[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 7, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18664-18665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07852]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Upon Written Request Copies Available From: U.S. Securities and 
Exchange Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-2736.

Extension: Rule 17f-2. SEC File No. 270-233, OMB Control No. 3235-
0223.

    Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 350l et seq.), the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (the ``Commission'') is soliciting comments on the 
collection of information summarized below. The Commission plans to 
submit this existing collection of information to the Office of 
Management and Budget for extension and approval.
    Rule 17f-2 (17 CFR 270.17f-2), entitled ``Custody of Investments by 
Registered Management Investment Company,'' was adopted in 1940 under 
section 17(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-
17(f)) (the ``Act''), and was last amended

[[Page 18665]]

materially in 1947. Rule 17f-2 establishes safeguards for arrangements 
in which a registered management investment company (``fund'') is 
deemed to maintain custody of its own assets, such as when the fund 
maintains its assets in a facility that provides safekeeping but not 
custodial services.\1\ The rule includes several recordkeeping or 
reporting requirements. The fund's directors must prepare a resolution 
designating not more than five fund officers or responsible employees 
who may have access to the fund's assets. The designated access persons 
(two or more of whom must act jointly when handling fund assets) must 
prepare a written notation providing certain information about each 
deposit or withdrawal of fund assets, and must transmit the notation to 
another officer or director designated by the directors. An independent 
public accountant must verify the fund's assets three times each year, 
and two of those examinations must be unscheduled.\2\
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    \1\ The rule generally requires all assets to be deposited in 
the safekeeping of a ``bank or other company whose functions and 
physical facilities are supervised by Federal or State authority.'' 
The fund's securities must be physically segregated at all times 
from the securities of any other person.
    \2\ The accountant must transmit to the Commission promptly 
after each examination a certificate describing the examination on 
Form N-17f-2. The third (scheduled) examination may coincide with 
the annual verification required for every fund by section 30(g) of 
the Act (15 U.S.C. 80a-29(g)).
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    Rule 17f-2's requirement that directors designate access persons is 
intended to ensure that directors evaluate the trustworthiness of 
insiders who handle fund assets. The requirements that access persons 
act jointly in handling fund assets, prepare a written notation of each 
transaction, and transmit the notation to another designated person are 
intended to reduce the risk of misappropriation of fund assets by 
access persons, and to ensure that adequate records are prepared, 
reviewed by a responsible third person, and available for examination 
by the Commission. The requirement that auditors verify fund assets 
without notice twice each year is intended to provide an additional 
deterrent to the misappropriation of fund assets and to detect any 
irregularities.
    The Commission staff estimates that each fund makes 974 responses 
and spends an average of 252 hours annually in complying with the 
rule's requirements.\3\ Commission staff estimates that on an annual 
basis it takes: (i) 0.5 hours of fund accounting personnel at a total 
cost of $99 to draft director resolutions; \4\ (ii) 0.5 hours of the 
fund's board of directors at a total cost of $2200 to adopt the 
resolution; \5\ (iii) 244 hours for the fund's accounting personnel at 
a total cost of $63,797 to prepare written notations of transactions; 
\6\ and (iv) 7 hours for the fund's accounting personnel at a total 
cost of $1386 to assist the independent public accountants when they 
perform verifications of fund assets.\7\ Commission staff estimates 
that approximately 188 funds file Form N-17f-2 each year.\8\ Thus, the 
total annual hour burden for rule 17f-2 is estimated to be 47,376 
hours.\9\ Based on the total costs per fund listed above, the total 
cost of rule 17f-2's collection of information requirements is 
estimated to be approximately $12.7 million.\10\
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    \3\ The 974 responses are: 1 (one) response to draft and adopt 
the resolution and 973 notations. Estimates of the number of hours 
are based on conversations with individuals in the fund industry. 
The actual number of hours may vary significantly depending on 
individual fund assets.
    \4\ This estimate is based on the following calculation: 0.5 
(burden hours per fund) x $198 (senior accountant's hourly rate) = 
$99. Unless otherwise indicated, the hourly wage figures used herein 
are from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's 
Management & Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2013, 
modified by Commission staff to account for an 1800-hour work-year 
and multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee 
benefits and overhead.
    \5\ The estimate for the cost of board time as a whole is 
derived from estimates made by the staff regarding typical board 
size and compensation that is based on information received from 
fund representatives and publicly available sources.
    \6\ Respondents estimated that each fund makes 974 responses on 
an annual basis and spends a total of 0.25 hours per response. The 
fund personnel involved are Accounts Payable Manager ($186 hourly 
rate), Operations Manager ($334 hourly rate) and Accounting Manager 
($265 hourly rate). The average hourly rate of these personnel is 
$262. The estimated cost of preparing notations is based on the 
following calculation: 974 x 0.25 x $262 = $63,797.
    \7\ This estimate is based on the following calculation: 7 x 
$198 (senior accountant's hourly rate) = $1386.
    \8\ On average, each year approximately 188 funds filed Form N-
17f-2 with the Commission during calendar years 2011-2013.
    \9\ This estimate is based on the following calculation: 188 
(funds) x 252 (total annual hourly burden per fund) = 47,376 hours 
for rule. The annual burden for rule 17f-2 does not include time 
spent preparing Form N-17f-2. The burden for Form N-17f-2 is 
included in a separate collection of information.
    \10\ This estimate is based on the following calculation: 
$67,482 (total annual cost per fund) x 188 funds = $12,686,616.
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    The estimate of average burden hours is made solely for the 
purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not derived from a 
comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of the costs of 
Commission rules and forms. Complying with the collections of 
information required by rule 17f-2 is mandatory for those funds that 
maintain custody of their own assets. 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.
    Written comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Commission, including whether the information has practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission'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 Pamela Dyson, Director/Chief 
Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi 
Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549; or send an email 
to: [email protected].

    Dated: April 1, 2015.
 Brent J. Fields,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-07852 Filed 4-6-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE CODE 8011-01-P