Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 10498-10499 [E8-3622]
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10498
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 39 / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / Notices
5. Governors’ Executive Session—
Discussion of prior agenda items and
Board Governance.
CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Wendy A. Hocking, Secretary of the
Board, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant
Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20260–
1000. Telephone (202) 268–4800.
Wendy A. Hocking,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 08–890 Filed 2–25–08; 3:50 pm]
BILLING CODE 7710–12–M
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor
Education and Advocacy,
Washington, DC 20549–0213
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Extension:
Rule 17a–6; SEC File No. 270–506; OMB
Control No. 3235–0564
Notice is hereby given that pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501) the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the
‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collections of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit these existing
collections of information to the Office
of Management and Budget for
extension and approval.
Section 17(a) of the Investment
Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a)
(the ‘‘Act’’) generally prohibits affiliated
persons of a registered investment
company (‘‘fund’’) from borrowing
money or other property from, or selling
or buying securities or other property to
or from the fund, or any company that
the fund controls. Rule 17a–6 (17 CFR
270.17a–6) permits a fund and a
‘‘portfolio affiliate’’ (a company that is
an affiliated person of the fund because
the fund controls the company, or holds
5 percent or more of the company’s
outstanding voting securities) to engage
in principal transactions that would
otherwise be prohibited under section
17(a) of the Act under certain
conditions. A fund may not rely on the
exemption in the rule to enter into a
principal transaction with a portfolio
affiliate if certain prohibited
participants (e.g., directors, officers,
employees, or investment advisers of
the fund) have a financial interest in a
party to the transaction. Rule 17a–6
specifies certain interests that are not
‘‘financial interests,’’ including any
interest that the fund’s board of
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19:49 Feb 26, 2008
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directors (including a majority of the
directors who are not interested persons
of the fund) finds to be not material. A
board making this finding is required to
record the basis for the finding in its
meeting minutes. This recordkeeping
requirement is a collection of
information under the rule.
The rule is designed to permit
transactions between funds and their
portfolio affiliates in circumstances in
which it is unlikely that the affiliate
would be in a position to take advantage
of the fund. In determining whether a
financial interest is ‘‘material,’’ the
board of the fund should consider
whether the nature and extent of the
interest in the transaction is sufficiently
small that a reasonable person would
not believe that the interest affected the
determination of whether to enter into
the transaction or arrangement or the
terms of the transaction or arrangement.
The information collection requirements
in rule 17a–6 are intended to ensure that
Commission staff can review, in the
course of its compliance and
examination functions, the basis for a
board of directors’ finding that the
financial interest of an otherwise
prohibited participant in a party to a
transaction with a portfolio affiliate is
not material.
Based on analysis of past filings,
Commission staff estimates that 148
funds are affiliated persons of 668
issuers as a result of the fund’s
ownership or control of the issuer’s
voting securities, and that there are
approximately 1,000 such affiliate
relationships. Based on staff discussions
with a limited number of fund
representatives, we estimate that funds
currently do not rely on the exemption
from the term ‘‘financial interest’’ with
respect to any interest that the fund’s
board of directors (including a majority
of the directors who are not interested
persons of the fund) finds to be not
material. Accordingly, we estimate that
annually there will be no principal
transactions under rule 17a–6 that will
result in a collection of information.
The Commission requests
authorization to maintain an inventory
of one burden hour to ease future
renewals of rule 17a–6’s collection of
information analysis should funds rely
on this exemption to the term ‘‘financial
interest’’ as defined in rule 17a–6.
The estimate of average burden hours
is made solely for the purposes of the
Paperwork Reduction Act. The estimate
is not derived from a comprehensive or
even a representative survey or study of
the costs of Commission rules.
Complying with this collection of
information requirement is necessary to
obtain the benefit of relying on rule
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Sfmt 4703
17a–6. An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid
control number.
Written comments are invited on: (a)
Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden of the collection of
information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; and (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including
through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology. Consideration will be given
to comments and suggestions submitted
in writing within 60 days of this
publication.
Please direct your written comments
to R. Corey Booth, Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, C/O Shirley
Martinson, 6432 General Green Way,
Alexandria, VA 22312; or send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: February 19, 2008.
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8–3621 Filed 2–26–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor
Education and Advocacy,
Washington, DC 20549–0213.
Extension:
Rule 17a–10; SEC File No. 270–507; OMB
Control No. 3235–0563.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the
‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collections of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit these existing
collections of information to the Office
of Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) for
extension and approval.
Section 17(a) of the Investment
Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a)
(the ‘‘Act’’), prohibits affiliated persons
of a registered investment company
(‘‘fund’’) from borrowing money or other
E:\FR\FM\27FEN1.SGM
27FEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 39 / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / Notices
property from, or selling or buying
securities or other property to or from
the fund, or any company that the fund
controls. Section 2(a)(3) of the Act (15
U.S.C. 80a–2(a)(3)(E)) defines ‘‘affiliated
person’’ of a fund to include its
investment advisers. Rule 17a–10 (17
CFR 270.17a–10) permits (i) a
subadviser of a fund to enter into
transactions with funds the subadviser
does not advise but which are affiliated
persons of a fund that it does advise
(e.g., other funds in the fund complex),
and (ii) a subadviser (and its affiliated
persons) to enter into transactions and
arrangements with funds the subadviser
does advise, but only with respect to
discrete portions of the subadvised fund
for which the subadviser does not
provide investment advice.
To qualify for the exemptions in rule
17a–10, the subadvisory relationship
must be the sole reason why section
17(a) prohibits the transaction; and the
advisory contracts of the subadviser
entering into the transaction, and any
subadviser that is advising the
purchasing portion of the fund, must
prohibit the subadvisers from consulting
with each other concerning securities
transactions of the fund, and limit their
responsibility to providing advice with
respect to discrete portions of the fund’s
portfolio.1
The Commission staff estimates that
3583 portfolios of approximately 649
fund complexes use the services of one
or more subadvisers. Based on
discussions with industry
representatives, the staff estimates that
it requires approximately 6 hours to
draft and execute revised subadvisory
contracts allowing funds and
subadvisers to rely on the exemptions in
rule 17a–10.2 The staff assumes that all
existing funds amended their advisory
contracts following the adoption of rule
17a–10 in 2003 that conditioned certain
exemptions upon these contractual
alterations, and therefore there is no
continuing burden for those funds.3
Based on an analysis of fund filings,
the staff estimates that approximately
600 fund portfolios enter into new
subadvisory agreements each year.4
1 See
17 CFR 270.17a–10(a)(2).
12d3–1, 10f–3, 17a–10, and 17e–1 require
virtually identical modifications to fund advisory
contracts. The Commission staff assumes that funds
would rely equally on the exemptions in these
rules, and therefore the burden hours associated
with the required contract modifications should be
apportioned equally among the four rules.
3 We assume that funds formed after 2002 that
intended to rely on rule 17a–10 would have
included the required provision as a standard
element in their initial subadvisory contracts.
4 The use of subadvisers has grown rapidly over
the last several years, with approximately 600
portfolios that use subadvisers registering between
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2 Rules
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19:49 Feb 26, 2008
Jkt 214001
Based on discussions with industry
representatives, the staff estimates that
it will require approximately 3 attorney
hours 5 to draft and execute additional
clauses in new subadvisory contracts in
order for funds and subadvisers to be
able to rely on the exemptions in rule
17a–10. Because these additional
clauses are identical to the clauses that
a fund would need to insert in their
subadvisory contracts to rely on rules
10f–3, 12d3–1, and 17e–1, and because
we believe that funds that use one such
rule generally use all of these rules, we
apportion this 3 hour time burden
equally among all four rules. Therefore,
we estimate that the burden allocated to
rule 17a–10 for this contract change
would be 0.75 hours.6 Assuming that all
600 funds that enter into new
subadvisory contracts each year make
the modification to their contract
required by the rule, we estimate that
the rule’s contract modification
requirement will result in 450 burden
hours annually, with an associated cost
of approximately $131,400.7
Written comments are invited on: (a)
Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden of the collection of
information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; and (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including
through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology. Consideration will be given
to comments and suggestions submitted
in writing within 60 days of this
publication.
Please direct your written comments
to R. Corey Booth, Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o Shirley
Martinson, 6432 General Green Way,
December 2005 and December 2006. Based on
information in Commission filings, we estimate that
31 percent of funds are advised by subadvisers.
5 The Commission staff’s estimates concerning the
wage rates for attorney time are based on salary
information for the securities industry compiled by
the Securities Industry Association. The $292 per
hour figure for an attorney is from the SIA Report
on Management & Professional Earnings in the
Securities Industry 2006, modified to account for an
1800-hour work-year and multiplied by 5.35 to
account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits
and overhead.
6 This estimate is based on the following
calculation (3 hours ÷ 4 rules = .75 hours).
7 These estimates are based on the following
calculations: (0.75 hours × 600 portfolios = 450
burden hours); ($292 per hour × 450 hours =
$131,400 total cost).
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10499
Alexandria, VA 22312; or send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: February 19, 2008.
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8–3622 Filed 2–26–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Upon written request, copies available
from: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor
Education and Advocacy,
Washington, DC 20549–0213
Extension:
Rule 206(4)–6; SEC File No. 270–513; OMB
Control No. 3235–0571
Notice is hereby given that pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the
‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collections of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit these existing
collections of information to the Office
of Management and Budget for
extension and approval.
The title for the collection of
information is ‘‘Rule 206(4)–6’’ under
the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15
U.S.C. 80b–1 et seq.) (‘‘Advisers Act’’)
and the collection has been approved
under OMB Control No. 3235–0571. The
Commission adopted rule 206(4)–6 (17
CFR 275.206(4)–6), the proxy voting
rule, to address an investment adviser’s
fiduciary obligation to clients who have
given the adviser authority to vote their
securities. Under the rule, an
investment adviser that exercises voting
authority over client securities is
required to: (i) Adopt and implement
policies and procedures that are
reasonably designed to ensure that the
adviser votes securities in the best
interest of clients, including procedures
to address any material conflict that
may arise between the interest of the
adviser and the client; (ii) disclose to
clients how they may obtain
information on how the adviser has
voted with respect to their securities;
and (iii) describe to clients the advisers’
proxy voting policies and procedures
and, on request, furnish a copy of the
policies and procedures to the
requesting client. The rule is designed
to assure that advisers that vote proxies
for their clients vote those proxies in
their clients’ best interest and provide
E:\FR\FM\27FEN1.SGM
27FEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 39 (Wednesday, February 27, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10498-10499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3622]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Washington, DC
20549-0213.
Extension:
Rule 17a-10; SEC File No. 270-507; OMB Control No. 3235-0563.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the ``Commission'') is soliciting comments on the
collections of information summarized below. The Commission plans to
submit these existing collections of information to the Office of
Management and Budget (``OMB'') for extension and approval.
Section 17(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a)
(the ``Act''), prohibits affiliated persons of a registered investment
company (``fund'') from borrowing money or other
[[Page 10499]]
property from, or selling or buying securities or other property to or
from the fund, or any company that the fund controls. Section 2(a)(3)
of the Act (15 U.S.C. 80a-2(a)(3)(E)) defines ``affiliated person'' of
a fund to include its investment advisers. Rule 17a-10 (17 CFR 270.17a-
10) permits (i) a subadviser of a fund to enter into transactions with
funds the subadviser does not advise but which are affiliated persons
of a fund that it does advise (e.g., other funds in the fund complex),
and (ii) a subadviser (and its affiliated persons) to enter into
transactions and arrangements with funds the subadviser does advise,
but only with respect to discrete portions of the subadvised fund for
which the subadviser does not provide investment advice.
To qualify for the exemptions in rule 17a-10, the subadvisory
relationship must be the sole reason why section 17(a) prohibits the
transaction; and the advisory contracts of the subadviser entering into
the transaction, and any subadviser that is advising the purchasing
portion of the fund, must prohibit the subadvisers from consulting with
each other concerning securities transactions of the fund, and limit
their responsibility to providing advice with respect to discrete
portions of the fund's portfolio.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See 17 CFR 270.17a-10(a)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Commission staff estimates that 3583 portfolios of
approximately 649 fund complexes use the services of one or more
subadvisers. Based on discussions with industry representatives, the
staff estimates that it requires approximately 6 hours to draft and
execute revised subadvisory contracts allowing funds and subadvisers to
rely on the exemptions in rule 17a-10.\2\ The staff assumes that all
existing funds amended their advisory contracts following the adoption
of rule 17a-10 in 2003 that conditioned certain exemptions upon these
contractual alterations, and therefore there is no continuing burden
for those funds.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Rules 12d3-1, 10f-3, 17a-10, and 17e-1 require virtually
identical modifications to fund advisory contracts. The Commission
staff assumes that funds would rely equally on the exemptions in
these rules, and therefore the burden hours associated with the
required contract modifications should be apportioned equally among
the four rules.
\3\ We assume that funds formed after 2002 that intended to rely
on rule 17a-10 would have included the required provision as a
standard element in their initial subadvisory contracts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on an analysis of fund filings, the staff estimates that
approximately 600 fund portfolios enter into new subadvisory agreements
each year.\4\ Based on discussions with industry representatives, the
staff estimates that it will require approximately 3 attorney hours \5\
to draft and execute additional clauses in new subadvisory contracts in
order for funds and subadvisers to be able to rely on the exemptions in
rule 17a-10. Because these additional clauses are identical to the
clauses that a fund would need to insert in their subadvisory contracts
to rely on rules 10f-3, 12d3-1, and 17e-1, and because we believe that
funds that use one such rule generally use all of these rules, we
apportion this 3 hour time burden equally among all four rules.
Therefore, we estimate that the burden allocated to rule 17a-10 for
this contract change would be 0.75 hours.\6\ Assuming that all 600
funds that enter into new subadvisory contracts each year make the
modification to their contract required by the rule, we estimate that
the rule's contract modification requirement will result in 450 burden
hours annually, with an associated cost of approximately $131,400.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ The use of subadvisers has grown rapidly over the last
several years, with approximately 600 portfolios that use
subadvisers registering between December 2005 and December 2006.
Based on information in Commission filings, we estimate that 31
percent of funds are advised by subadvisers.
\5\ The Commission staff's estimates concerning the wage rates
for attorney time are based on salary information for the securities
industry compiled by the Securities Industry Association. The $292
per hour figure for an attorney is from the SIA Report on Management
& Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2006, modified to
account for an 1800-hour work-year and multiplied by 5.35 to account
for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits and overhead.
\6\ This estimate is based on the following calculation (3 hours
/ 4 rules = .75 hours).
\7\ These estimates are based on the following calculations:
(0.75 hours x 600 portfolios = 450 burden hours); ($292 per hour x
450 hours = $131,400 total cost).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Written comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d)
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
respondents, including through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will
be given to comments and suggestions submitted in writing within 60
days of this publication.
Please direct your written comments to R. Corey Booth, Director/
Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o
Shirley Martinson, 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, VA 22312; or
send an e-mail to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: February 19, 2008.
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-3622 Filed 2-26-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
