Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 54756-54757 [2014-21732]
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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 177 / Friday, September 12, 2014 / Notices
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
between an investment company and
certain affiliated persons thereof.’’ It
provides an exemption from section
17(a) of the Act for purchases and sales
of securities between registered
investment companies (‘‘funds’’), that
are affiliated persons (‘‘first-tier
affiliates’’) or affiliated persons of
affiliated persons (‘‘second-tier
affiliates’’), or between a fund and a
first- or second-tier affiliate other than
another fund, when the affiliation arises
solely because of a common investment
adviser, director, or officer. Rule 17a–7
requires funds to keep various records
in connection with purchase or sale
transactions effected in reliance on the
rule. The rule requires the fund’s board
of directors to establish procedures
reasonably designed to ensure that the
rule’s conditions have been satisfied.
The board is also required to determine,
at least on a quarterly basis, that all
affiliated transactions effected during
the preceding quarter in reliance on the
rule were made in compliance with
these established procedures. If a fund
enters into a purchase or sale
transaction with an affiliated person, the
rule requires the fund to compile and
maintain written records of the
transaction.1 The Commission’s
examination staff uses these records to
evaluate for compliance with the rule.
While most funds do not commonly
engage in transactions covered by rule
17a–7, the Commission staff estimates
that nearly all funds have adopted
procedures for complying with the
rule.2 Of the approximately 3,382
currently active funds, the staff
estimates that virtually all have already
adopted procedures for compliance with
rule 17a–7. This is a one-time burden,
and the staff therefore does not estimate
an ongoing burden related to the
policies and procedures requirement of
the rule for funds.3 The staff estimates
that there are approximately 140 new
funds that register each year, and that
each of these funds adopts the relevant
policies and procedures. The staff
estimates that it takes approximately 4
hours to develop and adopt these
1 The written records are required to set forth a
description of the security purchased or sold, the
identity of the person on the other side of the
transaction, and the information or materials upon
which the board of directors’ determination that the
transaction was in compliance with the procedures
was made.
2 Unless stated otherwise, these estimates are
based on conversations with the examination and
inspections staff of the Commission and fund
representatives.
3 Based on our reviews and conversations with
fund representatives, we understand that funds
rarely, if ever, need to make changes to these
policies and procedures once adopted, and
therefore we do not estimate a paperwork burden
for such updates.
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policies and procedures. Therefore, the
total annual burden related to
developing and adopting these policies
and procedures would be approximately
560 hours.4
Of the 3,382 existing funds, the staff
assumes that approximately 25%, (or
846) enter into transactions affected by
rule 17a–7 each year (either by the fund
directly or through one of the fund’s
series), and that the same percentage
(25%, or 35 funds) of the estimated 140
funds that newly register each year will
also enter into these transactions, for a
total of 881 5 companies that are affected
by the recordkeeping requirements of
rule 17a–7. These funds must keep
records of each of these transactions,
and the board of directors must
quarterly determine that all relevant
transactions were made in compliance
with the company’s policies and
procedures. The rule generally imposes
a minimal burden of collecting and
storing records already generated for
other purposes.6 The staff estimates that
the burden related to making these
records and for the board to review all
transactions would be 3 hours annually
for each respondent, (2 hours spent by
compliance attorneys and 1 hour spent
by the board of directors) 7 or 2,643 total
hours each year.8
Based on these estimates, the staff
estimates the combined total annual
burden hours associated with rule 17a–
7 is 3,203 hours.9 The staff also
estimates that there are approximately
881 respondents and 7,048 total
responses.10
The estimates of burden hours are
made solely for the purposes of the
4 This
estimate is based on the following
calculations: (4 hours × 140 new funds = 560
hours).
5 This estimate is based on the following
calculation: (846 + 35 = 881).
6 Commission staff believes that rule 17a–7 does
not impose any costs associated with record
preservation in addition to the costs that funds
already incur to comply with the record
preservation requirements of rule 31a–2 under the
Act. Rule 31a–2 requires companies to preserve
certain records for specified periods of time.
7 The staff estimates that funds that rely on rule
17a–7 annually enter into an average of 8 rule 17a–
7 transactions each year. The staff estimates that the
compliance attorneys of the companies spend
approximately 15 minutes per transaction on this
recordkeeping, and the board of directors spends a
total of 1 hour annually in determining that all
transactions made that year were done in
compliance with the company’s policies and
procedures.
8 This estimate is based on the following
calculation: (3 hours × 881 companies = 2,643
hours).
9 This estimate is based on the following
calculation: (560 hours + 2,643 hours = 3,203 total
hours).
10 This estimate is based on the following
calculations: 881 funds that engage in rule 17a–7
transactions × 8 transactions per year = 7,048.
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Paperwork Reduction Act, and are not
derived from a comprehensive or even
a representative survey or study of the
costs of Commission rules. The
collection of information required by
rule 17a–7 is necessary to obtain the
benefits of the rule. Responses will not
be kept confidential. 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.
The public may view the background
documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site,
www.reginfo.gov. Comments should be
directed to: (i) Desk Officer for the
Securities and Exchange Commission,
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, Room 10102, New Executive
Office Building, Washington, DC 20503,
or by sending an email to: Shagufta_
Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas
Bayer, Chief Information Officer,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street
NE., Washington, DC 20549 or send an
email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.
Comments must be submitted to OMB
within 30 days of this notice.
Dated: September 8, 2014.
Kevin M. O’Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014–21733 Filed 9–11–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
Securities and Exchange Commission,
Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street
NE., Washington, DC 20549–2736
Extension:
Rule 15g–9, SEC File No. 270–325, OMB
Control No. 3235–0385
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
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the
previously approved collection of
information discussed below.
Section 15(c)(2) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et
seq.) (the ‘‘Exchange Act’’) authorizes
the Commission to promulgate rules
that prescribe means reasonably
designed to prevent fraudulent,
deceptive, or manipulative practices in
connection with over-the-counter
(‘‘OTC’’) securities transactions.
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tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 177 / Friday, September 12, 2014 / Notices
Pursuant to this authority, the
Commission in 1989 adopted Rule 15a–
6, which was subsequently redesignated
as Rule 15g–9, 17 CFR 240.15g–9 (the
‘‘Rule’’). The Rule requires brokerdealers to produce a written suitability
determination for, and to obtain a
written customer agreement to, certain
recommended transactions in penny
stocks that are not registered on a
national securities exchange, and whose
issuers do not meet certain minimum
financial standards. The Rule is
intended to prevent the indiscriminate
use by broker-dealers of fraudulent, high
pressure telephone sales campaigns to
sell penny stocks to unsophisticated
customers.
The Commission staff estimates that
there are approximately 221 brokerdealers subject to the Rule. The burden
of the Rule on a respondent varies
widely depending on the frequency
with which new customers are solicited.
On the average for all respondents, the
staff has estimated that respondents
process three new customers per week,
or approximately 156 new customer
suitability determinations per year. We
also estimate that a broker-dealer would
expend approximately one-half hour per
new customer in obtaining, reviewing,
and processing (including transmitting
to the customer) the information
required by Rule 15g–9, and each
respondent would consequently spend
78 hours annually (156 customers × .5
hours) obtaining the information
required in the rule. We determined,
based on the estimate of 221 brokerdealer respondents, that the current
annual burden of Rule 15g–9 is 17,238
hours (221 respondents × 78 hours).
The broker-dealer must keep the
written suitability determination and
customer agreement required by the
Rule for at least three years. Completing
the suitability determination and
obtaining the customer agreement in
writing is mandatory for broker-dealers
who effect transactions in penny stocks
and do not qualify for an exemption, but
does not involve the collection of
confidential information.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
under the PRA unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
The public may view background
documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site:
www.reginfo.gov. Comments should be
directed to (i) Desk Officer for the
Securities and Exchange Commission,
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, Room 10102, New Executive
Office Building, Washington, DC 20503
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:58 Sep 11, 2014
Jkt 232001
or by sending an email to: Shagufta_
Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas
Bayer, Chief Information Officer,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street
NE., Washington, DC 20549 by sending
an email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.
Comments must be submitted to OMB
within 30 days of this notice.
Dated: September 8, 2014.
Kevin M. O’Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014–21732 Filed 9–11–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549–2736
Extension:
Form N–PX; SEC File No. 270–524, OMB
Control No. 3235–0582
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
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the
previously approved collection of
information discussed below.
The title for the collection of
information is ‘‘Form N–PX (17 CFR
274.129) under the Investment
Company Act of 1940, Annual Report of
Proxy Voting Record.’’ Rule 30b1–4 (17
CFR 270.30b1–4) under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1
et seq.) requires every registered
management investment company, other
than a small business investment
company registered on Form N–5
(‘‘Funds’’), to file Form N–PX not later
than August 31 of each year. Funds use
Form N–PX to file annual reports with
the Commission containing their
complete proxy voting record for the
most recent twelve-month period ended
June 30.
The Commission estimates that there
are approximately 2,500 Funds
registered with the Commission,
representing approximately 10,000
Fund portfolios, which are required to
file Form N–PX.1 The 10,000 portfolios
1 The
estimate of 2,500 Funds is based on the
number of management investment companies
currently registered with the Commission. We
estimate, based on data from the Investment
Company Institute and other sources, that there are
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54757
are comprised of 6,200 portfolios
holding equity securities and 3,800
portfolios holding no equity securities.
The staff estimates that portfolios
holding no equity securities require
approximately a 0.17 hour burden per
response and those holding equity
securities require 7.2 hours per
response. The overall estimated annual
burden is therefore approximately
45,300 hours ((6,200 responses × 7.2
hours per response for equity holding
portfolios) + (3,800 responses × 0.17
hours per response for non-equity
holding portfolios)). Based on the
estimated wage rate, the total cost to the
industry of the hour burden for
complying with Form N–PX would be
approximately $14.5 million.
The Commission also estimates that
portfolios holding equity securities will
bear an external cost burden of $1,000
per portfolio to prepare and update
Form N–PX. Based on this estimate, the
Commission estimates that the total
annualized cost burden for Form N–PX
is $6.2 million (6,200 responses ×
$1,000 per response = $6,200,000).
The collection of information under
Form N–PX is mandatory. The
information provided under the form is
not kept confidential. 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 OMB control number.
The public may view the background
documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site,
www.reginfo.gov. Comments should be
directed to: (i) Desk Officer for the
Securities and Exchange Commission,
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, Room 10102, New Executive
Office Building, Washington, DC 20503,
or by sending an email to: Shagufta_
Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas
Bayer, Chief Information Officer,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street
NE., Washington, DC 20549 or send an
email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.
Comments must be submitted to OMB
within 30 days of this notice.
Dated: September 8, 2014.
Kevin M. O’Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014–21736 Filed 9–11–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
approximately 5,700 Fund portfolios that invest
primarily in equity securities, 500 ‘‘hybrid’’ or bond
portfolios that may hold some equity securities,
3,200 bond Funds that hold no equity securities,
and 600 money market Funds, for a total of 10,000
portfolios required to file Form N–PX.
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 177 (Friday, September 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54756-54757]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-21732]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F
Street NE., Washington, DC 20549-2736
Extension:
Rule 15g-9, SEC File No. 270-325, OMB Control No. 3235-0385
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 (``Commission'') has submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget (``OMB'') a request for extension of the previously approved
collection of information discussed below.
Section 15(c)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C.
78a et seq.) (the ``Exchange Act'') authorizes the Commission to
promulgate rules that prescribe means reasonably designed to prevent
fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative practices in connection with
over-the-counter (``OTC'') securities transactions.
[[Page 54757]]
Pursuant to this authority, the Commission in 1989 adopted Rule 15a-6,
which was subsequently redesignated as Rule 15g-9, 17 CFR 240.15g-9
(the ``Rule''). The Rule requires broker-dealers to produce a written
suitability determination for, and to obtain a written customer
agreement to, certain recommended transactions in penny stocks that are
not registered on a national securities exchange, and whose issuers do
not meet certain minimum financial standards. The Rule is intended to
prevent the indiscriminate use by broker-dealers of fraudulent, high
pressure telephone sales campaigns to sell penny stocks to
unsophisticated customers.
The Commission staff estimates that there are approximately 221
broker-dealers subject to the Rule. The burden of the Rule on a
respondent varies widely depending on the frequency with which new
customers are solicited. On the average for all respondents, the staff
has estimated that respondents process three new customers per week, or
approximately 156 new customer suitability determinations per year. We
also estimate that a broker-dealer would expend approximately one-half
hour per new customer in obtaining, reviewing, and processing
(including transmitting to the customer) the information required by
Rule 15g-9, and each respondent would consequently spend 78 hours
annually (156 customers x .5 hours) obtaining the information required
in the rule. We determined, based on the estimate of 221 broker-dealer
respondents, that the current annual burden of Rule 15g-9 is 17,238
hours (221 respondents x 78 hours).
The broker-dealer must keep the written suitability determination
and customer agreement required by the Rule for at least three years.
Completing the suitability determination and obtaining the customer
agreement in writing is mandatory for broker-dealers who effect
transactions in penny stocks and do not qualify for an exemption, but
does not involve the collection of confidential information.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information under the PRA unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
The public may view background documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site: www.reginfo.gov. Comments should
be directed to (i) Desk Officer for the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Room 10102, New Executive Office Building,
Washington, DC 20503 or by sending an email to:
ShaguftaAhmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas Bayer, Chief
Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi
Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549 by sending an
email to: PRAMailbox@sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to
OMB within 30 days of this notice.
Dated: September 8, 2014.
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-21732 Filed 9-11-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
