[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 197 (Thursday, October 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54710-54712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-22222]
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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:
Rule 19b-4 and Form 19b-4 Filings with Respect to Proposed Rule
Changes, Securities-Based Swap Submissions, and Advance Notices by
Self-Regulatory Organizations and the Security-Based Swap Stay of
Clearing Requirement; SEC File No. 270-38, OMB Control No. 3235-
0045.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (``PRA'') (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 approval of extension of the of the
previously approved collection of information provided for in Rule 19b-
4 (17 CFR 240.19b-4), under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(``Act'') (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.).
Section 19(b) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78s(b)) requires each self-
regulatory organization (``SRO'') to file with the Commission copies of
any proposed rule, or any proposed change in, addition to, or deletion
from the rules of such SRO. Rule 19b-4 implements the requirements of
Section 19(b) by requiring the SROs to file their proposed rule changes
on Form 19b-4 and by clarifying which actions taken by SROs are subject
to the filing requirement set forth in Section 19(b). Rule 19b-4(n)
requires a designated clearing agency to provide the Commission advance
notice (``Advance Notice'') of any proposed change to its rules,
procedures, or operations that could materially affect the nature or
level of risks presented by such clearing agency. Rule 19b-4(o)
requires a registered clearing agency to submit for a Commission
determination any security-based swap, or any group,
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category, type, or class of security-based swaps it plans to accept for
clearing (``Security-Based Swap Submission''), and provide notice to
its members of such submissions.
The collection of information is designed to provide the Commission
with the information necessary to determine, as required by the Act,
whether the proposed rule change is consistent with the Act and the
rules thereunder. The information is used to determine if the proposed
rule change should be approved, disapproved, suspended, or if
proceedings should be instituted to determine whether to approve or
disapprove the proposed rule change.
The respondents to the collection of information are SROs (as
defined by Section 3(a)(26) of the Act),\1\ including national
securities exchanges, national securities associations, registered
clearing agencies, notice registered securities future product
exchanges, and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(26).
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In calendar year 2018, each respondent filed an average of
approximately 39 proposed rule changes. Each filing takes approximately
41 hours to complete on average. Thus, the total annual reporting
burden for filing proposed rule changes with the Commission is 67,158
hours (39 proposals per year x 42 SROs x 41 hours per filing) for the
estimated future number of 42 SROs.\2\ In addition to filing their
proposed rule changes with the Commission, the respondents also are
required to post each of their proposals on their respective websites,
a process that takes approximately four hours to complete per proposal.
Thus, the total annual reporting burden on respondents to post the
proposals on their websites is 6,552 hours (39 proposals per year x 42
SROs x 4 hours per filing) for the estimated future number of 42 SROs.
Further, the respondents are required to update their rulebooks, which
they maintain on their websites, to reflect the changes that they make
in each proposal they file. The total annual reporting burden for
updating online rulebooks is 5,579 hours ((1,638 filings per year -240
withdrawn filings \3\ -3 disapproved filings \4\) x 4 hours). Finally,
a respondent is required to notify the Commission if it does not post a
proposed rule change on its website on the same day that it filed the
proposal with the Commission. The Commission estimates that SROs will
fail to post proposed rule changes on their websites on the same day as
the filing 16 times a year (across all SROs), and that each SRO will
spend approximately one hour preparing and submitting such notice to
the Commission, resulting in a total annual burden of 16 hours (16
notices x 1 hour per notice).
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\2\ In 2018, there were 39 SROs. In May 2019, an additional SRO
registered with the Commission (as a national securities exchange).
The Commission expects two additional respondents to register during
the three-year period for which this Paperwork Reduction Act
extension is applicable (one as a registered clearing agency and one
as a national securities exchange), bringing the total number of
respondents to 42.
\3\ For 39 SROs, 223 withdrawn filings equal approximately 5.72
filings per SRO. For 42 SROs, the figure would increase to 240
withdrawn filings.
\4\ For 39 SROs, three disapproved filings equal approximately
0.08 filings per SRO. For 42 SROs, the figure would remain at three
disapproved filings.
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Designated clearing agencies have additional information collection
burdens. As noted above, pursuant to Rule 19b-4(n), a designated
clearing agency must file with the Commission an Advance Notice of any
proposed change to its rules, procedures, or operations that could
materially affect the nature or level of risks presented by such
designated clearing agency. The Commission estimates that four
designated clearing agencies will each submit five Advance Notices per
year, with each submission taking 90 hours to complete. The total
annual reporting burden for filing Advance Notices is therefore 2,250
hours (5 designated clearing agencies x 5 Advance Notices per year x 90
hours per response).
Designated clearing agencies are required to post all Advance
Notices to their websites, each of which takes approximately four hours
to complete. For five Advance Notices, the total annual reporting
burden for posting them to respondents' websites is 100 hours (5
designated clearing agencies x 5 Advance Notices per year x 4 hours per
website posting). Respondents are required to update the postings of
those Advance Notices that become effective, each of which takes
approximately four hours to complete. The total annual reporting burden
for updating Advance Notices on the respondents' websites is 100 hours
(5 designated clearing agencies x 5 Advance Notices per year x 4 hours
per website posting).
Pursuant to Rule 19b-4(n)(5), the respondents are also required to
provide copies of all materials submitted to the Commission relating to
an Advance Notice to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System (``Board'') contemporaneously with such submission to the
Commission, which is estimated to take two hours. The total annual
reporting burden for designated clearing agencies to meet this
requirement is 50 hours (5 designated clearing agencies x 5 Advance
Notices per year x 2 hours per response).
The Commission estimates that three security-based swap clearing
agencies will each submit 20 Security-Based Swap Submissions per year,
with each submission taking 140 hours to complete resulting in a total
annual reporting burden of 8,400 hours (3 respondent clearing agencies
x 20 Security-Based Swap Submissions per year x 140 hours per
response). Respondent clearing agencies are required to post all
Security-Based Swap Submissions to their websites, each of which takes
approximately four hours to complete. For 20 Security-Based Swap
Submissions, the total annual reporting burden for posting them to the
three respondents' websites is 240 hours (3 respondent clearing
agencies x 20 Security-Based Swap Submissions per year x 4 hours per
website posting). In addition, three clearing agencies that have not
previously posted Security-Based Swap Submissions on their websites may
need to update their existing websites to post such filings online. The
Commission estimates that each of these three clearing agencies would
spend approximately 15 hours updating their existing websites,
resulting in a total one-time burden of 45 hours (3 respondent clearing
agencies x 15 hours per website update) or 15 hours annualized over
three years.
Respondent SROs will also have to provide training to staff members
using the Electronic Form 19b-4 Filing System (``EFFS'') to submit
Security-Based Swap Submissions, Advance Notices, and/or proposed rule
changes electronically. The Commission estimates that one newly-
registered national securities exchange, one anticipated national
securities exchange, and one anticipated clearing agency will spend
approximately 60 hours training all staff members who will use EFFS to
submit Security-Based Swap Submissions, Advance Notices, and/or
proposed rule changes electronically, or 20 hours annualized over three
years. The Commission also estimates that these newly-registered and
anticipated SROs will have a one-time burden of 390 hours to draft and
implement internal policies and procedures for using EFFS to make these
submissions, or 130 hours annualized over three years. The Commission
estimates that each of the 42 respondents will spend 10 hours each year
training new compliance staff
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members and updating the training of existing compliance staff members
to use EFFS, for a total annual burden of 420 hours (42 respondent SROs
x 10 hours).
In connection with Security-Based Swap Submissions, counterparties
may apply for a stay from a mandatory clearing requirement under Rule
3Ca-1. The Commission estimates that each clearing agency will submit
five applications for stays from a clearing requirement per year and it
will take approximately 18 hours to retrieve, review, and submit each
application. Thus, the total annual reporting burden for the Rule 3Ca-1
stay of clearing requirement would be 270 hours (3 respondent clearing
agencies x 5 stay of clearing applications per year x 18 hours to
retrieve, review, and submit the stay of clearing information).
Based on the above, the total estimated annual response burden
pursuant to Rule 19b-4 and Form 19b-4 is the sum of the total annual
reporting burdens for filing proposed rule changes, Advance Notices,
and Security-Based Swap Submissions; training staff to file such
proposals; drafting, modifying, and implementing internal policies and
procedures for filing such proposals; posting each proposal on the
respondents' websites; updating websites to enable posting of
proposals; updating the respondents' online rulebooks to reflect the
proposals that became effective; submitting copies of Advance Notices
to the Board; and applying for stays from clearing requirements, which
is 91,300 hours.
Compliance with Rule 19b-4 is mandatory. Information received in
response to Rule 19b-4 shall not be kept confidential; the information
collected is public 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 website: 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:
[email protected]; and (ii) Charles Riddle, Acting Director/
Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o
Cynthia Roscoe, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549, or by sending an
email to: [email protected]. Comments must be submitted to OMB within
30 days of this notice.
Jill M. Peterson,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-22222 Filed 10-9-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P