15010 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2011 / Notices 

1This 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. 

Rule 17a–4 requires approximately 

5,057 active, registered exchange 

members, brokers and dealers (‘‘brokerdealers’’) 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. 

[FR Doc. 2011–6317 Filed 3–17–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 206(4)–6; SEC File No. 270–513; 

OMB Control No. 3235–0571. 

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 

(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the 

previously approved collection of 

information discussed below. 

The title for the collection of 

information is ‘‘Rule 206(4)–6’’ under 

the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 

U.S.C. 80b–1 et seq.) (‘‘Advisers Act’’) 

and the collection has been approved 

under OMB Control No. 3235–0571. The 

Commission adopted rule 206(4)–6 (17 

CFR 275.206(4)–6), the proxy voting 

rule, to address an investment adviser’s 

fiduciary obligation to clients who have 

given the adviser authority to vote their 

securities. Under the rule, an 

investment adviser that exercises voting 

authority over client securities is 

required to: (i) Adopt and implement 

policies and procedures that are 

reasonably designed to ensure that the 

adviser votes securities in the best 

interest of clients, including procedures 

to address any material conflict that 

may arise between the interest of the 

adviser and the client; (ii) disclose to 

clients how they may obtain 

information on how the adviser has 

voted with respect to their securities; 

and (iii) describe to clients the adviser’s 

proxy voting policies and procedures 

and, on request, furnish a copy of the 

policies and procedures to the 

requesting client. The rule is designed 

to assure that advisers that vote proxies 

for their clients vote those proxies in 

their clients’ best interest and provide 

clients with information about how 

their proxies were voted. 

Rule 206(4)–6 contains ‘‘collection of 

information’’ requirements within the 

meaning of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act. 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 collection is 

mandatory and responses to the 

disclosure requirement are not kept 

confidential. 

The respondents are investment 

advisers registered with the Commission 

that vote proxies with respect to clients’ 

securities. Advisory clients of these 

investment advisers use the information 

required by the rule to assess 

investment advisers’ proxy voting 

policies and procedures and to monitor 

the advisers’ performance of their proxy 

voting activities. The information 

required by Rule 206(4)–6 also is used 

by the Commission staff in its 

examination and oversight program. 

Without the information collected under 

the rule, advisory clients would not 

have information they need to assess the 

adviser’s services and monitor the 

adviser’s handling of their accounts, and 

the Commission would be less efficient 

and effective in its programs. 

The estimated number of investment 

advisers subject to the collection of 

information requirements under the rule 

is 10,207. It is estimated that each of 

these advisers is required to spend on 

average 10 hours annually documenting 

its proxy voting procedures under the 

requirements of the rule, for a total 

burden of 102,070 hours. We further 

estimate that on average, approximately 

121 clients of each adviser would 

request copies of the underlying policies 

and procedures. We estimate that it 

would take these advisers 0.1 hours per 

client to deliver copies of the policies 

and procedures, for a total burden of 

123,505 hours. Accordingly, we 

estimate that rule 206(4)–6 results in an 

annual aggregate burden of collection 

for SEC-registered investment advisers 

of a total of 225,575 hours. 

Records related to an adviser’s proxy 

voting policies and procedures and 

proxy voting history are separately 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2011 / Notices 15011 

1 ‘‘Investment company’’ refers to both investment 

companies registered under the Investment 

Company Act of 1940 and business development 

companies. 

2 15 U.S.C. 77j(b). 

required under the Advisers Act 

recordkeeping rule 204–2 (17 CFR 

275.204–2). The standard retention 

period required for books and records 

under rule 204–2 is five years, in an 

easily accessible place, the first two 

years in an appropriate office of the 

investment adviser. OMB has previously 

approved the collection with this 

retention period. 

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, D.C. 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. 

[FR Doc. 2011–6318 Filed 3–17–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 18f–1 and Form N–18f–1; SEC 

File No. 270–187; OMB Control No. 

3235–0211. 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 350l–3520), 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. 

Rule 18f–1 (17 CFR 270.18f–1) 

enables a registered open-end 

management investment company 

(‘‘fund’’) that may redeem its securities 

in-kind, by making a one-time election, 

to commit to make cash redemptions 

pursuant to certain requirements 

without violating section 18(f) of the 

Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 

U.S.C. 80a–18(f)). A fund relying on the 

rule must file Form N–18F–1 (17 CFR 

274.51) to notify the Commission of this 

election. The Commission staff 

estimates that approximately 52 funds 

file Form N–18F–1 annually, and that 

each response takes approximately one 

hour. Based on these estimates, the total 

annual burden hours associated with 

the rule is estimated to be 52 hours. 

The estimate of average burden hours 

is made solely for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not 

derived from a comprehensive or even 

a representative survey or study of the 

costs of Commission rules. The 

collection of information required by 

rule 18f–1 is necessary to obtain the 

benefits of the rule. 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 control number. 

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. 

[FR Doc. 2011–6319 Filed 3–17–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 482, SEC File No. 270–508, OMB 

Control No. 3235–0565. 

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 

(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the 

previously approved collection of 

information discussed below. 

Like most issuers of securities, when 

an investment company 1 (‘‘fund’’) offers 

its shares to the public, its promotional 

efforts become subject to the advertising 

restrictions of the Securities Act of 

1933, (15 U.S.C. 77) (the ‘‘Securities 

Act’’). In recognition of the particular 

problems faced by funds that 

continually offer securities and wish to 

advertise their securities, the 

Commission has previously adopted 

advertising safe harbor rules. The most 

important of these is rule 482 (17 CFR 

230.482) under the Securities Act, 

which, under certain circumstances, 

permits funds to advertise investment 

performance data, as well as other 

information. Rule 482 advertisements 

are deemed to be ‘‘prospectuses’’ under 

Section 10(b) of the Securities Act.2

Rule 482 contains certain 

requirements regarding the disclosure 

that funds are required to provide in 

qualifying advertisements. These 

requirements are intended to encourage 

the provision to investors of information 

that is balanced and informative, 

particularly in the area of investment 

performance. For example, a fund is 

required to include disclosure advising 

investors to consider the fund’s 

investment objectives, risks, charges and 

expenses, and other information 

described in the fund’s prospectus, and 

highlighting the availability of the 

fund’s prospectus. In addition, rule 482 

advertisements that include 

performance data of open-end funds or 

insurance company separate accounts 

offering variable annuity contracts are 

required to include certain standardized 

performance information, information 

about any sales loads or other 

nonrecurring fees, and a legend warning 

that past performance does not 

guarantee future results. Such funds 

including performance information in 

rule 482 advertisements are also 

required to make available to investors 

month-end performance figures via Web 

site disclosure or by a toll-free 

telephone number, and to disclose the 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES