Upcoming Enhancement to the SHORT System

MSRB Rule G-34(c) requires dealers to report interest rate and descriptive information about Auction Rate Securities (ARS) and Variable Rate Demand Obligations (VRDO) to the MSRB Short-term Obligation Rate Transparency (SHORT) System following an ARS auction or VRDO interest rate reset.  On September 27, 2010, MSRB plans to streamline the feedback provided by the SHORT System for submissions that contain errors.

Dealers that report information to the SHORT System using a computer-to-computer connection are able to report information for multiple ARS or VRDOs in a single submission.  Currently, if a submission contains an individual report that receives a “transaction-level” error, the entire submission would be rejected by the SHORT System and need to be resubmitted with the erroneous report corrected.  Beginning September 27, 2010, the SHORT System will accept all reports within a submission that do not receive a transaction-level error so that such reports can be processed and made transparent.  Only those reports receiving a transaction-level error will be rejected and such reports would need to be corrected and resubmitted to the SHORT System.

An updated version of the SHORT System Specification document has been posted to the MSRB web site that reflects this change and dealers can test this enhancement in the SHORT System test environment beginning today.

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Questions about testing the SHORT System should be directed to the Market Information Help Desk at 703-797-6668.  Other questions about this notice should be directed to Justin R. Pica, Director, Uniform Practice Policy, at 703-797-6716.

August 9, 2010