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###### Securities and Exchange Commission

*Upon Written Request, Copies Available From:*                     Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Washington, DC 20549.                

*Extension:*

Rule 17a-4; SEC File No. 270-198; OMB Control No. 3235-0279.

                    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 (“Commission”) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a request for extension of the previously approved collection of information discussed below.                          ( print page 15010)    

Rule 17a-4 requires approximately 5,057 active, registered exchange members, brokers and dealers (“broker-dealers”) to preserve for prescribed periods of time certain records required to be made by Rule 17a-3 and other Commission rules, and other kinds of records which firms make or receive in the ordinary course of business. Rule 17a-4 also permits broker-dealers to employ, under certain conditions, electronic storage media to maintain these required records. The records required to be maintained under Rule 17a-4 are used by examiners and other representatives of the Commission to determine whether broker-dealers are in compliance with, and to enforce their compliance with, the Commission's rules.

                    The staff estimates that the average number of hours necessary for each broker-dealer to comply with Rule 17a-4 is 254 hours annually. Thus, the total burden for broker-dealers is 1,284,478 hours annually. The staff believes that compliance personnel would be charged with ensuring compliance with Commission regulation, including Rule 17a-4. The staff estimates that the hourly salary of a Compliance Clerk is $67 per hour.[1]                                          Based upon these numbers, the total cost of compliance for 5,057 respondents is the dollar cost of approximately $86.1 million (1,284,478 yearly hours × $67). The total burden hour decrease of 468,122 results from the decrease in the number of respondents from 6,900 to 5,057.                

Based on conversations with members of the securities industry and based on the Commission's experience in the area, the staff estimates that the average broker-dealer spends approximately $5,000 each year to store documents required to be retained under Rule 17a-4. Costs include the cost of physical space, computer hardware and software, etc., which vary widely depending on the size of the broker-dealer and the type of storage media employed. The Commission estimates that the annual reporting and record-keeping cost burden is $25,285,000. This cost is calculated by the number of active, registered broker-dealers multiplied by the reporting and record-keeping cost for each respondent (5,057 active, registered broker-dealers × $5,000).

                    The public may view the background documentation for this information collection at the following Web site,                     *http://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 e-mail to:                     *Shagufta_Ahmed@omb.eop.gov;*                     and (ii) Thomas Bayer, Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, VA 22312 or send an e-mail to:                     *PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov.*                     Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30 days of this notice.                

Dated: March 14, 2011.

Cathy H. Ahn,

Deputy Secretary. 

# Footnotes

1.                             This figure is based on SIFMA's                         *Office Salaries in the Securities Industry 2010,*                         modified by Commission staff to account for an 1,800-hour work-year multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits, and overhead.                    
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[FR Doc. 2011-6317 Filed 3-17-11; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8011-01-P