Specialist Identification
In order to comply with applicable Amex and Securities and Exchange Commission record-keeping and regulatory requirements, and in accordance with Amex Rule 719, every specialist unit must create and maintain records identifying the individual specialist who handled each principal and each agency transaction in each and every one of the unit's specialty securities on the Amex Floor.1
NETS and ANTE Users
By Notice dated May 12, 2004 (2004-26), specialists were advised that specialist units that capture the identification of the specialist on a trade-by-trade basis electronically (e.g., through NETS or ANTE) were not required to keep a separate written record. However, as a result of the impracticality of following the appropriate procedures for logging in and out of NETS and ANTE during the course of the trading day (including revising each individual specialist's profile as necessary with each log in) to ensure that the individual specialist handling each trade is identified on a trade-by-trade basis, as well as record retention concerns, use of NETS and ANTE for this purpose is no longer permitted.
Record Retention
In order to facilitate compliance with the applicable record-keeping requirements, the Amex accepts records which identify the specialist handling the market in a given security for a given day, as long as the records: (1) reflect the exact time period(s) during which a specialist was actually handling the given security; and (2) account for all the time within that day's trading session. This record must be kept on the Specialist Identification Form attached (or a proprietary form containing the same information and acceptable to the NASD/Amex Regulation Division).
The daily written record described above must be maintained for at least three years.
If you have any questions regarding this recordkeeping requirement, please contact Gene DeMaio at 212-306-1196 or Gene Barkey at 212-306-1869. If you have any questions regarding the rules, please contact me, David Fisch, at (212) 306-1450.
1See Amex Notice entitled "Specialist Identification" dated August 1, 2003 and a reminder notice entitled "Reminder - Specialist Identification Required" dated September 9, 2003, both of which are available on amextrader.com.
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