30 Day Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2022 / Notices

$20,000 for the services of outside
attorneys to retrieve, review, and submit
the information associated with the
submission of the one request for which
a request for a joint interpretation
pursuant to Rule 3a68–2 was not
previously made (1 request × 50 hours/
request × $400). For the nine requests
for which a request for a joint
interpretation pursuant to Rule 3a68–2
was previously made, the SEC estimates
the total costs associated with preparing
and submitting a party’s request
pursuant to Rule 3a68–4(c) would be
$6,000 less per request because, as
discussed above, some of the
information required to be submitted
pursuant to Rule 3a68–4(c) already
would have been submitted pursuant to
Rule 3a68–2. The SEC estimates this
would result in an aggregate cost each
year of $126,000 for the services of
outside attorneys (9 requests × 35 hours/
request × $400).
Written comments are invited on: (a)
Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the SEC,
including whether the information shall
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of
the SEC’s estimates of the burden of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
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.
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.
Please direct your written comments
to: David Bottom, Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o John
Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington,
DC 20549, or send an email to: PRA_
[email protected].
Dated: December 28, 2021.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–28427 Filed 12–30–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[OMB Control No. 3235–0447, SEC File No.
270–392]

Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request; Extension: Rule
17f–6
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736
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’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget a
request for extension of the previously
approved collection of information
discussed below.
Rule 17f–6 (17 CFR 270.17f–6) under
the Investment Company Act of 1940
(15 U.S.C. 80a) permits registered
investment companies (‘‘funds’’) to
maintain assets (i.e., margin) with
futures commission merchants
(‘‘FCMs’’) in connection with

commodity transactions effected on
both domestic and foreign exchanges.
Before the rule was adopted, funds
generally were required to maintain
such assets in special accounts with a
custodian bank.
The rule requires a written contract
that contains certain provisions
designed to ensure important safeguards
and other benefits relating to the
custody of fund assets by FCMs. To
protect fund assets, the contract must
require that FCMs comply with the
segregation or secured amount
requirements of the Commodity
Exchange Act (‘‘CEA’’) and the rules
under that statute. The contract also
must contain a requirement that FCMs
obtain an acknowledgment from any
clearing organization that the fund’s
assets are held on behalf of the FCM’s
customers according to CEA provisions.
Because rule 17f–6 does not impose
any ongoing obligations on funds or
FCMs, Commission staff estimates there
are no costs related to existing contracts
between funds and FCMs. This estimate
does not include the time required by an
FCM to comply with the rule’s contract
requirements because, to the extent that
complying with the contract provisions
could be considered ‘‘collections of
information,’’ the burden hours for
compliance are already included in
other PRA submissions.1 Commission
staff estimates that approximately 1,302
series of 155 funds which report that
futures commission merchants and
commodity clearing organizations
provide custodial services to the fund.2
Commission staff, however, estimates
that any burden of the rule would be
borne by funds and FCMs entering into
new contracts pursuant to the rule as set
forth in Table 1 below:

TABLE 1—BURDEN OF INFORMATION COLLECTION FOR COMPLYING WITH RULE 17f–6
Estimated responses

Estimated hours burden

130 series ...................
15 funds 1 ...................

130 series × 0.1 hours = 13 hours .................
15 funds × 1 hour = 15 hours .........................
13 hours + 15 hours = 28 hours 3 ...................
28 hours annually ...........................................

Estimated cost burdens

New contracts with
FCMs Annually.

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Totals ....................

130 series and 15
funds annually 2.

13 hours × $425 (attorney) 4 = $5,525.
15 hours × $425 (attorney) 4 = $6,375.
$5,525 + $6,375 = $11,900.
$11,900 annually.

1 These estimates are based on the assumption that 10% of series and funds that currently effect commodities transactions enter into new
FCM contracts each year. This assumption encompasses series and fund that enter into FCM contracts for the first time, as well as fund complexes and fund that change the FCM with whom they maintain margin accounts for commodities transactions.
2 Commission staff estimates that approximately 155 funds, representing 1,302 separate fund series, currently effect commodities transactions
and could deposit margin with FCMs in connection with those transactions pursuant to rule 17f–6. Staff further estimates that of this number, 15
funds and 130 series enter into new contracts with FCMs each year.

1 The rule requires a contract with the FCM to
contain two provisions requiring the FCM to
comply with existing requirements under the CEA
and rules adopted thereunder. Thus, to the extent
these provisions could be considered collections of

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information, the hours required for compliance
would be included in the collection of information
burden hours submitted by the CFTC for its rules.

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2 This estimate is based on the number of funds
that reported on Form N–CEN from July 31, 2020–
July 31, 2021, in response to sub-items C.12.6. and
D.14.6. Money market funds are excluded from this
estimate because they are not eligible securities.

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2022 / Notices

129

3 Based on conversations with fund representatives, Commission staff understands that funds typically enter into contracts with FCMs on behalf of series that engage in commodities transactions. Series covered by the contract are typically listed in an attachment, which may be
amended to encompass new series. Commission staff estimates that the burden for a fund to enter into a contract with an FCM that contains the
contract requirements of rule 17f–6 is one hour, and further estimates that the burden to add a series to an existing contract between a fund and
an FCM is 6 minutes.
4 The $425 per hour figure for an attorney is from SIFMA’s Management & Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2013, updated for
2021 modified by Commission staff to account for an 1,800-hour work-year and multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee
benefits and overhead.

These estimates are made solely for
the purposes of the Paperwork
Reduction Act, and are not derived from
a comprehensive or even a
representative survey or study of the
costs of Commission rules and forms.
The collections of information
requirements of the rule are 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.
The public may view the 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)
David Bottom, Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o John R.
Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington,
DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_
[email protected]. Written comments
and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAMain. Find this particular
information collection by selecting
‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open
for Public Comments’’ or by using the
search function.
Dated: December 28, 2021.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–28423 Filed 12–30–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[OMB Control No. 3235–0169, SEC File No.
270–172]

Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request; Extension: Form
N–5
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,

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17:14 Dec 30, 2021

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100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736
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 (the
‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the
previously approved collection of
information discussed below.
Form N–5 (17 CFR 239.24 and 274.5)
is the form used by small business
investment companies (‘‘SBICs’’) to
register their securities under the
Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77a et
seq.) (‘‘Securities Act’’) and the
Investment Company Act of 1940 (15
U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.) (‘‘Investment
Company Act’’). Form N–5 is the
registration statement form adopted by
the Commission for use by an SBIC that
has been licensed as such under the
Small Business Investment Act of 1958
or which has received the preliminary
approval of the Small Business
Administration (‘‘SBA’’) and has been
notified by the SBA that the company
may submit a license application Form
N–5 is an integrated registration form
and may be used as the registration
statement under both the Securities Act
and the Investment Company Act. The
purpose of Form N–5 is to meet the
filing and disclosure requirements of
both the Securities Act and Investment
Company Act, and to provide investors
with information sufficient to evaluate
an investment in an SBIC. The
information that is required to be filed
with the Commission permits
verification of compliance with
securities law requirements and assures
the public availability and
dissemination of the information.
The Commission did not receive any
filings on Form N–5 in the last three
years (and in the three years before that,
received only one Form N–5 filing).
Nevertheless, for purposes of this PRA,
we conservatively estimate that at least
one Form N–5 will be filed in the next
three years, which translates to about
0.333 filings on Form N–5 per year. The
currently approved internal burden of
Form N–5 is 352 hours per response. We
continue to believe this estimate for
Form N–5’s internal hour burden is
appropriate. Therefore, the number of
currently approved aggregate burden

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hours, when calculated using the
current estimate for number of filings, is
about 117 internal hours per year.
The currently approved external cost
burden of Form N–5 is $10,100 per
filing. The requested external cost
burden for filing one Form N–5 would
be $12,524 per year. This estimated
burden is based on the estimated wage
rate of $496/hour, for 25.25 hours, for
outside legal services to complete the
form and provide the required
hyperlinks.
Estimates of average burden hours
and costs are made solely for the
purposes of the Paperwork Reduction
Act, and are not derived from a
comprehensive or even representative
survey or study of the costs of
Commission rules and forms.
Compliance with the collection of
information requirements of Form N–5
is mandatory. Responses to the
collection of information 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 OMB control number.
The public may view the 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)
David Bottom, Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o John R.
Pezzullo 100 F Street NE, Washington,
DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_
[email protected]. Written comments
and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAMain. Find this particular
information collection by selecting
‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open
for Public Comments’’ or by using the
search function.

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