[ by Howard Haykin ] FINRA has filed for immediate effectiveness to raise the fees associated with the filing of documents pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110, Corporate Financing Rule - Underwriting Terms and Arrangements.   Section 7 of Schedule A to the FINRA By-Laws will be amended. New rates go into effect 7/2/12 - i.e., the new fees and fee cap would become effective for filings and amendments made on or after 7/2. Purpose of Rule Filing. As adopted, FINRA is: (i) increasing the fee rate from .01% to .015% for the filing of initial documents and amendments pursuant to the Corporate  Financing Rule; (ii) increasing the maximum fee (i.e., fee cap) from $75,500 to $225,500 for such filings; and, (iii) increasing the fee from $75,500 to $225,500 for an offering of securities on an automatically effective Form S-3 or F-3 registration statement filed with the SEC and offered pursuant to Securities Act Rule 415 by a Well-Known Seasoned Issuer as defined in Securities Act Rule 405. FINRA's Corporate Financing Department is responsible for reviewing the proposed underwriting terms and arrangements of proposed public offerings of securities for compliance with the requirements of FINRA Rule 5110.  Public offerings reviewed by the Department include initial and secondary offerings of unseasoned issuers, best efforts offerings of direct participation programs ("DPPs") and real estate investment trusts ("REITs"), but generally exclude public offerings of seasoned issuers that are not broker-dealers or their affiliates and offerings of investment grade securities. CorpFin's review is complementary to the SEC's  registration process, which defers to FINRA to establish reasonable levels of underwriting compensation and adequate disclosure of the underwriting terms and conflicts.  Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110, no member or person associated with a member may participate in a public offering subject to the Rule, or to FINRA Rules 5121 (Public Offerings of Securities With Conflicts of Interest) and 2310 (Direct Participation Programs), unless the documents and information specified in the Rule have been filed with and reviewed by the Department. Current Fee Rate. Typically, the book-running manager for the offering files the documents on behalf of the participating members.  The fee charged to members for this review is set forth in Section 7.  Under Section 7(a), the current fee for filings of initial documents relating to any offering pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110 is equal to (i) $500 plus .01 percent of the proposed maximum aggregate offering price or other applicable value of all securities registered on an SEC registration statement or included on any other type of offering document (where not filed with the SEC), but shall not exceed $75,500; or (ii) $75,500 for an offering of securities on an automatically effective Form S-3 or F-3 registration statement filed with the SEC and offered pursuant to Securities Act Rule 415 by a Well-Known Seasoned Issuer as defined in Securities Act Rule 405. Similarly, under Section 7(b), the current fee for filings of any amendment or other change to documents initially filed pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110 is .01 percent of the net increase in the maximum aggregate offering price or other applicable value of all securities registered on an SEC registration statement, or any related Securities Act Rule 462(b) registration statement, or reflected on any Securities Act Rule 430A prospectus, or included on any other type of offering document.  Section 7(b) also provides that the aggregate of all filing fees paid in connection with an SEC registration statement or other type of offering document shall not exceed $75,500.  Thus, under Section 7, fees are currently capped with respect to offerings with an aggregate offering price of$750 million or more.  The rate of the filing fee rate has remained static since it was adopted in 1970, while the cap has been adjusted periodically, most recently in 2004. However, several factors come into play that necessitate the increase in fee rates.  The factors include: (i) the changing nature and complexity of offerings filed with the Department; (ii) the increase in the number of filings seeking expedited review or "same day clearance"; (iii) deployment of significant technology resources and process enhancements to accommodate those needs; (iv) the growth in filings of unlisted REITs, business development companies and other DPPs, which raise complex issues. New Higher Rates. To financially support these reviews, FINRA has increased the rate and the fee cap for filings pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110.  This fee, which is assessed on members, is typically passed through to, or borne by, issuers.  The proposed fee would increase the rate of the filing fee from .01% to .015% of the proposed maximum aggregate offering price or other applicable value of the securities, and would increase the maximum fee from $75,500 to $225,500. For further details, go to:  [FINRA Rule Filing 12-029, 6/8/12].