First Trust Series Fund, et. al., 26507-26508 [2020-09378]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 86 / Monday, May 4, 2020 / Notices
Dated: April 29, 2020.
Vanessa A. Countryman,
Secretary.
Office of the Secretary at (202) 551–
5400.
Dated: April 30, 2020.
Vanessa A. Countryman,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020–09529 Filed 4–30–20; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
[FR Doc. 2020–09626 Filed 4–30–20; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Investment Company Act Release No.
33857; File No. 812–15075]
Sunshine Act Meetings
TIME AND DATE:
First Trust Series Fund, et. al.
1:00 p.m. on Wednesday,
May 6, 2020.
Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’).
AGENCY:
The meeting will be held via
remote means and/or at the
Commission’s headquarters, 100 F
Street NE, Washington, DC 20549.
PLACE:
ACTION:
This meeting will be closed to
the public.
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
STATUS:
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:
Commissioners, Counsel to the
Commissioners, the Secretary to the
Commission, and recording secretaries
will attend the closed meeting. Certain
staff members who have an interest in
the matters also may be present.
In the event that the time, date, or
location of this meeting changes, an
announcement of the change, along with
the new time, date, and/or place of the
meeting will be posted on the
Commission’s website at https://
www.sec.gov.
The General Counsel of the
Commission, or his designee, has
certified that, in his opinion, one or
more of the exemptions set forth in 5
U.S.C. 552b(c)(3), (5), (6), (7), (8), 9(B)
and (10) and 17 CFR 200.402(a)(3),
(a)(5), (a)(6), (a)(7), (a)(8), (a)(9)(ii) and
(a)(10), permit consideration of the
scheduled matters at the closed meeting.
The subject matter of the closed
meeting will consist of the following
topic:
Institution and settlement of
injunctive actions;
Institution and settlement of
administrative proceedings;
Resolution of litigation claims; and
Other matters relating to enforcement
proceedings.
At times, changes in Commission
priorities require alterations in the
scheduling of meeting agenda items that
may consist of adjudicatory,
examination, litigation, or regulatory
matters.
CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For further information; please contact
Vanessa A. Countryman from the Office
of the Secretary at (202) 551–5400.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
19:03 May 01, 2020
Jkt 250001
April 28, 2020.
Notice.
Notice of an application for an order
pursuant to: (a) Section 6(c) of the
Investment Company Act of 1940
(‘‘Act’’) granting an exemption from
sections 18(f) and 21(b) of the Act; (b)
section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act granting an
exemption from section 12(d)(1) of the
Act; (c) sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the
Act granting an exemption from sections
17(a)(1), 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Act;
and (d) section 17(d) of the Act and rule
17d–1 under the Act to permit certain
joint arrangements and transactions.
Applicants request an order that would
permit certain registered open-end
management investment companies to
participate in a joint lending and
borrowing facility.
Applicants: First Trust Series Fund,
First Trust Variable Insurance Trust,
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII, First
Trust Exchange-Traded AlphaDEX®
Fund, and First Trust Exchange-Traded
AlphaDEX® Fund II, each an investment
company organized as a Massachusetts
business trust and registered under the
Act as an open-end management
investment company, and on behalf of
each of their respective series 1, and
First Trust Advisors L.P. (the
‘‘Adviser’’), an Illinois limited
partnership registered as an investment
adviser under the Investment Advisers
Act of 1940.
1 Certain of the Funds (defined below) may be
money market funds that comply with Rule 2a–7
under the Act (each a ‘‘Money Market Fund Money
Market Funds typically will not participate as
borrowers under the interfund lending facility
because they rarely need to borrow cash to meet
redemptions.
PO 00000
Frm 00068
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
26507
Filing Dates: The application was
filed on October 22, 2019 and amended
on February 13, 2020.
Hearing or Notification of Hearing: An
order granting the requested relief will
be issued unless the Commission orders
a hearing. Interested persons may
request a hearing emailing the
Commission’s Secretary at SecretarysOffice@sec.gov and serving applicants
with a copy of the request, personally,
by mail, or by email. Hearing requests
should be received by the Commission
by 5:30 p.m. on May 25, 2020, and
should be accompanied by proof of
service on the applicants, in the form of
an affidavit, or, for lawyers, a certificate
of service. Pursuant to rule 0–5 under
the Act, hearing requests should state
the nature of the writer’s interest, any
facts bearing upon the desirability of a
hearing on the matter, the reason for the
request, and the issues contested.
Persons who wish to be notified of a
hearing may request notification by
emailing the Commission’s Secretary at
Secretarys-Office@sec.gov.
ADDRESSES: Secretary, U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission, SecretarysOffice@sec.gov; Applicants: Attention:
W. Scott Jardine, 120 East Liberty Drive,
Suite 400, Wheaton, IL 60187, sjardine@
ftportfolios.com.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lily
D. Vo, Senior Counsel, at (202) 551–
5431, or Kaitlin Bottock, Branch Chief,
at (202) 551–6821 (Division of
Investment Management, Chief
Counsel’s Office).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
following is a summary of the
application. The complete application
may be obtained via the Commission’s
website by searching for the file
number, or an applicant using the
Company name box, at https://
www.sec.gov/search/search.htm or by
calling (202) 551–8090.
Summary of the Application
1. Applicants request an order that
would permit the applicants to
participate in an interfund lending
facility where each Fund could lend
money directly to and borrow money
directly from other Funds to cover
unanticipated cash shortfalls, such as
unanticipated redemptions or sales
fails.2 The Funds will not borrow under
2 Applicants request that the order apply to the
applicants and to any existing or future registered
open-end management investment company or
series thereof for which the Adviser or any
successor thereto or an investment adviser
controlling, controlled by, or under common
control with the Adviser or any successor thereto
serves as investment adviser (each a ‘‘Fund’’ and
collectively the ‘‘Funds’’ and each such investment
E:\FR\FM\04MYN1.SGM
Continued
04MYN1
26508
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 86 / Monday, May 4, 2020 / Notices
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
the facility for leverage purposes and
the loans’ duration will be no more than
7 days.3
2. Applicants anticipate that the
proposed facility would provide a
borrowing Fund with a source of
liquidity at a rate lower than the bank
borrowing rate at times when the cash
position of the Fund is insufficient to
meet temporary cash requirements. In
addition, Funds making short-term cash
loans directly to other Funds would
earn interest at a rate higher than they
otherwise could obtain from investing
their cash in repurchase agreements or
certain other short term instruments.
Thus, applicants assert that the facility
would benefit both borrowing and
lending Funds.
3. Applicants agree that any order
granting the requested relief will be
subject to the terms and conditions
stated in the application. Among others,
the Adviser, through a designated
committee, would administer the
facility as a disinterested fiduciary as
part of its duties under the investment
management agreements with the Funds
and would receive no additional fee as
compensation for its services in
connection with the administration of
the facility.4 The facility would be
subject to oversight and certain
approvals by the Funds’ Board,
including, among others, approval of the
interest rate formula and of the method
for allocating loans across Funds, as
well as review of the process in place to
evaluate the liquidity implications for
the Funds. A Fund’s aggregate
outstanding interfund loans will not
exceed 15% of its net assets, and the
Fund’s loans to any one Fund will not
exceed 5% of the lending Fund’s net
assets.5
4. Applicants assert that the facility
does not raise the concerns underlying
section 12(d)(1) of the Act given that the
Funds are part of the same group of
investment companies and there will be
no duplicative costs or fees to the
Funds.6 Applicants also assert that the
adviser an ‘‘Adviser’’). For purposes of the
requested order, ‘‘successor’’ is limited to any entity
that results from a reorganization into another
jurisdiction or a change in the type of a business
organization.
3 Any Fund, however, will be able to call a loan
on one business day’s notice.
4 Members of the designated committee may
include one or more investment professionals,
including individuals involved in making
investment decisions regarding short-term
investments.
5 Under certain circumstances, a borrowing Fund
will be required to pledge collateral to secure the
loan.
6 Applicants state that the obligation to repay an
interfund loan could be deemed to constitute a
security for the purposes of sections 17(a)(1) and
12(d)(1) of the Act.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
19:03 May 01, 2020
Jkt 250001
proposed transactions do not raise the
concerns underlying sections 17(a)(1),
17(a)(3), 17(d) and 21(b) of the Act as
the Funds would not engage in lending
transactions that unfairly benefit
insiders or are detrimental to the Funds.
Applicants state that the facility will
offer both reduced borrowing costs and
enhanced returns on loaned funds to all
participating Funds and each Fund
would have an equal opportunity to
borrow and lend on equal terms based
on an interest rate formula that is
objective and verifiable. With respect to
the relief from section 17(a)(2) of the
Act, applicants note that any collateral
pledged to secure an interfund loan
would be subject to the same conditions
imposed by any other lender to a Fund
that imposes conditions on the quality
of or access to collateral for a borrowing
(if the lender is another Fund) or the
same or better conditions (in any other
circumstance).7
5. Applicants also believe that the
limited relief from section 18(f)(1) of the
Act that is necessary to implement the
facility (because the lending Funds are
not banks) is appropriate in light of the
conditions and safeguards described in
the application and because the openend Funds would remain subject to the
requirement of section 18(f)(1) that all
borrowings of the open-end Fund,
including combined interfund loans and
bank borrowings, have at least 300%
asset coverage.
6. Section 6(c) of the Act permits the
Commission to exempt any persons or
transactions from any provision of the
Act if such exemption is necessary or
appropriate in the public interest and
consistent with the protection of
investors and the purposes fairly
intended by the policy and provisions of
the Act. Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act
provides that the Commission may
exempt any person, security, or
transaction, or any class or classes of
persons, securities, or transactions, from
any provision of section 12(d)(1) if the
exemption is consistent with the public
interest and the protection of investors.
Section 17(b) of the Act authorizes the
Commission to grant an order
permitting a transaction otherwise
prohibited by section 17(a) if it finds
that (a) the terms of the proposed
transaction are fair and reasonable and
do not involve overreaching on the part
of any person concerned; (b) the
proposed transaction is consistent with
the policies of each registered
investment company involved; and (c)
7 Applicants state that any pledge of securities to
secure an interfund loan could constitute a
purchase of securities for purposes of section
17(a)(2) of the Act.
PO 00000
Frm 00069
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
the proposed transaction is consistent
with the general purposes of the Act.
Rule 17d–1(b) under the Act provides
that in passing upon an application filed
under the rule, the Commission will
consider whether the participation of
the registered investment company in a
joint enterprise, joint arrangement or
profit sharing plan on the basis
proposed is consistent with the
provisions, policies and purposes of the
Act and the extent to which such
participation is on a basis different from
or less advantageous than that of the
other participants.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Investment Management, under delegated
authority.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020–09378 Filed 5–1–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–88761; File No. SR–
NYSEArca–2020–34]
Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE
Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and
Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
Rule Change To Amend Rule 1.1 To
Modify the Definition of ‘‘UTP
Derivative Securities Product’’ and
Rule 5.1–E(a) To Incorporate the
Modified Definition of ‘‘UTP Exchange
Traded Product’’
April 28, 2020.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) 1 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3
notice is hereby given that, on April 16,
2020, NYSE Arca, Inc. (‘‘Exchange’’)
filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’) the
proposed rule change as described in
Items I and II below, which Items have
been prepared by the self-regulatory
organization. The Commission is
publishing this notice to solicit
comments on the proposed rule change
from interested persons.
I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement of the Terms of Substance of
the Proposed Rule Change
The Exchange proposes to amend (1)
Rule 1.1 to modify the definition of
‘‘UTP Derivative Securities Product’’
and (2) Rule 5.1–E(a) to incorporate the
definition of UTP Derivative Securities
Product as set forth in revised Rule 1.1.
The proposed rule change is available
1 15
U.S.C.78s(b)(1).
U.S.C. 78a.
3 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
2 15
E:\FR\FM\04MYN1.SGM
04MYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 86 (Monday, May 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26507-26508]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09378]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Investment Company Act Release No. 33857; File No. 812-15075]
First Trust Series Fund, et. al.
April 28, 2020.
AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'').
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice of an application for an order pursuant to: (a) Section 6(c)
of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (``Act'') granting an exemption
from sections 18(f) and 21(b) of the Act; (b) section 12(d)(1)(J) of
the Act granting an exemption from section 12(d)(1) of the Act; (c)
sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Act granting an exemption from sections
17(a)(1), 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Act; and (d) section 17(d) of
the Act and rule 17d-1 under the Act to permit certain joint
arrangements and transactions. Applicants request an order that would
permit certain registered open-end management investment companies to
participate in a joint lending and borrowing facility.
Applicants: First Trust Series Fund, First Trust Variable Insurance
Trust, First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund, First Trust Exchange-Traded
Fund II, First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III, First Trust Exchange-
Traded Fund IV, First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V, First Trust
Exchange-Traded Fund VI, First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII, First
Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII, First Trust Exchange-Traded
AlphaDEX[supreg] Fund, and First Trust Exchange-Traded AlphaDEX[supreg]
Fund II, each an investment company organized as a Massachusetts
business trust and registered under the Act as an open-end management
investment company, and on behalf of each of their respective series
\1\, and First Trust Advisors L.P. (the ``Adviser''), an Illinois
limited partnership registered as an investment adviser under the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Certain of the Funds (defined below) may be money market
funds that comply with Rule 2a-7 under the Act (each a ``Money
Market Fund Money Market Funds typically will not participate as
borrowers under the interfund lending facility because they rarely
need to borrow cash to meet redemptions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filing Dates: The application was filed on October 22, 2019 and
amended on February 13, 2020.
Hearing or Notification of Hearing: An order granting the requested
relief will be issued unless the Commission orders a hearing.
Interested persons may request a hearing emailing the Commission's
Secretary at [email protected] and serving applicants with a
copy of the request, personally, by mail, or by email. Hearing requests
should be received by the Commission by 5:30 p.m. on May 25, 2020, and
should be accompanied by proof of service on the applicants, in the
form of an affidavit, or, for lawyers, a certificate of service.
Pursuant to rule 0-5 under the Act, hearing requests should state the
nature of the writer's interest, any facts bearing upon the
desirability of a hearing on the matter, the reason for the request,
and the issues contested. Persons who wish to be notified of a hearing
may request notification by emailing the Commission's Secretary at
[email protected].
ADDRESSES: Secretary, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
[email protected]; Applicants: Attention: W. Scott Jardine, 120
East Liberty Drive, Suite 400, Wheaton, IL 60187,
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lily D. Vo, Senior Counsel, at (202)
551-5431, or Kaitlin Bottock, Branch Chief, at (202) 551-6821 (Division
of Investment Management, Chief Counsel's Office).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following is a summary of the
application. The complete application may be obtained via the
Commission's website by searching for the file number, or an applicant
using the Company name box, at https://www.sec.gov/search/search.htm or
by calling (202) 551-8090.
Summary of the Application
1. Applicants request an order that would permit the applicants to
participate in an interfund lending facility where each Fund could lend
money directly to and borrow money directly from other Funds to cover
unanticipated cash shortfalls, such as unanticipated redemptions or
sales fails.\2\ The Funds will not borrow under
[[Page 26508]]
the facility for leverage purposes and the loans' duration will be no
more than 7 days.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Applicants request that the order apply to the applicants
and to any existing or future registered open-end management
investment company or series thereof for which the Adviser or any
successor thereto or an investment adviser controlling, controlled
by, or under common control with the Adviser or any successor
thereto serves as investment adviser (each a ``Fund'' and
collectively the ``Funds'' and each such investment adviser an
``Adviser''). For purposes of the requested order, ``successor'' is
limited to any entity that results from a reorganization into
another jurisdiction or a change in the type of a business
organization.
\3\ Any Fund, however, will be able to call a loan on one
business day's notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Applicants anticipate that the proposed facility would provide a
borrowing Fund with a source of liquidity at a rate lower than the bank
borrowing rate at times when the cash position of the Fund is
insufficient to meet temporary cash requirements. In addition, Funds
making short-term cash loans directly to other Funds would earn
interest at a rate higher than they otherwise could obtain from
investing their cash in repurchase agreements or certain other short
term instruments. Thus, applicants assert that the facility would
benefit both borrowing and lending Funds.
3. Applicants agree that any order granting the requested relief
will be subject to the terms and conditions stated in the application.
Among others, the Adviser, through a designated committee, would
administer the facility as a disinterested fiduciary as part of its
duties under the investment management agreements with the Funds and
would receive no additional fee as compensation for its services in
connection with the administration of the facility.\4\ The facility
would be subject to oversight and certain approvals by the Funds'
Board, including, among others, approval of the interest rate formula
and of the method for allocating loans across Funds, as well as review
of the process in place to evaluate the liquidity implications for the
Funds. A Fund's aggregate outstanding interfund loans will not exceed
15% of its net assets, and the Fund's loans to any one Fund will not
exceed 5% of the lending Fund's net assets.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Members of the designated committee may include one or more
investment professionals, including individuals involved in making
investment decisions regarding short-term investments.
\5\ Under certain circumstances, a borrowing Fund will be
required to pledge collateral to secure the loan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Applicants assert that the facility does not raise the concerns
underlying section 12(d)(1) of the Act given that the Funds are part of
the same group of investment companies and there will be no duplicative
costs or fees to the Funds.\6\ Applicants also assert that the proposed
transactions do not raise the concerns underlying sections 17(a)(1),
17(a)(3), 17(d) and 21(b) of the Act as the Funds would not engage in
lending transactions that unfairly benefit insiders or are detrimental
to the Funds. Applicants state that the facility will offer both
reduced borrowing costs and enhanced returns on loaned funds to all
participating Funds and each Fund would have an equal opportunity to
borrow and lend on equal terms based on an interest rate formula that
is objective and verifiable. With respect to the relief from section
17(a)(2) of the Act, applicants note that any collateral pledged to
secure an interfund loan would be subject to the same conditions
imposed by any other lender to a Fund that imposes conditions on the
quality of or access to collateral for a borrowing (if the lender is
another Fund) or the same or better conditions (in any other
circumstance).\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Applicants state that the obligation to repay an interfund
loan could be deemed to constitute a security for the purposes of
sections 17(a)(1) and 12(d)(1) of the Act.
\7\ Applicants state that any pledge of securities to secure an
interfund loan could constitute a purchase of securities for
purposes of section 17(a)(2) of the Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Applicants also believe that the limited relief from section
18(f)(1) of the Act that is necessary to implement the facility
(because the lending Funds are not banks) is appropriate in light of
the conditions and safeguards described in the application and because
the open-end Funds would remain subject to the requirement of section
18(f)(1) that all borrowings of the open-end Fund, including combined
interfund loans and bank borrowings, have at least 300% asset coverage.
6. Section 6(c) of the Act permits the Commission to exempt any
persons or transactions from any provision of the Act if such exemption
is necessary or appropriate in the public interest and consistent with
the protection of investors and the purposes fairly intended by the
policy and provisions of the Act. Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act
provides that the Commission may exempt any person, security, or
transaction, or any class or classes of persons, securities, or
transactions, from any provision of section 12(d)(1) if the exemption
is consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors.
Section 17(b) of the Act authorizes the Commission to grant an order
permitting a transaction otherwise prohibited by section 17(a) if it
finds that (a) the terms of the proposed transaction are fair and
reasonable and do not involve overreaching on the part of any person
concerned; (b) the proposed transaction is consistent with the policies
of each registered investment company involved; and (c) the proposed
transaction is consistent with the general purposes of the Act. Rule
17d-1(b) under the Act provides that in passing upon an application
filed under the rule, the Commission will consider whether the
participation of the registered investment company in a joint
enterprise, joint arrangement or profit sharing plan on the basis
proposed is consistent with the provisions, policies and purposes of
the Act and the extent to which such participation is on a basis
different from or less advantageous than that of the other
participants.
For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management,
under delegated authority.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-09378 Filed 5-1-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
