[ by Howard Haykin ]

Significant disruptions to TRACE reporting by Hurricane Sandy has prompted FINRA to waive late trade reporting fees on certain transactions in TRACE-eligible securities.  This special accommodation is available only for firms located in affected areas, or firm that have their fixed income operations in the affected areas.

Fee waivers are available only for transactions executed on Monday, 10/29, or Tuesday, 10/30, provided that the affected firms reported the transactions no later than Wednesday, 10/31, by the TRACE system closing. 

FINRA has identified a number of transactions that qualify for the waiver of the $3 late trade reporting fee and will credit those firms with identified relevant transactions on their TRACE invoices for November 2012. 

However, upon receipt of the November invoice, if a firm has not received credit for transaction(s) it believes qualify for the fee waiver, the firm should contact TRACE Data Services by email (TRACEDataServices@finra.org) or by phone (888-507-3665), and provide a list of the transactions and the reason the transactions qualify for the waiver.

FINRA Staff Contacts.    Direct questions to:   Nils Ola Persson, VP, Transparency Services, at (212) 858-4796; or  Kathryn Moore, Office of General Counsel, at (202) 974-2974.
 

For further details, go to:   [ FINRA RegNote 12-53, December 2012 ].