[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 230 (Friday, November 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65853-65854]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25868]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

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

60 Day Notice--Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Extension:
    Rule 22e-4 (60 Day Notice 2019), SEC File No. 270-794, OMB 
Control No. 3235-0737.

    Notice is hereby given that, under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 
``Commission'') is soliciting comments on the collections 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.
    Section 22(e) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (``Investment 
Company Act'') provides that no registered investment company shall 
suspend the right of redemption or postpone the date of payment of 
redemption proceeds for more than seven days after tender of the 
security absent specified unusual circumstances. The provision was 
designed to prevent funds and their investment advisers from 
interfering with the redemption rights of shareholders for improper 
purposes, such as the preservation of management fees. Although section 
22(e) permits funds to postpone the date of payment or satisfaction 
upon redemption for up to seven days, it does not permit funds to 
suspend the right of redemption for any amount of time, absent certain 
specified circumstances or a Commission order.
    Rule 22e-4 under the Act [17 CFR 270.22e-4] requires an open-end 
fund and an exchange-traded fund that redeems in kind (``In-Kind ETF'') 
to establish a written liquidity risk management program that is 
reasonably designed to assess and manage the fund's or In-Kind ETF's 
liquidity risk. The rule also requires board approval and oversight of 
a fund's or In-Kind ETF's liquidity risk management program and 
recordkeeping. Rule 22e-4 also requires a limited liquidity review, 
under which a UIT's principal underwriter or depositor determines, on 
or before the date of the initial deposit of portfolio securities into 
the UIT, that the portion of the illiquid investments that the UIT 
holds or will hold at the date of deposit that are assets is consistent 
with the redeemable nature of the securities it issues and retains a 
record of such determination for the life of the UIT and for five years 
thereafter.
    The following estimates of average burden hours and costs are made 
solely for purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act and are not derived 
from a comprehensive or even representative survey or study of the cost 
of Commission rules and forms.
    Commission staff estimates that funds within 846 fund complexes are 
subject to rule 22e-4. Compliance with rule 22e-4 is mandatory for all 
such funds and In-Kind ETFs, with certain program elements applicable 
to certain funds within a fund complex based upon whether the fund is 
an In-Kind ETF or does not primarily hold assets that are highly liquid 
investments. The Commission estimates that a fund complex will incur a 
one time average burden of 40 hours associated with documenting the 
liquidity risk management programs adopted by each fund within a fund 
complex, in addition to a one time burden of 10 hours per fund complex 
associated with fund boards' review and approval of the funds' 
liquidity risk management programs and preparation of board materials. 
We estimate that the total burden for initial documentation and review 
of funds' written liquidity risk management program will be 42,300 
hours.
    Rule 22e-4 requires any fund that does not primarily hold assets 
that are highly liquid investments to determine a highly liquid 
investment minimum for the fund, which must be reviewed at least 
annually, and may not be changed during any period of time that a 
fund's assets that are highly liquid investments are below the 
determined minimum without approval from the fund's board of directors. 
We estimate that fund complexes will have at least one fund that will 
be subject to the highly liquid investment minimum requirement. Thus, 
we estimate that 846 fund complexes will be subject to this requirement 
under rule 22e-4 and that the total burden for preparation of the board 
report associated will be 11,844 hours.
    Rule 22e-4 requires a fund or In-Kind ETF to maintain a written 
copy of the policies and procedures adopted pursuant to its liquidity 
risk management program for five years in an easily accessible place. 
The rule also requires a fund to maintain copies of materials provided 
to the board in connection with its initial approval of the liquidity 
risk management program and any written reports provided to the board, 
for at least five years, the first two years in an easily accessible 
place. If applicable, a fund must also maintain a written record of how 
its highly liquid investment minimum and any adjustments to the minimum 
were determined, as well as any reports to the board regarding a 
shortfall in the fund's highly liquid investment minimum, for five 
years, the first two years in an easily accessible place. We estimate 
that the total burden for recordkeeping related to the liquidity risk 
management program requirement of rule 22e-4 will be 3,384 hours.
    We estimate that the hour burdens and time costs associated with 
rule 22e-4 for open-end funds, including the burden associated with (1) 
funds' initial documentation and review of the required written 
liquidity risk management program, (2) reporting to a fund's board 
regarding the fund's highly liquid investment minimum, and (3) 
recordkeeping requirements will result in an average aggregate annual 
burden of 25,380 hours.
    UITs may in some circumstances be subject to liquidity risk 
(particularly where the UIT is not a pass-through vehicle and the 
sponsor does not maintain an active secondary market for UIT shares). 
On or before the date of initial deposit of portfolio securities into a 
registered UIT, the UIT's principal underwriter or depositor is 
required to determine that the portion of the illiquid investments that 
the UIT holds or will hold at the date of deposit that are assets is 
consistent with the redeemable nature of the securities it issues, and 
maintain a record of that

[[Page 65854]]

determination for the life of the UIT and for five years thereafter. We 
estimate that 1,385 newly registered UITs will be subject to the UIT 
liquidity determination requirement under rule 22e-4 each year. We 
estimate that the total burden for the initial documentation and review 
of UIT funds' written liquidity risk management program would be 13,850 
hours. We estimate that the total burden for recordkeeping related to 
UIT liquidity risk management programs will be 2,770 hours.
    Compliance with the collection of information requirements of the 
rule is necessary to obtain the benefit of relying on the rule. 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 after this 
publication.
    Please direct your written comments to Charles Riddle, Acting 
Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, 
C/O Cynthia Roscoe, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549; or send an 
email to: [email protected].

    Dated: November 25, 2019.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-25868 Filed 11-27-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P