Federal Register 60 Day Notice

39020

Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 154 / Wednesday, August 13, 2025 / Notices

and should be submitted on or before
September 3, 2025.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.18
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025–15318 Filed 8–12–25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
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khammond on DSK9W7S144PROD with NOTICES

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Extension: Rule
17a–13
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, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission (‘‘SEC’’ or
‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the proposed collection of
information.
Rule 17a–13(b) (17 CFR 240.17a–
13(b)) generally requires that at least
once each calendar quarter, all
registered brokers-dealers physically
examine and count all securities held
and account for all other securities not
in their possession, but subject to the
broker-dealer’s control or direction. Any
discrepancies between the brokerdealer’s securities count and the firm’s
records must be noted and, within seven
days, the unaccounted for difference
must be recorded in the firm’s records.
Rule 17a–13(c) (17 CFR 240.17a–13(c))
provides that under specified
conditions, the count, examination, and
verification of the broker-dealer’s entire
list of securities may be conducted on
a cyclical basis rather than on a certain
date. Although Rule 17a–13 does not
require broker-dealers to file a report
with the Commission, discrepancies
between a broker-dealer’s records and
the securities counts may be required to
be reported, for example, as a loss on
Form X–17a–5 (17 CFR 248.617), which
must be filed with the Commission
under Exchange Act Rule 17a–5 (17 CFR
240.17a–5). Rule 17a–13 exempts
broker-dealers that limit their business
18 17

CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).

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to the sale and redemption of securities
of registered investment companies and
interests or participation in an
insurance company separate account
and those who solicit accounts for
federally insured savings and loan
associations, provided that such persons
promptly transmit all funds and
securities and hold no customer funds
and securities. Rule 17a–13 also does
not apply to certain broker-dealers
required to register only because they
effect transactions in securities futures
products.
Rule 17a–13 requires the recording of
only those differences in the brokerdealer’s records that remain unresolved
seven business days after the date of the
examination, count, and verification.
The Commission or the self-regulatory
organization (‘‘SRO’’) designated as the
broker-dealer’s examining authority may
examine these recorded discrepancies in
a broker-dealer’s records to determine
whether they are the result of the firm’s
inability to maintain control of its
business.
The information obtained from Rule
17a–13 is used as an inventory control
device to monitor a broker-dealer’s
ability to account for all securities held
in transfer, in transit, pledged, loaned,
borrowed, deposited, or otherwise
subject to the firm’s control or direction.
Discrepancies between the securities
counts and the broker-dealer’s records
alert the Commission and applicable
SROs to those firms experiencing backoffice operational issues.
As of December 2024, there were
approximately 3,342 active brokerdealers registered with the Commission.
However, given the variability in their
businesses, it is difficult to quantify
how many hours per year each brokerdealer spends complying with Rule
17a–13. As noted, Rule 17a–13 requires
a broker-dealer to account for all
securities in its possession or subject to
its control or direction. Many brokerdealers hold few, if any, securities,
while others hold large quantities.
Therefore, the time burden of complying
with Rule 17a–13 will depend on
respondent-specific factors, including
size, number of customers, and
proprietary trading activity. The staff
estimates that the average time spent per
respondent is 100 hours per year on an
ongoing basis to maintain the records
required under Rule 17a–13. This
estimate takes into account the fact that
more than half of the 3,342
respondents—according to financial
reports filed with the Commission—may

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spend little or no time complying with
Rule 17a–13, given that they do not do
a public securities business or do not
hold inventories of securities. For these
reasons, the staff estimates that the total
recordkeeping burden per year is
approximately 334,200 hours (3,342
respondents × 100 hours/respondent).
The records required to be made by
Rule 17a–13 are available only to
Commission examination staff, state
securities authorities, and applicable
SROs. Subject to the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C.
522, and the Commission’s rules
thereunder (17 CFR 200.80(b)(4)(iii)),
the Commission does not generally
publish or make available information
contained in any reports, summaries,
analyses, letters, or memoranda arising
out of, in anticipation of, or in
connection with an examination or
inspection of the books and records of
any person or any other investigation.
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.
Written comments are invited on: (a)
whether this proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the SEC,
including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of
the SEC’s estimate of the burden
imposed by the proposed collection of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and the assumptions
used; (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, electronic
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Please direct your written comments
on this 60-Day Collection Notice to
Austin Gerig, Director/Chief Data
Officer, Securities and Exchange
Commission, c/o Tanya Ruttenberg via
email to PaperworkReductionAct@
sec.gov by October 14, 2025. There will
be a second opportunity to comment on
this SEC request following the Federal
Register publishing a 30-Day
Submission Notice.
Dated: August 8, 2025.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025–15312 Filed 8–12–25; 8:45 am]
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