) the securities in
which a Fund plans to invest are
generally highly liquid and actively
traded and therefore generally have
accurate real time pricing available, and
(3) market participants will have a daily
opportunity to evaluate whether the
VIIV at or near the close of trading is
indeed predictive of the actual NAV.44
In a typical index-based ETF, it is
standard for APs to know what
securities must be delivered in a
creation or will be received in a
redemption. For Managed Portfolio
Shares, however, APs do not need to
know the securities comprising the
portfolio of a Fund since creations and
redemptions are handled through the
Confidential Account mechanism. Inkind creations and redemptions through
a Confidential Account are expected to
preserve the integrity of the active
investment strategy and reduce the
potential for ‘‘free riding’’ or ‘‘frontrunning,’’ while still providing investors
with the advantages of the ETF
structure.
factors (e.g., general market movements, sensitivity
of the VIIV to intraday movements in interest rates
or commodity prices, etc.) affect VIIV, and by
finding hedges for their long or short positions in
Shares using instruments correlated with such
factors. Market participants will likely initially
determine the VIIV’s correlation to a major large
capitalization equity benchmark with active
derivative contracts, such as the Russell 1000 Index,
and the degree of sensitivity of the VIIV to changes
in that benchmark. For example, using hypothetical
numbers for illustrative purposes, market
participants should be able to determine quickly
that price movements in the Russell 1000 Index
predict movements in a Fund’s VIIV 95% of the
time (an acceptably high correlation) but that the
VIIV generally moves approximately half as much
as the Russell 1000 Index with each price
movement. This information is sufficient for market
participants to construct a reasonable hedge—buy
or sell an amount of futures, swaps or ETFs that
track the Russell 1000 equal to half the opposite
exposure taken with respect to Shares. Market
participants will also continuously compare the
intraday performance of their hedge to a Fund’s
VIIV. If the intraday performance of the hedge is
correlated with the VIIV to the expected degree,
market participants will feel comfortable they are
appropriately hedged and can rely on the VIIV as
appropriately indicative of a Fund’s performance.
44 The statements in the Statutory Basis section of
this filing relating to pricing efficiency, arbitrage,
and activities of market participants, including
market makers and APs, are based on statements in
the Exemptive Order, representations by Precidian,
and review by the Exchange.
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The proposed rule change is designed
to promote just and equitable principles
of trade and to protect investors and the
public interest in that the Exchange will
obtain a representation from the
Investment Company that issues each
series of Managed Portfolio Shares that
the NAV per share of a fund will be
calculated daily and that the NAV will
be made available to all market
participants at the same time. Investors
can also obtain a fund’s Statement of
Additional Information, its Shareholder
Reports, its Form N–CSR, filed twice a
year, and its Form N–CEN, filed
annually. A fund’s SAI and Shareholder
Reports are available free upon request
from the Investment Company, and
those documents and the Form N–
PORT, Form N–CSR, and Form N–CEN
may be viewed on-screen or
downloaded from the Commission’s
website at www.sec.gov. In addition, a
large amount of information will be
publicly available regarding the Funds
and the Shares, thereby promoting
market transparency. Quotation and last
sale information for the Shares will be
available via the CTA high-speed line.
Information regarding the VIIV will be
widely disseminated in one second
intervals throughout Regular Trading
Hours by the Reporting Authority and/
or one or more major market data
vendors. The website for each Fund will
include a form of the prospectus for the
Fund that may be downloaded, and
additional data relating to NAV and
other applicable quantitative
information, updated on a daily basis.
Moreover, prior to the commencement
of trading, the Exchange will inform its
members in a Circular of the special
characteristics and risks associated with
trading the Shares.
The Exchange further believes that the
proposal is designed to prevent
fraudulent and manipulative acts and
practices related to the listing and
trading of Managed Portfolio Shares and
to promote just and equitable principles
of trade and to protect investors and the
public interest in that the Exchange
would halt trading under certain
circumstances under which trading in
the shares of a Fund may be inadvisable.
Specifically, the Exchange may consider
all relevant factors in exercising its
discretion to halt trading in a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares. Trading may
be halted because of market conditions
or for reasons that, in the view of the
Exchange, make trading in the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares inadvisable.
These may include: (a) The extent to
which trading is not occurring in the
securities and/or the financial
instruments composing the portfolio; or
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(b) whether other unusual conditions or
circumstances detrimental to the
maintenance of a fair and orderly
market are present. Additionally, the
Exchange would halt trading as soon as
practicable where the Exchange
becomes aware that: (a) The VIIV of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not
being calculated or disseminated in one
second intervals, as required; (b) the net
asset value with respect to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not
disseminated to all market participants
at the same time; (c) the holdings of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares are
not made available on at least a
quarterly basis as required under the
1940 Act; or (d) such holdings are not
made available to all market
participants at the same time, (except as
otherwise permitted under the currently
applicable exemptive order or no-action
relief granted by the Commission or
Commission staff to the Investment
Company with respect to the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares). The
Exchange would halt trading in such
series of Managed Portfolio Shares until
such time as the VIIV, the NAV, or the
holdings are available, as required.
The Exchange is proposing to retain
discretion to halt trading in a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares based on
market conditions or where the
Exchange determines that trading in
such series is inadvisable (each a
‘‘Discretionary Halt’’) and is also
proposing the four Availability of
Information Halts described above. The
Exchange believes that retaining
discretion to implement a Discretionary
Halt as specified is consistent with the
Act. The proposed rule retaining
discretion related to halts is designed to
ensure the maintenance of a fair and
orderly market and protect investors
and the public interest in that it
provides the Exchange with the ability
to halt when it determines that trading
in the shares is inadvisable. This could
be based on the Exchange’s own
analysis of market conditions being
detrimental to a fair and orderly market
and/or information provided by the
Investment Company or its agent. There
are certain circumstances related to the
trading and dissemination of
information related to the underlying
holdings of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares, such as the extent to
which trading is not occurring in the
securities and/or financial instruments
composing the portfolio, that the
Exchange may not be in a position to
know or become aware of as
expeditiously as the Investment
Company or its agent. Also, as noted
above, there are certain circumstances
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in which the Application provides that
the Investment Company or their agent
will request that the Exchange halt
trading in the applicable series of
Managed Portfolio Shares.45 Upon
receipt of information and/or a request
from the Investment Company, the
Exchange would consider the
information and/or circumstances
leading to the request as well as other
factors both specific to such issue of
Managed Portfolio Shares and the
broader market in determining whether
trading in the series of Managed
Portfolio Shares is inadvisable and that
halting trading is necessary in order to
maintain a fair and orderly market. As
such, the Exchange believes that the
proposal to provide the Exchange with
discretion to implement a Discretionary
Halt is consistent with the Act.
The Exchange believes that the
proposed Availability of Information
Halts to halt trading in shares of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares are
consistent with the Act because: (i) The
Commission has already determined
that the requirement that the VIIV be
disseminated every second is
appropriate; 46 (ii) the other Availability
of Information Halts are generally
consistent with and designed to address
the same concerns about asymmetry of
information that Rule 14.1(c)(4)(B)
related to trading halts in managed fund
shares 47 is intended to address,
specifically that the availability of such
information is intended to reduce the
potential for manipulation and help
ensure a fair and orderly market in
Managed Portfolio Shares; 48 and (iii)
45 Specifically,
such circumstances include
where: (i) The intraday indicative values calculated
by the calculation engine(s) differ by more than 25
basis points for 60 seconds in connection with
pricing of the Verified Intraday Indicative Value; or
(ii) holdings representing 10% or more of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares’ portfolio have become
subject to a trading halt or otherwise do not have
readily available market quotations.
46 See Application at 4 and Notice at 11.
47 Rule 14.1(c)(4)(B) provides that ‘‘For a UTP
Derivative Security where a net asset value (and, in
the case of managed fund shares or actively
managed exchange-traded funds, a ‘‘disclosed
portfolio’’) is disseminated, the Exchange will
immediately halt trading in such security upon
notification by the listing market that the net asset
value and, if applicable, such disclosed portfolio, is
not being disseminated to all market participants at
the same time. The Exchange may resume trading
in the UTP Derivative Security only when trading
in the UTP Derivative Security resumes on the
listing market.’’
48 See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release No.
80169 (March 7, 2017), 82 FR 13536 (March 13,
2017); Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 54739
(November 9, 2006), 71 FR 66993, 66997 (November
17, 2006) (SR–AMEX–2006–78) (approving generic
listing standards for Portfolio Depositary Receipts
and Index Fund Shares based on international or
global indexes, and stating that ‘‘the proposed
listing standards are designed to preclude ETFs
from becoming surrogates for trading in
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the quarterly disclosure of portfolio
holdings is a fundamental component of
Managed Portfolio Shares that allows
market participants to better understand
the strategy of the funds and to monitor
how closely trading in the funds is
tracking the value of the underlying
portfolio and when such information is
not being disclosed as required, trading
in the shares is inadvisable and it is
necessary and appropriate to halt
trading. The proposed rule change is
designed to perfect the mechanism of a
free and open market and, in general, to
protect investors and the public interest
in that it will facilitate the listing and
trading of an additional type of activelymanaged exchange-traded product that
will enhance competition among market
participants, to the benefit of investors
and the marketplace. As noted above,
the Exchange has in place surveillance
procedures relating to trading in the
Shares and may obtain information via
ISG from other exchanges that are
members of ISG or with which the
Exchange has entered into a
comprehensive surveillance sharing
agreement. The Exemptive Order also
restricts the investable universe for a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares to
include only certain instruments that
trade on a U.S. exchange,
contemporaneously with the Shares,
and in cash and cash equivalents.49 As
such, any equity instruments or futures
held by a Fund operating under the
Exemptive Order or substantively
identical exemptive order would trade
unregistered securities’’ and that ‘‘the requirement
that each component security underlying an ETF be
listed on an exchange and subject to last-sale
reporting should contribute to the transparency of
the market for ETFs’’ and that ‘‘by requiring pricing
information for both the relevant underlying index
and the ETF to be readily available and
disseminated, the proposal is designed to ensure a
fair and orderly market for ETFs’’); 53142 (January
19, 2006), 71 FR 4180, 4186 (January 25, 2006) (SR–
NASD–2006–001) (approving generic listing
standards for Index-Linked Securities and stating
that ‘‘[t]he Commission believes that by requiring
pricing information for both the relevant underlying
index or indexes and the Index Security to be
readily available and disseminated, the proposed
listing standards should help ensure a fair and
orderly market for Index Securities’’).
49 As described in the Notice, each series would
invest only in ETFs and exchange-traded notes,
common stocks, preferred stocks, American
depositary receipts, real estate investment trusts,
commodity pools, metals trusts, currency trusts and
futures. All of these instruments will trade on a U.S.
exchange contemporaneously with the Shares. The
reference assets of the exchange-traded futures in
which a Fund may invest would be assets that the
Fund could invest in directly, or in the case of an
index future, based on an index of a type of asset
that the Fund could invest in directly. A Fund may
also invest in cash and cash equivalents. No Fund
would buy securities that are illiquid investments
(as defined in rule 22e–4(a)(8) under the 1940 Act)
at the time of purchase, borrow for investment
purposes or hold short positions.
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 2020 / Notices
on markets that are a member of
Intermarket Surveillance Group (‘‘ISG’’)
or affiliated with a member of ISG or
with which the Exchange has in place
a comprehensive surveillance sharing
agreement.50 While future exemptive
relief applicable to Managed Portfolio
Shares may expand the investable
universe, the Exchange notes that
proposed Rule 14.11(b)(1) would require
the Exchange to file separate proposals
under Section 19(b) of the Act before
listing any series of Managed Portfolio
Shares and such proposal would
describe the investable universe for any
such series of Managed Portfolio Shares
along with the Exchange’s surveillance
procedures applicable to such series. In
addition, as noted above, investors will
have ready access to information
regarding the VIIV and quotation and
last sale information for the Shares. The
Exchange believes that the proposed
amendments to Rule 14.1(a) is designed
to perfect the mechanism of a free and
open market and, in general, to protect
investors and the public interest in that
it will clarify that the provisions of
proposed Rule 14.11 that permit the
listing of Equity Securities will not be
effective until the Exchange files a
proposed rule change under Section
19(b)(2) under the Exchange Act to
amend its rules to comply with Rule
10A–3 and 10C–1 under the Exchange
Act and to incorporate qualitative listing
criteria, and such proposed rule change
is approved by the Commission.
Further, the proposed amendment will
clarify that Managed Portfolio Shares
meets the definition of Equity Security
under Exchange Rules.
For the above reasons, the Exchange
believes that the proposed rule change
is consistent with the requirements of
Section 6(b)(5) of the Act.
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that
the proposed rule change will impose
any burden on competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purpose of the Act. The Exchange
notes that the proposed rule change,
rather will facilitate the trading,
pursuant to UTP, of a new type of
actively-managed exchange-traded
products that will enhance competition
among both market participants and
listing venues, to the benefit of investors
and the marketplace.
50 The Exchange notes that cash equivalents may
trade on markets that are members of ISG or with
which the Exchange has in place a comprehensive
surveillance sharing agreement.
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C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Comments on the
Proposed Rule Change Received From
Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor
received comments on the proposed
rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
Because the proposed rule change
does not: (i) Significantly affect the
protection of investors or the public
interest; (ii) impose any significant
burden on competition; and (iii) become
operative for 30 days from the date on
which it was filed, or such shorter time
as the Commission may designate, it has
become effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 51 and Rule 19b–
4(f)(6) thereunder.52
A proposed rule change filed
pursuant to Rule 19b–4(f)(6) under the
Act 53 normally does not become
operative for 30 days after the date of its
filing. However, Rule 19b–4(f)(6)(iii) 54
permits the Commission to designate a
shorter time if such action is consistent
with the protection of investors and the
public interest. The Exchange has asked
the Commission to waive the 30-day
operative delay so that the proposal may
become operative upon filing. The
Exchange states that a waiver of the
operative delay is consistent with the
protection of investors and the public
interest because it would allow for the
immediate trading, pursuant to UTP, of
Managed Portfolio Shares on the
Exchange and therefore would provide
investors with an additional trading
venue option. The Commission believes
that waiver of the 30-day operative
delay is consistent with the protection
of investors and the public interest.
Therefore, the Commission hereby
waives the operative delay and
designates the proposed rule change
operative upon filing.55
At any time within 60 days of the
filing of the proposed rule change, the
Commission summarily may
51 15
U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). In addition, Rule19b–
4(f)(6)(iii) requires a self-regulatory organization to
give the Commission written notice of its intent to
file the proposed rule change, along with a brief
description and text of the proposed rule change,
at least five business days prior to the date of filing
of the proposed rule change, or such shorter time
as designated by the Commission. The Exchange
has satisfied this requirement.
53 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6).
54 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6)(iii).
55 For purposes only of waiving the 30-day
operative delay, the Commission also has
considered the proposed rule’s impact on
efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See
15 U.S.C. 78c(f).
52 17
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7351
temporarily suspend such rule change if
it appears to the Commission that such
action is necessary or appropriate in the
public interest, for the protection of
investors, or otherwise in furtherance of
the purposes of the Act. If the
Commission takes such action, the
Commission will institute proceedings
to determine whether the proposed rule
change should be approved or
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:
Electronic Comments
• Use the Commission’s internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an email to rule-comments@
sec.gov. Please include File Number SR–
CboeEDGX–2020–003 on the subject
line.
Paper Comments
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Secretary, Securities and Exchange
Commission, 100 F Street NE,
Washington, DC 20549–1090.
All submissions should refer to File
Number SR–CboeEDGX–2020–003. 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 website (https://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 website 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
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the
filing also will be available for
inspection and copying at the principal
office of the Exchange. All comments
received will be posted without change.
Persons submitting comments are
cautioned that we do not redact or edit
personal identifying information from
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comment submissions. You should
submit only information that you wish
to make available publicly. All
submissions should refer to File
Number SR–CboeEDGX–2020–003 and
should be submitted on or before
February 28, 2020.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.56
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020–02415 Filed 2–6–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–88112; File No. SR–
CboeBYX–2020–003]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe
BYX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing
and Immediate Effectiveness of a
Proposed Rule Change To Adopt Rule
14.11 To Permit the Trading, Pursuant
to Unlisted Trading Privileges, of
Managed Portfolio Shares, Which Are
Shares of Actively Managed ExchangeTraded Funds for Which the Portfolio
Is Disclosed in Accordance With
Standard Mutual Fund Disclosure
Rules
February 3, 2020.
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
notice is hereby given that on January
21, 2020, Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc. (the
‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BYX’’) filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(the ‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule
change as described in Items I and II
below, which Items have been prepared
by the Exchange. The Exchange filed the
proposal as a ‘‘non-controversial’’
proposed rule change pursuant to
Section 19(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Act 3 and
Rule 19b–4(f)(6) thereunder.4 The
Commission is publishing this notice to
solicit comments on the proposed rule
change from interested persons.
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Terms of Substance of
the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc. (the
‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BYX’’) is filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) a proposed rule change
to adopt Rule 14.11 to permit the
trading, pursuant to unlisted trading
56 17
CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
3 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(iii).
4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6).
1 15
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privileges, of Managed Portfolio Shares,
which are shares of actively managed
exchange-traded funds for which the
portfolio is disclosed in accordance
with standard mutual fund disclosure
rules. Additionally, the Exchange
proposes to make corresponding
changes to Rule 14.1(a) to reference
Managed Portfolio Shares and proposed
Rule 14.11, where applicable. The text
of the proposed rule change is provided
in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change
is also available on the Exchange’s
website (https://markets.cboe.com/us/
equities/regulation/rule_filings/byx/), at
the Exchange’s Office of the Secretary,
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, the
Exchange 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. The
Exchange 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
The Exchange proposes to adopt Rule
14.11 to permit the trading, pursuant to
unlisted trading privileges (‘‘UTP’’), of
Managed Portfolio Shares,5 which
substantially conforms to Cboe BZX
Exchange, Inc. (‘‘BZX’’) Rule 14.11(k).6
Additionally, the Exchange proposes to
make corresponding changes to Rule
14.1(a) to reference Managed Portfolio
Shares and proposed Rule 14.11, where
applicable.
The Exchange does not currently list
any securities as a primary listing
market. Consistent with this fact,
Exchange Rule 14.1(a) currently states
that all securities traded on the
Exchange are traded pursuant to UTP
and that the Exchange will not list any
securities before first filing and
5 Managed Portfolio Shares are actively managed
exchange-traded funds for which the portfolio is
disclosed in accordance with standard mutual fund
disclosure rules.
6 See Securities and Exchange Act Release No.
87759 (December 16, 2019) 84 FR 70223 (December
20, 2019) (SR–CboeBZX–2019–047) (the ‘‘BZX
Approval Order’’).
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obtaining Commission approval of rules
that incorporate qualitative listing
criteria and comply with Rules 10A–3 7
(‘‘Rule 10A–3’’) and 10C–1 8 (‘‘Rule
10C–1’’) under the Act. Therefore, the
provisions of existing Rules 14.2
through 14.9 and proposed Rule 14.11
that permit the listing of certain Equity
Securities 9 will not be effective until
the Exchange files a proposed rule
change under Section 19(b)(2) under the
Exchange Act to amend its rules to
comply with Rule 10A–3 and 10C–1
under the Exchange Act and to
incorporate qualitative listing criteria,
and such proposed rule change is
approved by the Commission.
Considering the foregoing, the Exchange
proposes to adopt Rule 14.11 as set forth
below.
Proposed Listing Rules
Proposed Rule 14.11(a) provides that
the Exchange will consider for trading,
whether by listing or pursuant to UTP,
Managed Portfolio Shares that meet the
criteria of Rule 14.11.10
7 Rule 10A–3 obligates the Exchange to prohibit
the initial or continued listing of any security of an
issuer that is not in compliance with certain
required standards. See 17 CFR 240.10A–3.
8 Rule 10C–1 obligates the Exchange to establish
listing standards that require each member of a
listed issuer’s compensation committee to be a
member of the issuer’s board and to be
independent, as well as establish certain factors that
an issuer must consider when evaluating the
independence of a director. See 17 CFR 240.10C–
1.
9 As provided in Rule 14.1(a), the term ‘‘Equity
Security’’ means, but is not limited to, common
stock, secondary classes of common stock, preferred
stock and similar issues, shares or certificates of
beneficial interest of trusts, notes, limited
partnership interests, warrants, certificates of
deposit for common stock, convertible debt
securities, ADRs, CVRs, Investment Company Units,
Trust Issued Receipts (including those based on
Investment Shares), Commodity-Based Trust
Shares, Currency Trust Shares, Partnership Units,
Equity-Linked Securities, Commodity-Linked
Securities, Currency-Linked Securities, Portfolio
Depositary Receipts and Equity-Linked Debt
Securities. Further, the Exchange now proposes to
include the term ‘‘Managed Portfolio Shares’’ to the
definition of Equity Security.
10 The Exchange notes that the unique
components of Managed Portfolio Shares were
addressed in an amended application for exemptive
relief that was filed on April 4, 2019 (the
‘‘Application’’) and for which public notice was
issued on April 8, 2019 (the ‘‘Notice’’) (File No.
812–14405) and subsequent order granting certain
exemptive relief to Precidian Funds LLC
(‘‘Precidian’’); Precidian ETFs Trust and Precidian
ETF Trust II; and Foreside Fund Services, LLC
issued on May 20, 2019 (the ‘‘Order’’ and,
collectively, with the Application and the Notice,
the ‘‘Exemptive Order’’). Specifically, the Notice
stated that the Commission ‘‘believes that the
alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
maintain an ActiveShares ETF’s secondary market
prices close to its NAV. The Commission
recognizes, however, that the lack of full
transparency may cause the ActiveShares ETFs to
trade with spreads and premiums/discounts that are
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7339-7352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02415]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-88110; File No. SR-CboeEDGX-2020-003]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice
of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To
Adopt Rule 14.11 To Permit the Trading, Pursuant to Unlisted Trading
Privileges, of Managed Portfolio Shares, Which Are Shares of Actively
Managed Exchange-Traded Funds for Which the Portfolio Is Disclosed in
Accordance With Standard Mutual Fund Disclosure Rules
February 3, 2020.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(the ``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given
that on January 21, 2020, Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or
``EDGX'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I and II
below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. The Exchange
filed the proposal as a ``non-controversial'' proposed rule change
pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Act \3\ and Rule 19b-
4(f)(6) thereunder.\4\ The Commission is publishing this notice to
solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
\2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
\3\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(iii).
\4\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance
of the Proposed Rule Change
Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``EDGX'') is filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') a proposed
rule change to adopt Rule 14.11 to permit the trading, pursuant to
unlisted trading privileges, of Managed Portfolio Shares, which are
shares of actively managed exchange-traded funds for which the
portfolio is disclosed in accordance with standard mutual fund
disclosure rules. Additionally, the Exchange proposes to make
corresponding changes to Rule 14.1(a) to reference Managed Portfolio
Shares and proposed Rule 14.11, where applicable. The text of the
proposed rule change is provided in Exhibit 5.
The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the
Exchange's website (https://markets.cboe.com/us/options/regulation/rule_filings/edgx/), at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary, 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, the Exchange 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. The Exchange 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
The Exchange proposes to adopt Rule 14.11 to permit the trading,
pursuant to unlisted trading privileges (``UTP''), of Managed Portfolio
Shares,\5\ which substantially conforms to Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.
(``BZX'') Rule 14.11(k).\6\ Additionally, the Exchange proposes to make
corresponding changes to Rule 14.1(a) to reference Managed Portfolio
Shares and proposed Rule 14.11, where applicable.
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\5\ Managed Portfolio Shares are actively managed exchange-
traded funds for which the portfolio is disclosed in accordance with
standard mutual fund disclosure rules.
\6\ See Securities and Exchange Act Release No. 87759 (December
16, 2019) 84 FR 70223 (December 20, 2019) (SR-CboeBZX-2019-047) (the
``BZX Approval Order'').
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The Exchange does not currently list any securities as a primary
listing market. Consistent with this fact, Exchange Rule 14.1(a)
currently states that all securities traded on the Exchange are traded
pursuant to UTP and that the Exchange will not list any securities
before first filing and obtaining Commission approval of rules that
incorporate qualitative listing criteria and comply with Rules 10A-3
\7\ (``Rule 10A-3'') and 10C-1 \8\ (``Rule 10C-1'') under the Act.
Therefore, the provisions of existing Rules 14.2
[[Page 7340]]
through 14.9 and proposed Rule 14.11 that permit the listing of certain
Equity Securities \9\ will not be effective until the Exchange files a
proposed rule change under Section 19(b)(2) under the Exchange Act to
amend its rules to comply with Rule 10A-3 and 10C-1 under the Exchange
Act and to incorporate qualitative listing criteria, and such proposed
rule change is approved by the Commission. Considering the foregoing,
the Exchange proposes to adopt Rule 14.11 as set forth below.
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\7\ Rule 10A-3 obligates the Exchange to prohibit the initial or
continued listing of any security of an issuer that is not in
compliance with certain required standards. See 17 CFR 240.10A-3.
\8\ Rule 10C-1 obligates the Exchange to establish listing
standards that require each member of a listed issuer's compensation
committee to be a member of the issuer's board and to be
independent, as well as establish certain factors that an issuer
must consider when evaluating the independence of a director. See 17
CFR 240.10C-1.
\9\ As provided in Rule 14.1(a), the term ``Equity Security''
means, but is not limited to, common stock, secondary classes of
common stock, preferred stock and similar issues, shares or
certificates of beneficial interest of trusts, notes, limited
partnership interests, warrants, certificates of deposit for common
stock, convertible debt securities, ADRs, CVRs, Investment Company
Units, Trust Issued Receipts (including those based on Investment
Shares), Commodity-Based Trust Shares, Currency Trust Shares,
Partnership Units, Equity-Linked Securities, Commodity-Linked
Securities, Currency-Linked Securities, Portfolio Depositary
Receipts and Equity-Linked Debt Securities. Further, the Exchange
now proposes to include the term ``Managed Portfolio Shares'' to the
definition of Equity Security.
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Proposed Listing Rules
Proposed Rule 14.11(a) provides that the Exchange will consider for
trading, whether by listing or pursuant to UTP, Managed Portfolio
Shares that meet the criteria of Rule 14.11.\10\
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\10\ The Exchange notes that the unique components of Managed
Portfolio Shares were addressed in an amended application for
exemptive relief that was filed on April 4, 2019 (the
``Application'') and for which public notice was issued on April 8,
2019 (the ``Notice'') (File No. 812-14405) and subsequent order
granting certain exemptive relief to Precidian Funds LLC
(``Precidian''); Precidian ETFs Trust and Precidian ETF Trust II;
and Foreside Fund Services, LLC issued on May 20, 2019 (the
``Order'' and, collectively, with the Application and the Notice,
the ``Exemptive Order''). Specifically, the Notice stated that the
Commission ``believes that the alternative arbitrage mechanism
proposed by Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
maintain an ActiveShares ETF's secondary market prices close to its
NAV. The Commission recognizes, however, that the lack of full
transparency may cause the ActiveShares ETFs to trade with spreads
and premiums/discounts that are larger than those of comparable,
fully transparent ETFs. Nonetheless, as long as arbitrage continues
to keep the ActiveShares ETF's secondary market price and NAV close,
and does so efficiently so that spreads remain narrow, the
Commission believes that investors would benefit from the
opportunity to invest in active strategies through a vehicle that
offers the traditional benefits of ETFs.'' See Investment Company
Act Release Nos. 33440.
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Proposed Rule 14.11(b) provides that Rule 14.11 is applicable only
to Managed Portfolio Shares and that, except to the extent inconsistent
with Rule 14.11, or unless the context otherwise requires, the rules
and procedures of the Exchange's Board of Directors shall be applicable
to the trading on the Exchange of such securities. Proposed Rule
14.11(b) provides further that Managed Portfolio Shares are included
within the definition of ``security'' or ``securities'' as such terms
are used in the Rules of the Exchange.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(1) provides that the Exchange will file
separate proposals under Section 19(b) of the Act before the listing
and trading of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(2) provides that transactions in Managed
Portfolio Shares will occur only during Regular Trading Hours.\11\
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\11\ As defined in Rule 1.5(y), the term ``Regular Trading
Hours'' means the time between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
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Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(3) provides that the Exchange will implement
and maintain written surveillance procedures for Managed Portfolio
Shares. As part of these surveillance procedures, the Investment
Company's investment adviser will upon request by the Exchange or
FINRA, on behalf of the Exchange, make available to the Exchange or
FINRA the daily portfolio holdings of each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(4) provides that, if the investment adviser
to the Investment Company issuing Managed Portfolio Shares is
registered as a broker-dealer or is affiliated with a broker-dealer,
such investment adviser will erect and maintain a ``fire wall'' between
the investment adviser and personnel of the broker-dealer or broker-
dealer affiliate, as applicable, with respect to access to information
concerning the composition of and/or changes to such Investment Company
portfolio and/or the Creation Basket. Any person related to the
investment adviser or Investment Company who makes decisions pertaining
to the Investment Company's portfolio composition or has access to
information regarding the Investment Company's portfolio composition or
changes thereto or the Creation Basket must be subject to procedures
designed to prevent the use and dissemination of material nonpublic
information regarding the applicable Investment Company portfolio or
changes thereto or the Creation Basket.
Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5) provides that any person or entity,
including an AP Representative, custodian, Reporting Authority,
distributor, or administrator, who has access to information regarding
the Investment Company's portfolio composition or changes thereto or
the Creation Basket, must be subject to procedures designed to prevent
the use and dissemination of material nonpublic information regarding
the applicable Investment Company portfolio or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket. Moreover, if any such person or entity is registered
as a broker-dealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer, such person or
entity will erect and maintain a ``fire wall'' between the person or
entity and the broker-dealer with respect to access to information
concerning the composition and/or changes to such Investment Company
portfolio or Creation Basket.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(1) defines the term ``Managed Portfolio
Share'' as a security that (a) represents an interest in an investment
company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940
(``Investment Company'') organized as an open-end management investment
company, that invests in a portfolio of securities selected by the
Investment Company's investment adviser consistent with the Investment
Company's investment objectives and policies; (b) is issued in a
Creation Unit, or multiples thereof, in return for a designated
portfolio of instruments (and/or an amount of cash) with a value equal
to the next determined net asset value and delivered to the Authorized
Participant (as defined in the Investment Company's Form N-1A filed
with the Commission) through a Confidential Account; (c) when
aggregated into a Redemption Unit, or multiples thereof, may be
redeemed for a designated portfolio of instruments (and/or an amount of
cash) with a value equal to the next determined net asset value
delivered to the Confidential Account for the benefit of the Authorized
Participant; and (d) the portfolio holdings for which are disclosed
within at least 60 days following the end of every fiscal quarter.\12\
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\12\ For purposes of this filing, references to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares are referred to interchangeably as a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares or as a ``Fund'' and shares of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares are generally referred to as the
``Shares''.
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Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(2) defines the term ``Verified Intraday
Indicative Value'' (``VIIV'') as the indicative value of a Managed
Portfolio Share based on all of the holdings of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares as of the close of business on the prior business day
and, for corporate actions, based on the applicable holdings as of the
opening of business on the current business day, priced and
disseminated in one second intervals during Regular Trading Hours by
the Reporting Authority.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(3) defines the term ``AP Representative'' as
an unaffiliated broker-dealer with which an
[[Page 7341]]
Authorized Participant has signed an agreement to establish a
Confidential Account for the benefit of such Authorized Participant,
that will deliver or receive, on behalf of the Authorized Participant,
all consideration to or from the Investment Company in a creation or
redemption. An AP Representative will not be permitted to disclose the
Creation Basket to any person, including the Authorized Participants.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(4) defines the term ``Confidential Account''
as an account owned by an Authorized Participant and held with an AP
Representative on behalf of the Authorized Participant. The account
will be established and governed by contractual agreement between the
AP Representative and the Authorized Participant solely for the
purposes of creation and redemption, while keeping confidential the
Creation Basket constituents of each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares, including from the Authorized Participant. The books and
records of the Confidential Account will be maintained by the AP
Representative on behalf of the Authorized Participant.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(5) defines the term ``Creation Basket'' as
on any given business day the names and quantities of the specified
instruments (and/or an amount of cash) that are required for an AP
Representative to deposit in-kind on behalf of an Authorized
Participant in exchange for a Creation Unit and the names and
quantities of the specified instruments (and/or an amount of cash) that
will be transferred in-kind to an AP Representative on behalf of an
Authorized Participant in exchange for a Redemption Unit, which will be
identical and will be transmitted to each AP Representative before the
commencement of trading.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(6) defines the term ``Creation Unit'' as a
specified minimum number of Managed Portfolio Shares issued by an
Investment Company at the request of an Authorized Participant in
return for a designated portfolio of instruments and/or cash.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(7) defines the term ``Redemption Unit'' as a
specified minimum number of Managed Portfolio Shares that may be
redeemed to an Investment Company at the request of an AP in return for
a portfolio of instruments and/or cash.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(8) defines the term ``Reporting Authority''
in respect of a particular series of Managed Portfolio Shares as the
Exchange, the exchange that lists a particular series of Managed
Portfolio Shares (if the Exchange is trading such series pursuant to
UTP), an institution, or a reporting service designated by the
Investment Company as the official source for calculating and reporting
information relating to such series, including, the net asset value
(the ``NAV''), the VIIV, or other information relating to the issuance,
redemption or trading of Managed Portfolio Shares. A series of Managed
Portfolio Shares may have more than one Reporting Authority, each
having different functions.
Proposed Rule 14.11(c)(9) provides that the term ``Normal Market
Conditions'' includes, but is not limited to, the absence of trading
halts in the applicable financial markets generally; operational issues
(e.g., systems failure) causing dissemination of inaccurate market
information; or force majeure type events such as natural or manmade
disaster, act of God, armed conflict, act of terrorism, riot or labor
disruption or any similar intervening circumstance.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1) sets forth initial listing criteria
applicable to Managed Portfolio Shares. Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(A)
provides that, for each series of Managed Portfolio Shares, the
Exchange will establish a minimum number of Managed Portfolio Shares
required to be outstanding at the time of commencement of trading on
the Exchange. In addition, proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(B) provides that
the Exchange will obtain a representation from the Investment Company
that issues each series of Managed Portfolio Shares that the NAV per
share for the series will be calculated daily and that the NAV will be
made available to all market participants at the same time. Proposed
Rule 14.11(d)(1)(C) provides that all Managed Portfolio Shares shall
have a stated investment objective, which shall be adhered to under
Normal Market Conditions.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2) provides that each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares will be listed and traded subject to application of
the following continued listing criteria. Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(A)
provides that the VIIV for Managed Portfolio Shares will be widely
disseminated by the Reporting Authority and/or by one or more major
market data vendors in one second intervals during Regular Trading
Hours and will be disseminated to all market participants at the same
time. Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(B) provides that the Exchange will
consider the suspension of trading in or removal from listing of or
termination of UTP for a series of Managed Portfolio Shares under any
of the following circumstances: (i) If, following the initial twelve-
month period after commencement of trading on the Exchange of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares, there are fewer than 50 beneficial holders
of the series of Managed Portfolio Shares for 30 or more consecutive
trading days; (ii) if the Exchange has halted trading in a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares because the VIIV is interrupted pursuant to
Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such interruption persists past the trading
day in which it occurred or is no longer available; (iii) if the
Exchange has halted trading in a series of Managed Portfolio Shares
because the NAV with respect to such series of Managed Portfolio Shares
is not disseminated to all market participants at the same time, the
holdings of such series of Managed Portfolio Shares are not made
available on at least a quarterly basis as required under the
Investment Company Act of 1940 (the ``1940 Act''), or such holdings are
not made available to all market participants at the same time pursuant
to Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such issue persists past the trading day
in which it occurred; (iv) if the Exchange has halted trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares pursuant to 14.11(d)(2)(C)(i), such
issue persists past the trading day in which it occurred; (v) if the
Investment Company issuing the Managed Portfolio Shares has failed to
file any filings required by the Commission or if the Exchange is aware
that the Investment Company is not in compliance with the conditions of
any currently applicable exemptive order or no-action relief granted by
the Commission or Commission staff to the Investment Company with
respect to the series of Managed Portfolio Shares; (vi) if any of the
continued listing requirements set forth in Rule 14.11 are not
continuously maintained; or (vii) if such other event shall occur or
condition exists which, in the opinion of the Exchange, makes further
dealings on the Exchange inadvisable.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(i) provides that the Exchange may
consider all relevant factors in exercising its discretion to halt
trading in a series of Managed Portfolio Shares. Trading may be halted
because of market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the
Exchange, make trading in the series of Managed Portfolio Shares
inadvisable. These may include: (a) The extent to which trading is not
occurring in the securities and/or the financial instruments composing
the portfolio; or (b) whether other unusual conditions or circumstances
detrimental to the maintenance of a fair and orderly market are
present.\13\
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\13\ The Exchange notes that the Application provides that the
Investment Company or their agent will request that the Exchange
halt trading in the applicable series of Managed Portfolio Shares
where: (i) The intraday indicative values calculated by the
calculation engine(s) differ by more than 25 basis points for 60
seconds in connection with pricing of the Verified Intraday
Indicative Value; or (ii) holdings representing 10% or more of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares' portfolio have become subject to
a trading halt or otherwise do not have readily available market
quotations. Any such requests will be one of many factors considered
in order to determine whether to halt trading in a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares and the Exchange retains sole discretion in
determining whether trading should be halted. As provided in the
Application and Notice, each series of Managed Portfolio Shares
would employ a pricing verification agent to continuously compare
two intraday indicative values during Regular Trading Hours in order
to ensure the accuracy of the Verified Intraday Indicative Value.
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[[Page 7342]]
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) provides that, if the Exchange
becomes aware that: (a) The Verified Intraday Indicative Value of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not being calculated or
disseminated in one second intervals, as required; (b) the net asset
value with respect to a series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not
disseminated to all market participants at the same time; (c) the
holdings of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares are not made available
on at least a quarterly basis as required under the 1940 Act; or (d)
such holdings are not made available to all market participants at the
same time, (except as otherwise permitted under the currently
applicable exemptive order or no-action relief granted by the
Commission or Commission staff to the Investment Company with respect
to the series of Managed Portfolio Shares), it will halt trading in
such series until such time as the Verified Intraday Indicative Value,
the net asset value, or the holdings are available, as required.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(D) provides that, upon termination of an
Investment Company, the Exchange requires that Managed Portfolio Shares
issued in connection with such entity be removed from Exchange listing.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(E) provides that voting rights shall be
as set forth in the applicable Investment Company prospectus and/or
statement of additional information.
Proposed Rule 14.11(e), which relates to limitation of Exchange
liability, provides that neither the Exchange, the Reporting Authority,
when the Exchange is acting in the capacity of a Reporting Authority,
nor any agent of the Exchange shall have any liability for damages,
claims, losses or expenses caused by any errors, omissions, or delays
in calculating or disseminating any current portfolio value; the
current value of the portfolio of securities required to be deposited
to the open-end management investment company in connection with
issuance of Managed Portfolio Shares; the VIIV; the amount of any
dividend equivalent payment or cash distribution to holders of Managed
Portfolio Shares; NAV; or other information relating to the purchase,
redemption, or trading of Managed Portfolio Shares, resulting from any
negligent act or omission by the Exchange, the Reporting Authority when
the Exchange is acting in the capacity of a Reporting Authority, or any
agent of the Exchange, or any act, condition, or cause beyond the
reasonable control of the Exchange, its agent, or the Reporting
Authority, when the Exchange is acting in the capacity of a Reporting
Authority, including, but not limited to, an act of God; fire; flood;
extraordinary weather conditions; war; insurrection; riot; strike;
accident; action of government; communications or power failure;
equipment or software malfunction; or any error, omission, or delay in
the reports of transactions in one or more underlying securities.
Proposed Rule 14.11(f), which relates to disclosures, provides that
the provisions of paragraph (f) apply only to series of Managed
Portfolio Shares that are the subject of an order by the Commission
exempting such series from certain prospectus delivery requirements
under Section 24(d) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and are not
otherwise subject to prospectus delivery requirements under the
Securities Act of 1933. The Exchange will inform its Members regarding
application of this subparagraph to a particular series of Managed
Portfolio Shares by means of an information circular prior to
commencement of trading in such series.
The Exchange requires that members provide to all purchasers of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares a written description of the terms
and characteristics of those securities, in a form prepared by the
open-end management investment company issuing such securities, not
later than the time a confirmation of the first transaction in such
series is delivered to such purchaser. In addition, members shall
include such a written description with any sales material relating to
a series of Managed Portfolio Shares that is provided to customers or
the public. Any other written materials provided by a member to
customers or the public making specific reference to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares as an investment vehicle must include a
statement in substantially the following form: ``A circular describing
the terms and characteristics of (the series of Managed Portfolio
Shares) has been prepared by the (open-end management investment
company name) and is available from your broker. It is recommended that
you obtain and review such circular before purchasing (the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares).''
A member carrying an omnibus account for a non-member broker-dealer
is required to inform such non-member that execution of an order to
purchase a series of Managed Portfolio Shares for such omnibus account
will be deemed to constitute agreement by the non-member to make such
written description available to its customers on the same terms as are
directly applicable to members under this rule.
Upon request of a customer, a member shall also provide a
prospectus for the particular series of Managed Portfolio Shares.
Key Features of Managed Portfolio Shares
While each series of Managed Portfolio Shares will be actively
managed and, to that extent, similar to Investment Company Units (as
defined in Rule 14.2), and more specifically managed fund shares.\14\
Managed Portfolio Shares differ from managed fund shares in the
following important respects.\15\ The primary listing market
[[Page 7343]]
for a series of managed fund shares generally requires daily
dissemination of the ``disclosed portfolio''.\16\ In contrast to
managed fund shares, the portfolio for a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares will be disclosed at least quarterly in accordance with normal
disclosure requirements otherwise applicable to open-end investment
companies registered under the 1940 Act.\17\ The composition of the
portfolio of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares would not be
available at commencement of Exchange listing and/or trading. Second,
in connection with the creation and redemption of shares in Creation
Unit or Redemption Unit size (as described below), the delivery of any
portfolio securities in kind will be effected through a Confidential
Account (as described below) for the benefit of the creating or
redeeming AP (as described further below in ``Creation and Redemption
of Shares'') without disclosing the identity of such securities to the
AP.
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\14\ ``Managed fund shares'' are a type of Investment Company
Unit. While not defined by Exchange Rules, BZX Rule 14.11(i) defines
a managed fund share as ``a security that (i) represents an interest
in a registered investment company (``Investment Company'')
organized as an open-end management investment company or similar
entity, that invests in a portfolio of securities selected by the
Investment Company's investment adviser consistent with the
Investment Company's investment objectives and policies; (ii) is
issued in a specified aggregate minimum number in return for a
deposit of a specified portfolio of securities and/or a cash amount
with a value equal to the next determined net asset value; and (iii)
when aggregated in the same specified minimum number, may be
redeemed at a holder's request, which holder will be paid a
specified portfolio of securities and/or cash with a value equal to
the next determined net asset value.''
\15\ The Exchange notes that these unique components of Managed
Portfolio Shares were addressed in an amended application for
exemptive relief that was filed on April 4, 2019 (the
``Application'') and for which public notice was issued on April 8,
2019 (the ``Notice'') (File No. 812-14405) and subsequent order
granting certain exemptive relief to Precidian Funds LLC
(``Precidian''); Precidian ETFs Trust and Precidian ETF Trust II;
and Foreside Fund Services, LLC issued on May 20, 2019 (the
``Order'' and, collectively, with the Application and the Notice,
the ``Exemptive Order''). Specifically, the Notice stated that the
Commission ``believes that the alternative arbitrage mechanism
proposed by Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to
maintain an ActiveShares ETF's secondary market prices close to its
NAV. The Commission recognizes, however, that the lack of full
transparency may cause the ActiveShares ETFs to trade with spreads
and premiums/discounts that are larger than those of comparable,
fully transparent ETFs. Nonetheless, as long as arbitrage continues
to keep the ActiveShares ETF's secondary market price and NAV close,
and does so efficiently so that spreads remain narrow, the
Commission believes that investors would benefit from the
opportunity to invest in active strategies through a vehicle that
offers the traditional benefits of ETFs.'' See Investment Company
Act Release Nos. 33440 and 33477.
\16\ See e.g., BZX Rule 14.11(i)(3)(B) which defines the term
``Disclosed Portfolio'' as the identities and quantities of the
securities and other assets held by the Investment Company that will
form the basis for the Investment Company's calculation of NAV at
the end of the business day. BZX Rule 14.11(i)(4)(B)(ii)(a) requires
that the Disclosed Portfolio will be disseminated at least once
daily and will be made available to all market participants at the
same time.
\17\ Form N-PORT requires reporting of a fund's complete
portfolio holdings on a position-by-position basis on a quarterly
basis within 60 days after fiscal quarter end. Investors can obtain
a fund's Statement of Additional Information, its Shareholder
Reports, its Form N-CSR, filed twice a year, and its Form N-CEN,
filed annually. A fund's SAI and Shareholder Reports are available
free upon request from the Investment Company, and those documents
and the Form N-PORT, Form N-CSR, and Form N-CEN may be viewed on-
screen or downloaded from the Commission's website at www.sec.gov.
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For each series of Managed Portfolio Shares, an estimated value--
the VIIV--that reflects an estimated intraday value of a fund's
portfolio will be disseminated. Specifically, the VIIV will be based
upon all of a series' holdings as of the close of the prior business
day and, for corporate actions, based on the applicable holdings as of
the opening of business on the current business day, and will be widely
disseminated by the Reporting Authority and/or one or more major market
data vendors in one second intervals during Regular Trading Hours. The
dissemination of the VIIV will allow investors to determine the
estimated intra-day value of the underlying portfolio of a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares and will provide a close estimate of that
value throughout the trading day.
The Exchange believes that market makers will be able to make
efficient and liquid markets priced near the ETF's intraday value as
long as a VIIV is disseminated in one second intervals,\18\ and market
makers employ market making techniques such as ``statistical
arbitrage,'' including correlation hedging, beta hedging, and
dispersion trading, which is currently used throughout the financial
services industry, to make efficient markets in exchange-traded
products.\19\ For Managed Portfolio Shares, market makers may use the
knowledge of a Fund's means of achieving its investment objective, as
described in the applicable Fund registration statement (the
``Registration Statement''), to construct a hedging proxy for a Fund to
manage a market maker's quoting risk in connection with trading Fund
Shares. Market makers can then conduct statistical arbitrage between
their hedging proxy (for example, the Russell 1000 Index) and Shares of
a Fund, buying and selling one against the other over the course of the
trading day. This ability should permit market makers to make efficient
markets in an issue of Managed Portfolio Shares without precise
knowledge \20\ of a fund's underlying portfolio.\21\ This is similar to
certain other existing exchange traded products (for example, ETFs that
invest in foreign securities that do not trade during U.S. trading
hours), in which spreads may be generally wider in the early days of
trading and then narrow as market makers gain more confidence in their
real-time hedges.
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\18\ The Exchange notes that the Commission reached the same
conclusion in the Notice, specifically stating: ``The Commission
believes that the alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to maintain an
ActiveShares ETF's secondary market prices close to its NAV.'' See
the Notice at 19.
\19\ Statistical arbitrage enables a trader to construct an
accurate proxy for another instrument, allowing it to hedge the
other instrument or buy or sell the instrument when it is cheap or
expensive in relation to the proxy. Statistical analysis permits
traders to discover correlations based purely on trading data
without regard to other fundamental drivers. These correlations are
a function of differentials, over time, between one instrument or
group of instruments and one or more other instruments. Once the
nature of these price deviations have been quantified, a universe of
securities is searched in an effort to, in the case of a hedging
strategy, minimize the differential. Once a suitable hedging proxy
has been identified, a trader can minimize portfolio risk by
executing the hedging basket. The trader then can monitor the
performance of this hedge throughout the trade period making
corrections where warranted. In the case of correlation hedging, the
analysis seeks to find a proxy that matches the pricing behavior of
a fund. In the case of beta hedging, the analysis seeks to determine
the relationship between the price movement over time of a fund and
that of another stock. Dispersion trading is a hedged strategy
designed to take advantage of relative value differences in implied
volatilities between an index and the component stocks of that
index. Such trading strategies will allow market participants to
engage in arbitrage between series of Managed Portfolio Shares and
other instruments, both through the creation and redemption process
and strictly through arbitrage without such processes.
\20\ Using the various trading methodologies described above,
both APs and other market participants will be able to hedge
exposures by trading correlative portfolios, securities or other
proxy instruments, thereby enabling an arbitrage functionality
throughout the trading day. For example, if an AP believes that
Shares of a Fund are trading at a price that is higher than the
value of its underlying portfolio based on the VIIV, the AP may sell
Shares short and purchase securities that the AP believes will track
the movements of a Fund's portfolio until the spread narrows and the
AP executes offsetting orders or the AP enters an order through its
AP Representative to create Fund Shares. Upon the completion of the
Creation Unit, the AP will unwind its correlative hedge. Similarly,
a non-AP market participant would be able to perform an identical
function but, because it would not be able to create or redeem
directly, would have to employ an AP to create or redeem Shares on
its behalf.
\21\ APs that enter into their own separate Confidential
Accounts shall have enough information to ensure that they are able
to comply with applicable regulatory requirements. For example, for
purposes of net capital requirements, the maximum Securities Haircut
applicable to the securities in a Creation Basket, as determined
under Rule 15c3-1, will be disclosed daily on each Fund's website.
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To protect the identity and weightings of the portfolio holdings, a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares would sell and redeem their shares
in Creation Units and Redemption Units to APs only through an AP
Representative. As such, on each business day, before commencement of
trading in Shares on the Exchange, each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares will provide to an AP Representative of each AP the names and
quantities of the instruments comprising a Creation Basket, i.e. the
Deposit Instruments or ``Redemption Instruments'' and the estimated
``Balancing Amount'' (if any),\22\ for that day (as further described
below). This information will permit APs to purchase Creation Units or
redeem Redemption Units through an in-kind transaction with a Fund, as
described below.
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\22\ The Balancing Amount is the cash amount necessary for the
applicable Fund to receive or pay to compensate for the difference
between the value of the securities delivered as part of a
redemption and the NAV, to the extent that such values are
different.
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Creations and Redemptions of Shares
In connection with the creation and redemption of Creation Units
and Redemption Units, the delivery or receipt of any portfolio
securities in-kind will be required to be effected
[[Page 7344]]
through a Confidential Account \23\ with an AP Representative,\24\
which will be a broker-dealer such as broker-dealer affiliates of JP
Morgan Chase, State Street Bank and Trust, or Bank of New York Mellon,
for the benefit of an AP.\25\ An AP must be a Depository Trust Company
(``DTC'') Participant that has executed a ``Participant Agreement''
with the applicable distributor (the ``Distributor'') with respect to
the creation and redemption of Creation Units and Redemption Units and
formed a Confidential Account for its benefit in accordance with the
terms of the Participant Agreement. For purposes of creations or
redemptions, all transactions will be effected through the respective
AP's Confidential Account, for the benefit of the AP without disclosing
the identity of such securities to the AP. The Funds will offer and
redeem Creation Units and Redemption Units on a continuous basis at the
NAV per Share next determined after receipt of an order in proper form.
The NAV per Share of each Fund will be determined as of the close of
regular trading each business day. Funds will sell and redeem Creation
Units and Redemption Units only on business days.
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\23\ Transacting through a Confidential Account is designed to
be very similar to transacting through any broker-dealer account,
except that the AP Representative will be bound to keep the names
and weights of the portfolio securities confidential. Each service
provider that has access to the identity and weightings of
securities in a Fund's Creation Basket or portfolio securities, such
as a Fund's custodian or pricing verification agent, shall be
restricted contractually from disclosing that information to any
other person, or using that information for any purpose other than
providing services to the Fund. To comply with certain recordkeeping
requirements applicable to APs, the AP Representative will maintain
and preserve, and make available to the Commission, certain required
records related to the securities held in the Confidential Account.
\24\ Each AP shall enter into its own separate Confidential
Account with an AP Representative.
\25\ Each Fund will identify one or more entities to enter into
a contractual arrangement with the Fund to serve as an AP
Representative. In selecting entities to serve as AP
Representatives, a Fund will obtain representations from the entity
related to the confidentiality of the Fund's Creation Basket and
portfolio securities, the effectiveness of information barriers, and
the adequacy of insider trading policies and procedures. In
addition, as a broker-dealer, Section 15(g) of the Act requires the
AP Representative to establish, maintain, and enforce written
policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of
material, nonpublic information by the AP Representative or any
person associated with the AP Representative.
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Each AP Representative will be given, before the commencement of
trading each business day, the Creation Basket for that day. The
published Creation Basket will apply until a new Creation Basket is
announced on the following business day, and there will be no intra-day
changes to the Creation Basket except to correct errors in the
published Creation Basket. In order to keep costs low and permit Funds
to be as fully invested as possible, Shares will be purchased and
redeemed in Creation Units and Redemption Units and generally on an in-
kind basis. Accordingly, except where the purchase or redemption will
include cash under the circumstances required or determined permissible
by the Fund, APs will be required to purchase Creation Units by making
an in-kind deposit of specified instruments (``Deposit Instruments''),
and APs redeeming their Shares will receive an in-kind transfer of
Redemption Instruments through the AP Representative in their
Confidential Account.\26\
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\26\ Funds must comply with the federal securities laws in
accepting Deposit Instruments and satisfying redemptions with
Redemption Instruments, including that the Deposit Instruments and
Redemption Instruments are sold in transactions that would be exempt
from registration under the 1933 Act.
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In the case of a creation, the AP \27\ would enter into an
irrevocable creation order with a Fund and then direct the AP
Representative to purchase the necessary basket of portfolio
securities. The AP Representative would then purchase the necessary
securities in the Confidential Account. In purchasing the necessary
securities, the AP Representative would use methods such as breaking
the purchase into multiple purchases and transacting in multiple
marketplaces. Once the necessary basket of securities has been
acquired, the purchased securities held in the Confidential Account
would be contributed in-kind to the applicable Fund.
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\27\ An AP will issue execution instructions to the AP
Representative and be responsible for all associated profit or
losses. Like a traditional ETF, the AP has the ability to sell the
basket securities at any point during Regular Trading Hours.
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Other market participants that are not APs will not have the
ability to create or redeem shares directly with a Fund. Rather, if
other market participants wish to create or redeem Shares in a Fund,
they will have to do so through an AP.
Placement of Purchase Orders
Each Fund will issue Shares through the Distributor on a continuous
basis at NAV. The Exchange represents that the issuance of Shares will
operate in a manner substantially similar to that of other ETFs. Each
Fund will issue Shares only at the NAV per Share next determined after
an order in proper form is received.
The Distributor will furnish acknowledgements to those placing
orders that the orders have been accepted, but the Distributor may
reject any order which is not submitted in proper form, as described in
a Fund's prospectus or Statement of Additional Information (``SAI'').
The NAV of each Fund is expected to be determined once each business
day at a time determined by the board of the Investment Company
(``Board''), currently anticipated to be as of the close of the regular
trading session on the NYSE (ordinarily 4:00 p.m. E.T.) (the
``Valuation Time''). Each Fund will establish a cut-off time (``Order
Cut-Off Time'') for purchase orders in proper form. To initiate a
purchase of Shares, an AP must submit to the Distributor an irrevocable
order to purchase such Shares after the most recent prior Valuation
Time.
Purchases of Shares will be settled in-kind and/or cash for an
amount equal to the applicable NAV per Share purchased plus applicable
``Transaction Fees,'' as discussed below.
Generally, all orders to purchase Creation Units must be received
by the Distributor no later than the end of Regular Trading Hours on
the date such order is placed (``Transmittal Date'') in order for the
purchaser to receive the NAV per Share determined on the Transmittal
Date. In the case of custom orders made in connection with creations or
redemptions in whole or in part in cash, the order must be received by
the Distributor, no later than the Order Cut-Off Time.\28\
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\28\ A ``custom order'' is any purchase or redemption of Shares
made in whole or in part on a cash basis, as provided in the
Registration Statement.
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Authorized Participant Redemption
The Shares may be redeemed to a Fund in Redemption Unit size or
multiples thereof as described below. Redemption orders of Redemption
Units must be placed by or through an AP (``AP Redemption Order'').
Each Fund will establish an Order Cut-Off Time for redemption orders of
Redemption Units in proper form. Redemption Units of a Fund will be
redeemable at their NAV per Share next determined after receipt of a
request for redemption by the Investment Company in the manner
specified below before the Order Cut-Off Time. To initiate an AP
Redemption Order, an AP must submit to the Distributor an irrevocable
order to redeem such Redemption Unit after the most recent prior
Valuation Time but not later than the Order Cut-Off Time.
In the case of a redemption, the AP would enter into an irrevocable
redemption order, and then instruct the AP Representative to sell the
underlying basket of securities that it will receive in the redemption.
As with the purchase
[[Page 7345]]
of securities, the AP Representative would be required to obfuscate the
sale of the portfolio securities it will receive as redemption proceeds
using similar tactics.
Consistent with the provisions of Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act and
Rule 22e-2 thereunder, the right to redeem will not be suspended, nor
payment upon redemption delayed, except for: (1) Any period during
which the Exchange is closed other than customary weekend and holiday
closings, (2) any period during which trading on the Exchange is
restricted, (3) any period during which an emergency exists as a result
of which disposal by a Fund of securities owned by it is not reasonably
practicable or it is not reasonably practicable for a Fund to determine
its NAV, and (4) for such other periods as the Commission may by order
permit for the protection of shareholders.
It is expected that redemptions will occur primarily in-kind,
although redemption payments may also be made partly or wholly in cash.
The Participant Agreement signed by each AP will require establishment
of a Confidential Account to receive distributions of securities in-
kind upon redemption.\29\ Each AP will be required to open a
Confidential Account with an AP Representative in order to facilitate
orderly processing of redemptions.
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\29\ The terms of each Confidential Account will be set forth as
an exhibit to the applicable Participant Agreement, which will be
signed by each AP. The Authorized Participant will be free to choose
an AP Representative for its Confidential Account from a list of
broker-dealers that have signed confidentiality agreements with the
Fund. The Authorized Participant will be free to negotiate account
fees and brokerage charges with its selected AP Representative. The
Authorized Participant will be responsible to pay all fees and
expenses charged by the AP Representative of its Confidential
Account.
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After receipt of a Redemption Order, a Fund's custodian
(``Custodian'') will typically deliver securities to the Confidential
Account with a value approximately equal to the value of the Shares
\30\ tendered for redemption at the Cut-Off time. The Custodian will
make delivery of the securities by appropriate entries on its books and
records transferring ownership of the securities to the AP's
Confidential Account, subject to delivery of the Shares redeemed. The
AP Representative of the Confidential Account will in turn liquidate
the securities based on instructions from the AP. The AP Representative
will pay the liquidation proceeds net of expenses plus or minus any
cash Balancing Amount to the AP through DTC. The redemption securities
that the Confidential Account receives are expected to mirror the
portfolio holdings of a Fund pro rata. To the extent a Fund distributes
portfolio securities through an in-kind distribution to more than one
Confidential Account for the benefit of the accounts' respective APs,
each Fund expects to distribute a pro rata portion of the portfolio
securities selected for distribution to each redeeming AP.
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\30\ If the NAV of the Shares redeemed differs from the value of
the securities delivered to the applicable Confidential Account, the
applicable Fund will receive or pay a cash Balancing Amount to
compensate for the difference between the value of the securities
delivered and the NAV.
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If the AP would receive a security that it is restricted from
receiving, for example if the AP is engaged in a distribution of the
security, a Fund will deliver cash equal to the value of that security.
APs will provide the AP Representative with a list of restricted
securities applicable to the AP on a daily basis, and a Fund will
substitute cash for those securities in the applicable Confidential
Account.
The Investment Company will accept a Redemption Order in proper
form. A Redemption Order is subject to acceptance by the Investment
Company and must be preceded or accompanied by an irrevocable
commitment to deliver the requisite number of Shares. At the time of
settlement, an AP will initiate a delivery of the Shares plus or minus
any cash Balancing Amounts, and less the expenses of liquidation.
Surveillance
The Exchange believes that its surveillance procedures are adequate
to properly monitor the trading of Managed Portfolio Shares on the
Exchange during all trading sessions and to deter and detect violations
of Exchange rules and the applicable federal securities laws. Trading
of Managed Portfolio Shares through the Exchange will be subject to the
Exchange's surveillance procedures for derivative products. The
Exchange will require the issuer of each series of Managed Portfolio
Shares listed on the Exchange to represent to the Exchange that it will
advise the Exchange of any failure by a Fund to comply with the
continued listing requirements, and, pursuant to its obligations under
Section 19(g)(1) of the Exchange Act, the Exchange will surveil for
compliance with the continued listing requirements.
Specifically, the Exchange will implement real-time surveillances
that monitor for the continued dissemination of the VIIV. The Exchange
will also have surveillances designed to alert Exchange personnel where
shares of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares are trading away from
the VIIV. As noted in proposed Rule 14.11(b)(3), the Investment
Company's investment adviser will upon request make available to the
Exchange and/or FINRA, on behalf of the Exchange, the daily portfolio
holdings of each series of Managed Portfolio Shares. The Exchange
believes that this is appropriate because it will provide the Exchange
or FINRA, on behalf of the Exchange, with access to the daily portfolio
holdings of any series of Managed Portfolio Shares upon request on an
as needed basis. The Exchange believes that the ability to access the
information on an as needed basis will provide it with sufficient
information to perform the necessary regulatory functions associated
with listing and trading series of Managed Portfolio Shares on the
Exchange, including the ability to monitor compliance with the initial
and continued listing requirements as well as the ability to surveil
for manipulation of the shares.
The Exchange notes that the Exemptive Order restricts the
investable universe for a series of Managed Portfolio Shares to include
only certain instruments that trade on a U.S. exchange,
contemporaneously with the Shares, and in cash and cash
equivalents.\31\ As such, any equity instruments or futures held by a
Fund operating under the Exemptive Order or a substantively identical
exemptive order would trade on markets that are a member of Intermarket
Surveillance Group (``ISG'') or affiliated with a member of ISG or with
which the Exchange has in place a comprehensive surveillance sharing
agreement.\32\ While future exemptive relief applicable to Managed
Portfolio Shares may expand the investable universe, the Exchange notes
that proposed Rule 14.11(b)(1) would require the Exchange to file
separate proposals under Section 19(b) of the Act before listing and
trading any
[[Page 7346]]
series of Managed Portfolio Shares and such proposal would describe the
investable universe for any such series of Managed Portfolio Shares
along with the Exchange's surveillance procedures applicable to such
series.
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\31\ As described in the Notice, each series would invest only
in ETFs and exchange-traded notes, common stocks, preferred stocks,
American depositary receipts, real estate investment trusts,
commodity pools, metals trusts, currency trusts and futures. All of
these instruments will trade on a U.S. exchange contemporaneously
with the Shares. The reference assets of the exchange-traded futures
in which a Fund may invest would be assets that the Fund could
invest in directly, or in the case of an index future, based on an
index of a type of asset that the Fund could invest in directly. A
Fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents. No Fund would buy
securities that are illiquid investments (as defined in rule 22e-
4(a)(8) under the 1940 Act) at the time of purchase, borrow for
investment purposes or hold short positions. See Notice at 12,
footnote 24.
\32\ For a list of the current members of ISG, see
www.isgportal.com. The Exchange notes that cash equivalents may
trade on markets that are members of ISG or with which the Exchange
has in place a comprehensive surveillance sharing agreement.
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In addition, the Exchange also has a general policy prohibiting the
distribution of material, non-public information by its employees.
Trading Halts
As proposed above, the Exchange may consider all relevant factors
in exercising its discretion to halt trading in a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares. Trading may be halted because of market conditions or
for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in the
series of Managed Portfolio Shares inadvisable. These may include: (i)
The extent to which trading is not occurring in the securities and/or
the financial instruments composing the portfolio; or (ii) whether
other unusual conditions or circumstances detrimental to the
maintenance of a fair and orderly market are present. Additionally, the
Exchange would halt trading as soon as practicable where the Exchange
becomes aware that: (i) The VIIV of a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares is not being calculated or disseminated in one second intervals,
as required; (ii) the net asset value with respect to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not disseminated to all market participants
at the same time; (iii) the holdings of a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares are not made available on at least a quarterly basis as required
under the 1940 Act; or (iv) such holdings are not made available to all
market participants at the same time, (except as otherwise permitted
under the currently applicable exemptive order or no-action relief
granted by the Commission or Commission staff to the Investment Company
with respect to the series of Managed Portfolio Shares) (collectively,
``Availability of Information Halts''). The Exchange would halt trading
in such series of Managed Portfolio Shares until such time as the VIIV,
the NAV, or the holdings are available, as required.
Availability of Information
As noted above, Form N-PORT requires reporting of a fund's complete
portfolio holdings on a position-by-position basis on a quarterly basis
within 60 days after fiscal quarter end. Investors can obtain a fund's
Statement of Additional Information, its Shareholder Reports, its Form
N-CSR, filed twice a year, and its Form N-CEN, filed annually. A fund's
SAI and Shareholder Reports are available free upon request from the
Investment Company, and those documents and the Form N-PORT, Form N-
CSR, and Form N-CEN may be viewed on-screen or downloaded from the
Commission's website at www.sec.gov.
Information regarding market price and trading volume of the Shares
will be continually available on a real-time basis throughout the day
on brokers' computer screens and other electronic services. Information
regarding the previous day's closing price and trading volume
information for the Shares will be published daily in the financial
section of newspapers. Quotation and last sale information for the
Shares will be available via the Consolidated Tape Association
(``CTA'') high-speed line. In addition, the VIIV, as defined in
proposed Rule 14.11(c)(2), will be widely disseminated by the Reporting
Authority and/or one or more major market data vendors in one second
intervals during Regular Trading Hours.
Trading Rules
The Exchange deems Managed Portfolio Shares to be equity
securities, thus rendering trading in the Shares subject to the
Exchange's existing rules governing the trading of equity securities.
Managed Portfolio Shares will trade on the Exchange only during Regular
Trading Hours as provided in proposed Rule 14.11(b)(2). As provided in
Exchange Rule 11.6(i), the minimum price variation for quoting and
entry of orders in securities traded on the Exchange is $0.01, with the
exception of securities that are priced less than $1.00, for which the
minimum price variation for order entry is $0.0001.
Information Circular
Prior to the commencement of trading of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares, the Exchange will inform its members in an
Information Circular (``Circular'') of the special characteristics and
risks associated with trading the Shares. Specifically, the Circular
will discuss the following: (1) The procedures for purchases and
redemptions of Shares; (2) EDGX Rule 3.7, which imposes suitability
obligations on Exchange members with respect to recommending
transactions in the Shares to customers; (3) how information regarding
the VIIV is disseminated; (4) the requirement that members deliver a
prospectus to investors purchasing newly issued Shares prior to or
concurrently with the confirmation of a transaction; (5) trading
information; and (6) that the portfolio holdings of the Shares are not
disclosed on a daily basis.
In addition, the Circular will reference that Funds are subject to
various fees and expenses described in the Registration Statement. The
Circular will discuss any exemptive, no-action, and interpretive relief
granted by the Commission from any rules under the Act. The Circular
will also disclose that the NAV for the Shares will be calculated after
4:00 p.m. Eastern Time each trading day.
Proposed Amendments to Rule 14.1(a)
Based on the Exchange's proposal to adopt Rule 14.11, the Exchange
also seeks to make corresponding changes to Rule 14.1(a). Specifically,
Rule 14.1(a) currently provides that the provisions of Rules 14.2
through 14.9 that permit the listing of certain Equity Securities will
not be effective until the Exchange files a proposed rule change under
Section 19(b)(2) under the Exchange Act to amend its rules to comply
with Rule 10A-3 and 10C-1 under the Exchange Act and to incorporate
qualitative listing criteria, and such proposed rule change is approved
by the Commission. Therefore, the Exchange proposes to amend Rule
14.1(a) to include Rule 14.11 in the aforementioned provision.\33\ The
Exchange proposes to amend Rule 14.1(a) to include Managed Portfolio
Shares in the list of specified Equity Securities.
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\33\ All relevant securities are listed under Exchange Rule
14.1(a).
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2. Statutory Basis
The Exchange believes that the proposal is consistent with Section
6(b) of the Act \34\ in general and Section 6(b)(5) of the Act \35\ in
particular in that it is designed to prevent fraudulent and
manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and equitable
principles of trade, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism
of a free and open market and a national market system, and, in
general, to protect investors and the public interest.
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\34\ 15 U.S.C. 78f.
\35\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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The Exchange believes that proposed Rule 14.11 will remove
impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market a
national market system. Specifically, the proposed amendment raises no
substantive issues that have not otherwise been considered by the
Commission in the BZX Approval Order, because this proposal is
substantively identical to that proposal, with the exception that the
Exchange is only proposing to trade series of Managed Portfolio Shares
pursuant to unlisted trading privileges, while BZX is proposing to both
list and trade series of Managed Portfolio Shares.
The Exchange also believes that proposed Rule 14.11 is designed to
[[Page 7347]]
prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices in that the
proposed rules relating to listing and trading of Managed Portfolio
Shares provide specific initial and continued listing criteria required
to be met by such securities. Proposed Rule 14.11(d) sets forth initial
and continued listing criteria applicable to Managed Portfolio Shares.
Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(A) provides that, for each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares, the Exchange will establish a minimum number of
Managed Portfolio Shares required to be outstanding at the time of
commencement of trading on the Exchange. In addition, proposed Rule
14.11(d)(1)(B) provides that the Exchange will obtain a representation
from the Investment Company that issues each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares that the NAV per share for the series will be
calculated daily and that the NAV will be made available to all market
participants at the same time.\36\ Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(1)(C)
provides that all Managed Portfolio Shares shall have a stated
investment objective, which shall be adhered to under normal market
conditions.
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\36\ Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) provides that if the
Exchange becomes aware that the NAV with respect to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not disseminated to all market
participants at the same time, it will halt trading in such series
until such time as the NAV is available to all market participants
at the same time.
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Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2) provides that each series of Managed
Portfolio Shares will be listed and traded subject to application of
the specified continued listing criteria, as described above. Proposed
Rule 14.11(d)(2)(A) provides that the VIIV for Managed Portfolio Shares
will be widely disseminated by the Reporting Authority and/or one or
more major market data vendors in one second intervals during Regular
Trading Hours and will be disseminated to all market participants at
the same time. Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(B) provides that the Exchange
will consider the suspension of trading in or removal of listing of or
termination of UTP for a series of Managed Portfolio Shares under any
of the following circumstances: (i) If, following the initial twelve-
month period after commencement of trading on the Exchange of a series
of Managed Portfolio Shares, there are fewer than 50 beneficial holders
of the series of Managed Portfolio Shares for 30 or more consecutive
trading days; (ii) if the Exchange has halted trading in a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares because the Verified Intraday Indicative Value
is interrupted pursuant to Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such
interruption persists past the trading day in which it occurred or is
no longer available; (iii) if the Exchange has halted trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares because the net asset value with
respect to such series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not disseminated
to all market participants at the same time, the holdings of such
series of Managed Portfolio Shares are not made available on at least a
quarterly basis as required under the 1940 Act, or such holdings are
not made available to all market participants at the same time pursuant
to Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) and such issue persists past the trading day
in which it occurred; (iv) if the Exchange has halted trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares pursuant to Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(i),
such issue persists past the trading day in which it occurred; (v) if
the Investment Company issuing the Managed Portfolio Shares has failed
to file any filings required by the Commission or if the Exchange is
aware that the Investment Company is not in compliance with the
conditions of any currently applicable exemptive order or no-action
relief granted by the Commission or Commission staff to the Investment
Company with respect to the series of Managed Portfolio Shares; (vi) if
any of the continued listing requirements set forth in Rule 14.11 are
not continuously maintained; or (vii) if such other event shall occur
or condition exists which, in the opinion of the Exchange, makes
further dealings on the Exchange inadvisable. Proposed Rule
14.11(d)(2)(C)(i) provides that the Exchange may consider all relevant
factors in exercising its discretion to halt trading in the series of
Managed Portfolio Shares. Trading may be halted because of market
conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make
trading in the series of Managed Portfolio Shares inadvisable. These
may include: (a) The extent to which trading is not occurring in the
securities and/or the financial instruments composing the portfolio; or
(b) whether other unusual conditions or circumstances detrimental to
the maintenance of a fair and orderly market are present.\37\
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\37\ The Exchange notes that the Application provides that the
Investment Company or their agent will request that the Exchange
halt trading in the applicable series of Managed Portfolio Shares
where: (i) The intraday indicative values calculated by the
calculation engine(s) differ by more than 25 basis points for 60
seconds in connection with pricing of the Verified Intraday
Indicative Value; or (ii) holdings representing 10% or more of a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares' portfolio have become subject to
a trading halt or otherwise do not have readily available market
quotations. Any such requests will be one of many factors considered
in order to determine whether to halt trading in a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares and the Exchange retains sole discretion in
determining whether trading should be halted.
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Proposed Rule 14.11(d)(2)(C)(ii) provides that, if the Exchange
becomes aware that: (a) The VIIV of a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares is not being calculated or disseminated in one second intervals,
as required; (b) the net asset value with respect to a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares is not disseminated to all market participants
at the same time; (c) the holdings of a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares are not made available on at least a quarterly basis as required
under the 1940 Act; or (d) such holdings are not made available to all
market participants at the same time (except as otherwise permitted
under the currently applicable exemptive order or no-action relief
granted by the Commission or Commission staff to the Investment Company
with respect to the series of Managed Portfolio Shares), it will halt
trading in such series until such time as the VIIV, the net asset
value, or the holdings are available, as required. Proposed Rule
14.11(d)(2)(D) provides that, upon termination of an Investment
Company, the Exchange requires that Managed Portfolio Shares issued in
connection with such entity be removed from Exchange listing. Proposed
Rule 14.11(d)(2)(E) provides that voting rights shall be as set forth
in the applicable Investment Company prospectus and/or Statement of
Additional Information. The Exchange also notes that the Notice
provides that an issuer will comply with Regulation Fair Disclosure,
which prohibits selective disclosure of any material non-public
information, which otherwise do not apply to issuers of Managed
Portfolio Shares.\38\
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\38\ See Notice at 15.
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Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(4) provides that, if the investment adviser
to the Investment Company issuing Managed Portfolio Shares is
registered as a broker-dealer or is affiliated with a broker-dealer,
such investment adviser will erect and maintain a ``fire wall'' between
the investment adviser and personnel of the broker-dealer or broker-
dealer affiliate, as applicable, with respect to access to information
concerning the composition of and/or changes to such Investment Company
portfolio and/or the Creation Basket. Any person related to the
investment adviser or Investment Company who makes decisions pertaining
to the Investment Company's portfolio composition or has access to
information regarding the Investment Company's portfolio composition or
changes thereto or the Creation Basket
[[Page 7348]]
must be subject to procedures designed to prevent the use and
dissemination of material nonpublic information regarding the
applicable Investment Company portfolio or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket. Proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5) provides that, any person or
entity, including an AP Representative, custodian, Reporting Authority,
distributor, or administrator, who has access to information regarding
the Investment Company's portfolio composition or changes thereto or
the Creation Basket, must be subject to procedures designed to prevent
the use and dissemination of material nonpublic information regarding
the applicable Investment Company portfolio or changes thereto or the
Creation Basket. Moreover, if any such person or entity is registered
as a broker-dealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer, such person or
entity will erect and maintain a ``fire wall'' between the person or
entity and the broker-dealer with respect to access to information
concerning the composition and/or changes to such Investment Company
portfolio or Creation Basket.\39\
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\39\ The Exchange notes that the Order dismissed concerns raised
by a third party related to potential violation of Section 10(b) of
the Act, stating that ``Contrary to the contentions advanced in the
third-party submissions, the provision of the basket composition
information to the AP Representative or use of that information by
the AP Representative as provided for in the Application should not
give rise to insider trading violations under section 10(b) of the
Exchange Act.'' The notice goes on to say that an AP Representative
``acting as an agent of another broker-dealer (``AP'') will be given
information concerning the identity and weightings of the basket of
securities that the ETF would exchange for its shares (but not
information concerning the issuers of those underlying securities).
The AP Representative is provided this information by the ETF so
that, pursuant to instructions received from an AP, the AP
Representative may undertake the purchase or redemption of the ETF's
Shares (in the form of creation units) and the purchase or sale of
the basket of securities that are exchanged for creation units. The
ETFs will provide this information to an AP Representative on a
confidential basis, the AP Representative is subject to a duty of
non-disclosure (which includes an obligation not to provide this
information to an AP), and the AP Representative may not use the
information in any way except to facilitate the operation of the ETF
by purchasing or selling the basket of securities and to exchange it
with the ETF to complete an AP's orders to purchase or redeem the
ETF's Shares. Furthermore, section 15(g) of the Exchange Act
requires an AP Representative, as a registered broker, to establish,
maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably
designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information by
the AP Representative or any person associated with the AP
Representative.'' The Order goes on to say ``For the foregoing
reasons, it is found that granting the requested exemptions is
appropriate in and consistent with the public interest and
consistent with the protection of investors and the purposes fairly
intended by the policy and provisions of the Act. It is further
found that the terms of the proposed transactions, including the
consideration to be paid or received, are reasonable and fair and do
not involve overreaching on the part of any person concerned, and
that the proposed transactions are consistent with the policy of
each registered investment company concerned and with the general
purposes of the Act.'' See Order at 2, 3, and 4.
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The Exchange believes that these proposed rules are designed to
prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices related to the
listing and trading of Managed Portfolio Shares because they provide
meaningful requirements about both the data that will be made publicly
available about the Shares as well as the information that will only be
available to certain parties and the controls on such information.
Specifically, the Exchange believes that the requirements related to
information protection enumerated under proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5) \40\
will act as a strong safeguard against any misuse and improper
dissemination of information related to a Fund's portfolio composition,
the Creation Basket, or changes thereto. The requirement that any
person or entity implement procedures to prevent the use and
dissemination of material nonpublic information regarding the portfolio
or Creation Basket will act to prevent any individual or entity from
sharing such information externally and the internal ``fire wall''
requirements applicable where an entity is a registered broker-dealer
or affiliated with a broker-dealer will act to make sure that no entity
will be able to misuse the data for their own purposes. As such, the
Exchange believes that this proposal is designed to prevent fraudulent
and manipulative acts and practices.
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\40\ As described above, proposed Rule 14.11(b)(5) provides that
any person or entity, including an AP Representative, custodian,
Reporting Authority, distributor, or administrator, who has access
to information regarding the Investment Company's portfolio
composition or changes thereto or the Creation Basket, must be
subject to procedures designed to prevent the use and dissemination
of material nonpublic information regarding the applicable
Investment Company portfolio or changes thereto or the Creation
Basket. Moreover, if any such person or entity is registered as a
broker-dealer or affiliated with a broker-dealer, such person or
entity will erect and maintain a ``fire wall'' between the person or
entity and the broker-dealer with respect to access to information
concerning the composition and/or changes to such Investment Company
portfolio or Creation Basket.
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The Exchange believes that market makers will be able to make
efficient and liquid markets priced near the VIIV, as long as market
makers have knowledge of a Fund's means of achieving its investment
objective, even without daily disclosure of a fund's underlying
portfolio.\41\ The Exchange believes that market makers will employ
risk-management techniques to make efficient markets in exchange traded
products. This ability should permit market makers to make efficient
markets in shares without knowledge of a fund's underlying portfolio.
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\41\ The Exchange notes that the Commission reached the same
conclusion in the Notice, specifically stating: ``The Commission
believes that the alternative arbitrage mechanism proposed by
Applicants can also work in an efficient manner to maintain an
ActiveShares ETF's secondary market prices close to its NAV.'' See
the Notice at 19.
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The Exchange understands that traders use statistical analysis to
derive correlations between different sets of instruments to identify
opportunities to buy or sell one set of instruments when it is
mispriced relative to the others. For Managed Portfolio Shares, market
makers utilizing statistical arbitrage use the knowledge of a fund's
means of achieving its investment objective, as described in the
applicable fund registration statement, to construct a hedging proxy
for a fund to manage a market maker's quoting risk in connection with
trading fund shares. Market makers will then conduct statistical
arbitrage between their hedging proxy (for example, the Russell 1000
Index) and shares of a fund, buying and selling one against the other
over the course of the trading day. Eventually, at the end of each day,
they will evaluate how their proxy performed in comparison to the price
of a fund's shares, and use that analysis as well as knowledge of risk
metrics, such as volatility and turnover, to enhance their proxy
calculation to make it a more efficient hedge.
Market makers have indicated that there will be sufficient data to
run a statistical analysis which will lead to spreads being tightened
substantially around the VIIV. This is similar to certain other
existing exchange traded products (for example, ETFs that invest in
foreign securities that do not trade during U. S. trading hours), in
which spreads may be generally wider in the early days of trading and
then narrow as market makers gain more confidence in their real-time
hedges.
Market makers also indicated that, as with some other new exchange-
traded products, spreads would tend to narrow as market makers gain
more confidence in the accuracy of their hedges and their ability to
adjust these hedges in real-time relative to the published VIIV and
gain an understanding of the applicable market risk metrics such as
volatility and turnover, and as natural buyers and sellers enter the
market. Other relevant factors cited by market makers were that a
fund's investment objectives are clearly disclosed in the applicable
prospectus, the existence of quarterly portfolio disclosure and the
ability to create shares in creation unit size or
[[Page 7349]]
redeem in redemption unit size through an AP.
The real-time dissemination of a Fund's VIIV together with the
right of APs to create and redeem each day at the NAV will be
sufficient for market participants to value and trade Shares in a
manner that will not lead to significant deviations between the shares'
Bid/Ask Price and NAV.
The pricing efficiency with respect to trading a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares will generally rest on the ability of market
participants to arbitrage between the Shares and a fund's portfolio, in
addition to the ability of market participants to assess a fund's
underlying value accurately enough throughout the trading day in order
to hedge positions in shares effectively. Professional traders can buy
Shares that they perceive to be trading at a price less than that which
will be available at a subsequent time, and sell Shares they perceive
to be trading at a price higher than that which will be available at a
subsequent time. It is expected that, as part of their normal day-to-
day trading activity, market makers assigned to Shares by the Exchange,
off-exchange market makers, firms that specialize in electronic
trading, hedge funds and other professionals specializing in short-
term, non-fundamental trading strategies will assume the risk of being
``long'' or ``short'' shares through such trading and will hedge such
risk wholly or partly by simultaneously taking positions in correlated
assets \42\ or by netting the exposure against other, offsetting
trading positions--much as such firms do with existing ETFs and other
equities. Disclosure of a fund's investment objective and principal
investment strategies in its prospectus and SAI, along with the
dissemination of the VIIV in one second intervals, should permit
professional investors to engage easily in this type of hedging
activity.\43\
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\42\ Price correlation trading is used throughout the financial
industry. It is used to discover both trading opportunities to be
exploited, such as currency pairs and statistical arbitrage, as well
as for risk mitigation such as dispersion trading and beta hedging.
These correlations are a function of differentials, over time,
between one or multiple securities pricing. Once the nature of these
price deviations have been quantified, a universe of securities is
searched in an effort to, in the case of a hedging strategy,
minimize the differential. Once a suitable hedging basket has been
identified, a trader can minimize portfolio risk by executing the
hedging basket. The trader then can monitor the performance of this
hedge throughout the trade period, making corrections where
warranted.
\43\ With respect to trading in the Shares, market participants
would manage risk in a variety of ways. It is expected that market
participants will be able to determine how to trade Shares at levels
approximating the VIIV without taking undue risk by gaining
experience with how various market factors (e.g., general market
movements, sensitivity of the VIIV to intraday movements in interest
rates or commodity prices, etc.) affect VIIV, and by finding hedges
for their long or short positions in Shares using instruments
correlated with such factors. Market participants will likely
initially determine the VIIV's correlation to a major large
capitalization equity benchmark with active derivative contracts,
such as the Russell 1000 Index, and the degree of sensitivity of the
VIIV to changes in that benchmark. For example, using hypothetical
numbers for illustrative purposes, market participants should be
able to determine quickly that price movements in the Russell 1000
Index predict movements in a Fund's VIIV 95% of the time (an
acceptably high correlation) but that the VIIV generally moves
approximately half as much as the Russell 1000 Index with each price
movement. This information is sufficient for market participants to
construct a reasonable hedge--buy or sell an amount of futures,
swaps or ETFs that track the Russell 1000 equal to half the opposite
exposure taken with respect to Shares. Market participants will also
continuously compare the intraday performance of their hedge to a
Fund's VIIV. If the intraday performance of the hedge is correlated
with the VIIV to the expected degree, market participants will feel
comfortable they are appropriately hedged and can rely on the VIIV
as appropriately indicative of a Fund's performance.
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With respect to trading of the Shares, the ability of market
participants to buy and sell Shares at prices near the VIIV is
dependent upon their assessment that the VIIV is a reliable, indicative
real-time value for a Fund's underlying holdings. Market participants
are expected to accept the VIIV as a reliable, indicative real-time
value because (1) the VIIV will be calculated and disseminated based on
a Fund's actual portfolio holdings, (2) the securities in which a Fund
plans to invest are generally highly liquid and actively traded and
therefore generally have accurate real time pricing available, and (3)
market participants will have a daily opportunity to evaluate whether
the VIIV at or near the close of trading is indeed predictive of the
actual NAV.\44\
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\44\ The statements in the Statutory Basis section of this
filing relating to pricing efficiency, arbitrage, and activities of
market participants, including market makers and APs, are based on
statements in the Exemptive Order, representations by Precidian, and
review by the Exchange.
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In a typical index-based ETF, it is standard for APs to know what
securities must be delivered in a creation or will be received in a
redemption. For Managed Portfolio Shares, however, APs do not need to
know the securities comprising the portfolio of a Fund since creations
and redemptions are handled through the Confidential Account mechanism.
In-kind creations and redemptions through a Confidential Account are
expected to preserve the integrity of the active investment strategy
and reduce the potential for ``free riding'' or ``front-running,''
while still providing investors with the advantages of the ETF
structure.
The proposed rule change is designed to promote just and equitable
principles of trade and to protect investors and the public interest in
that the Exchange will obtain a representation from the Investment
Company that issues each series of Managed Portfolio Shares that the
NAV per share of a fund will be calculated daily and that the NAV will
be made available to all market participants at the same time.
Investors can also obtain a fund's Statement of Additional Information,
its Shareholder Reports, its Form N-CSR, filed twice a year, and its
Form N-CEN, filed annually. A fund's SAI and Shareholder Reports are
available free upon request from the Investment Company, and those
documents and the Form N-PORT, Form N-CSR, and Form N-CEN may be viewed
on-screen or downloaded from the Commission's website at www.sec.gov.
In addition, a large amount of information will be publicly available
regarding the Funds and the Shares, thereby promoting market
transparency. Quotation and last sale information for the Shares will
be available via the CTA high-speed line. Information regarding the
VIIV will be widely disseminated in one second intervals throughout
Regular Trading Hours by the Reporting Authority and/or one or more
major market data vendors. The website for each Fund will include a
form of the prospectus for the Fund that may be downloaded, and
additional data relating to NAV and other applicable quantitative
information, updated on a daily basis. Moreover, prior to the
commencement of trading, the Exchange will inform its members in a
Circular of the special characteristics and risks associated with
trading the Shares.
The Exchange further believes that the proposal is designed to
prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices related to the
listing and trading of Managed Portfolio Shares and to promote just and
equitable principles of trade and to protect investors and the public
interest in that the Exchange would halt trading under certain
circumstances under which trading in the shares of a Fund may be
inadvisable. Specifically, the Exchange may consider all relevant
factors in exercising its discretion to halt trading in a series of
Managed Portfolio Shares. Trading may be halted because of market
conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make
trading in the series of Managed Portfolio Shares inadvisable. These
may include: (a) The extent to which trading is not occurring in the
securities and/or the financial instruments composing the portfolio; or
[[Page 7350]]
(b) whether other unusual conditions or circumstances detrimental to
the maintenance of a fair and orderly market are present. Additionally,
the Exchange would halt trading as soon as practicable where the
Exchange becomes aware that: (a) The VIIV of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares is not being calculated or disseminated in one second
intervals, as required; (b) the net asset value with respect to a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares is not disseminated to all market
participants at the same time; (c) the holdings of a series of Managed
Portfolio Shares are not made available on at least a quarterly basis
as required under the 1940 Act; or (d) such holdings are not made
available to all market participants at the same time, (except as
otherwise permitted under the currently applicable exemptive order or
no-action relief granted by the Commission or Commission staff to the
Investment Company with respect to the series of Managed Portfolio
Shares). The Exchange would halt trading in such series of Managed
Portfolio Shares until such time as the VIIV, the NAV, or the holdings
are available, as required.
The Exchange is proposing to retain discretion to halt trading in a
series of Managed Portfolio Shares based on market conditions or where
the Exchange determines that trading in such series is inadvisable
(each a ``Discretionary Halt'') and is also proposing the four
Availability of Information Halts described above. The Exchange
believes that retaining discretion to implement a Discretionary Halt as
specified is consistent with the Act. The proposed rule retaining
discretion related to halts is designed to ensure the maintenance of a
fair and orderly market and protect investors and the public interest
in that it provides the Exchange with the ability to halt when it
determines that trading in the shares is inadvisable. This could be
based on the Exchange's own analysis of market conditions being
detrimental to a fair and orderly market and/or information provided by
the Investment Company or its agent. There are certain circumstances
related to the trading and dissemination of information related to the
underlying holdings of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares, such as
the extent to which trading is not occurring in the securities and/or
financial instruments composing the portfolio, that the Exchange may
not be in a position to know or become aware of as expeditiously as the
Investment Company or its agent. Also, as noted above, there are
certain circumstances in which the Application provides that the
Investment Company or their agent will request that the Exchange halt
trading in the applicable series of Managed Portfolio Shares.\45\ Upon
receipt of information and/or a request from the Investment Company,
the Exchange would consider the information and/or circumstances
leading to the request as well as other factors both specific to such
issue of Managed Portfolio Shares and the broader market in determining
whether trading in the series of Managed Portfolio Shares is
inadvisable and that halting trading is necessary in order to maintain
a fair and orderly market. As such, the Exchange believes that the
proposal to provide the Exchange with discretion to implement a
Discretionary Halt is consistent with the Act.
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\45\ Specifically, such circumstances include where: (i) The
intraday indicative values calculated by the calculation engine(s)
differ by more than 25 basis points for 60 seconds in connection
with pricing of the Verified Intraday Indicative Value; or (ii)
holdings representing 10% or more of a series of Managed Portfolio
Shares' portfolio have become subject to a trading halt or otherwise
do not have readily available market quotations.
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The Exchange believes that the proposed Availability of Information
Halts to halt trading in shares of a series of Managed Portfolio Shares
are consistent with the Act because: (i) The Commission has already
determined that the requirement that the VIIV be disseminated every
second is appropriate; \46\ (ii) the other Availability of Information
Halts are generally consistent with and designed to address the same
concerns about asymmetry of information that Rule 14.1(c)(4)(B) related
to trading halts in managed fund shares \47\ is intended to address,
specifically that the availability of such information is intended to
reduce the potential for manipulation and help ensure a fair and
orderly market in Managed Portfolio Shares; \48\ and (iii) the
quarterly disclosure of portfolio holdings is a fundamental component
of Managed Portfolio Shares that allows market participants to better
understand the strategy of the funds and to monitor how closely trading
in the funds is tracking the value of the underlying portfolio and when
such information is not being disclosed as required, trading in the
shares is inadvisable and it is necessary and appropriate to halt
trading. The proposed rule change is designed to perfect the mechanism
of a free and open market and, in general, to protect investors and the
public interest in that it will facilitate the listing and trading of
an additional type of actively-managed exchange-traded product that
will enhance competition among market participants, to the benefit of
investors and the marketplace. As noted above, the Exchange has in
place surveillance procedures relating to trading in the Shares and may
obtain information via ISG from other exchanges that are members of ISG
or with which the Exchange has entered into a comprehensive
surveillance sharing agreement. The Exemptive Order also restricts the
investable universe for a series of Managed Portfolio Shares to include
only certain instruments that trade on a U.S. exchange,
contemporaneously with the Shares, and in cash and cash
equivalents.\49\ As such, any equity instruments or futures held by a
Fund operating under the Exemptive Order or substantively identical
exemptive order would trade
[[Page 7351]]
on markets that are a member of Intermarket Surveillance Group
(``ISG'') or affiliated with a member of ISG or with which the Exchange
has in place a comprehensive surveillance sharing agreement.\50\ While
future exemptive relief applicable to Managed Portfolio Shares may
expand the investable universe, the Exchange notes that proposed Rule
14.11(b)(1) would require the Exchange to file separate proposals under
Section 19(b) of the Act before listing any series of Managed Portfolio
Shares and such proposal would describe the investable universe for any
such series of Managed Portfolio Shares along with the Exchange's
surveillance procedures applicable to such series. In addition, as
noted above, investors will have ready access to information regarding
the VIIV and quotation and last sale information for the Shares. The
Exchange believes that the proposed amendments to Rule 14.1(a) is
designed to perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and, in
general, to protect investors and the public interest in that it will
clarify that the provisions of proposed Rule 14.11 that permit the
listing of Equity Securities will not be effective until the Exchange
files a proposed rule change under Section 19(b)(2) under the Exchange
Act to amend its rules to comply with Rule 10A-3 and 10C-1 under the
Exchange Act and to incorporate qualitative listing criteria, and such
proposed rule change is approved by the Commission. Further, the
proposed amendment will clarify that Managed Portfolio Shares meets the
definition of Equity Security under Exchange Rules.
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\46\ See Application at 4 and Notice at 11.
\47\ Rule 14.1(c)(4)(B) provides that ``For a UTP Derivative
Security where a net asset value (and, in the case of managed fund
shares or actively managed exchange-traded funds, a ``disclosed
portfolio'') is disseminated, the Exchange will immediately halt
trading in such security upon notification by the listing market
that the net asset value and, if applicable, such disclosed
portfolio, is not being disseminated to all market participants at
the same time. The Exchange may resume trading in the UTP Derivative
Security only when trading in the UTP Derivative Security resumes on
the listing market.''
\48\ See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release No. 80169 (March
7, 2017), 82 FR 13536 (March 13, 2017); Securities Exchange Act
Release Nos. 54739 (November 9, 2006), 71 FR 66993, 66997 (November
17, 2006) (SR-AMEX-2006-78) (approving generic listing standards for
Portfolio Depositary Receipts and Index Fund Shares based on
international or global indexes, and stating that ``the proposed
listing standards are designed to preclude ETFs from becoming
surrogates for trading in unregistered securities'' and that ``the
requirement that each component security underlying an ETF be listed
on an exchange and subject to last-sale reporting should contribute
to the transparency of the market for ETFs'' and that ``by requiring
pricing information for both the relevant underlying index and the
ETF to be readily available and disseminated, the proposal is
designed to ensure a fair and orderly market for ETFs''); 53142
(January 19, 2006), 71 FR 4180, 4186 (January 25, 2006) (SR-NASD-
2006-001) (approving generic listing standards for Index-Linked
Securities and stating that ``[t]he Commission believes that by
requiring pricing information for both the relevant underlying index
or indexes and the Index Security to be readily available and
disseminated, the proposed listing standards should help ensure a
fair and orderly market for Index Securities'').
\49\ As described in the Notice, each series would invest only
in ETFs and exchange-traded notes, common stocks, preferred stocks,
American depositary receipts, real estate investment trusts,
commodity pools, metals trusts, currency trusts and futures. All of
these instruments will trade on a U.S. exchange contemporaneously
with the Shares. The reference assets of the exchange-traded futures
in which a Fund may invest would be assets that the Fund could
invest in directly, or in the case of an index future, based on an
index of a type of asset that the Fund could invest in directly. A
Fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents. No Fund would buy
securities that are illiquid investments (as defined in rule 22e-
4(a)(8) under the 1940 Act) at the time of purchase, borrow for
investment purposes or hold short positions.
\50\ The Exchange notes that cash equivalents may trade on
markets that are members of ISG or with which the Exchange has in
place a comprehensive surveillance sharing agreement.
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For the above reasons, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule
change is consistent with the requirements of Section 6(b)(5) of the
Act.
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate
in furtherance of the purpose of the Act. The Exchange notes that the
proposed rule change, rather will facilitate the trading, pursuant to
UTP, of a new type of actively-managed exchange-traded products that
will enhance competition among both market participants and listing
venues, to the benefit of investors and the marketplace.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the
proposed rule change.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
Because the proposed rule change does not: (i) Significantly affect
the protection of investors or the public interest; (ii) impose any
significant burden on competition; and (iii) become operative for 30
days from the date on which it was filed, or such shorter time as the
Commission may designate, it has become effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \51\ and Rule 19b-4(f)(6) thereunder.\52\
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\51\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\52\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6). In addition, Rule19b-4(f)(6)(iii)
requires a self-regulatory organization to give the Commission
written notice of its intent to file the proposed rule change, along
with a brief description and text of the proposed rule change, at
least five business days prior to the date of filing of the proposed
rule change, or such shorter time as designated by the Commission.
The Exchange has satisfied this requirement.
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A proposed rule change filed pursuant to Rule 19b-4(f)(6) under the
Act \53\ normally does not become operative for 30 days after the date
of its filing. However, Rule 19b-4(f)(6)(iii) \54\ permits the
Commission to designate a shorter time if such action is consistent
with the protection of investors and the public interest. The Exchange
has asked the Commission to waive the 30-day operative delay so that
the proposal may become operative upon filing. The Exchange states that
a waiver of the operative delay is consistent with the protection of
investors and the public interest because it would allow for the
immediate trading, pursuant to UTP, of Managed Portfolio Shares on the
Exchange and therefore would provide investors with an additional
trading venue option. The Commission believes that waiver of the 30-day
operative delay is consistent with the protection of investors and the
public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby waives the operative
delay and designates the proposed rule change operative upon
filing.\55\
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\53\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6).
\54\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(6)(iii).
\55\ For purposes only of waiving the 30-day operative delay,
the Commission also has considered the proposed rule's impact on
efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C.
78c(f).
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At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule
change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or
appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or
otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission will institute proceedings to
determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or
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:
Electronic Comments
Use the Commission's internet comment form (https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
Send an email to [email protected]. Please include
File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2020-003 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2020-003. 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 website (https://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 website 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 10:00 a.m. and
3:00 p.m. Copies of the filing also will be available for inspection
and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. All comments
received will be posted without change. Persons submitting comments are
cautioned that we do not redact or edit personal identifying
information from
[[Page 7352]]
comment submissions. You should submit only information that you wish
to make available publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number
SR-CboeEDGX-2020-003 and should be submitted on or before February 28,
2020.
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\56\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\56\
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-02415 Filed 2-6-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P