77476 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 232 / Wednesday, December 2, 2020 / Notices 

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 

Extension: 

Rule 17f–2 (d), [SEC File No. 270–036, 

OMB Control No. 3235–0028] 

Notice is hereby given that pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(‘‘PRA’’) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the existing collection of information 

provided for in Rule 17f–2(d) (17 CFR 

240.17f–2(d)), under the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et 

seq.). The Commission plans to submit 

this existing collection of information to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(‘‘OMB’’) for extension and approval. 

Rule 17f–2(d) requires that records 

created pursuant to the fingerprinting 

requirements of Section 17(f)(2) of the 

Act be maintained and preserved by 

every member of a national securities 

exchange, broker, dealer, registered 

transfer agent and registered clearing 

agency (‘‘covered entities’’ or 

‘‘respondents’’); permits, under certain 

circumstances, the records required to 

be maintained and preserved by a 

member of a national securities 

exchange, broker, or dealer to be 

maintained and preserved by a self– 

regulatory organization that is also the 

designated examining authority for that 

member, broker or dealer; and permits 

the required records to be preserved on 

microfilm. The general purpose for Rule 

17f–2 is to: (i) Identify security risk 

personnel; (ii) provide criminal record 

information so that employers can make 

fully informed employment decisions; 

and (iii) deter persons with criminal 

records from seeking employment or 

association with covered entities. The 

rule enables the Commission or other 

examining authority to ascertain 

whether all required persons are being 

fingerprinted and whether proper 

procedures regarding fingerprinting are 

being followed. Retention of these 

records for a period of not less than 

three years after termination of a 

covered person’s employment or 

relationship with a covered entity 

ensures that law enforcement officials 

will have easy access to fingerprint 

cards on a timely basis. This in turn acts 

as an effective deterrent to employee 

misconduct. 

Approximately 3,900 respondents are 

subject to the recordkeeping 

requirements of the rule. Each 

respondent maintains approximately 68 

new records per year, each of which 

takes approximately 2 minutes per 

record to maintain, for an annual 

burden of approximately 2.2666667 

hours (68 records times 2 minutes). The 

total annual time burden for all 

respondents is approximately 8,840 

hours (3,900 respondents times 

2.2666667 hours). As noted above, all 

records maintained subject to the rule 

must be retained for a period of not less 

than three years after termination of a 

covered person’s employment or 

relationship with a covered entity. In 

addition, we estimate the total annual 

cost burden to respondents is 

approximately $39,000 in third party 

storage costs. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the Commission’s 

estimates of the burden of the proposed 

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 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 Cynthia 

Roscoe, 100 F Street NE, Washington, 

DC 20549, or send an email to: PRA_

Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: November 27, 2020. 

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26588 Filed 12–1–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

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 

Extension: 

Rule 17f–2(c), [SEC File No. 270–035, OMB 

Control No. 3235–0029] 

Notice is hereby given that pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(‘‘PRA’’) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the existing collection of information 

provided for in Rule 17f–2(c) (17 CFR 

240.17f–2(c)), under the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et 

seq.). The Commission plans to submit 

this existing collection of information to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(‘‘OMB’’) for extension and approval. 

Rule 17f–2(c) allows persons required 

to be fingerprinted pursuant to Section 

17(f)(2) of the Act to submit their 

fingerprints to the Attorney General of 

the United States or its designee (i.e., 

the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

(‘‘FBI’’)) through a registered national 

securities exchange or a registered 

national securities association 

(collectively, also known as ‘‘self– 

regulatory organizations’’ or ‘‘SROs’’) 

pursuant to a fingerprint plan filed with, 

and declared effective by, the 

Commission. Fingerprint plans have 

been declared effective for the 

American, Boston, Chicago, New York, 

and Philadelphia stock exchanges and 

for the Financial Industry Regulatory 

Authority (‘‘FINRA’’) and the Chicago 

Board Options Exchange. Currently, 

FINRA accounts for the bulk of the 

fingerprint submissions. 

It is estimated that 3,900 respondents 

submit approximately 281,804 sets of 

fingerprints (consisting of 

approximately 253,721 electronic sets 

and 28,083 hard copy sets) to SROs on 

an annual basis. The Commission 

estimates that it would take 

approximately 15 minutes to create and 

submit each fingerprint card. The total 

time burden is therefore estimated to be 

approximately 70,451 hours, or 

approximately 18 hours per respondent, 

annually. 

In addition, the SROs charge an 

estimated $26 fee for processing 

fingerprint cards submitted 

electronically, resulting in a total annual 

cost to all 3,900 respondents of 

approximately $6,596,746 or 

approximately $1,691 per respondent 

per year. The SROs charge an estimated 

$41 fee for processing fingerprint cards 

submitted in hard copy, resulting in a 

total annual cost to all 3,900 

respondents of approximately 

$1,151,403, or approximately $295 per 

respondent per year. The combined