62832 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 13, 2023 / Notices 

1The $78 per hour figure for clerical staff time is 

from SIFMA’s Office Salaries in the Securities 

Industry 2013, modified by Commission staff to 

account for an 1800-hour work-year and inflation, 

and multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm 

size, employee benefits and overhead. 

Form 10–K (17 CFR 249.310) is filed 

by issuers of securities to satisfy their 

annual reporting obligations under to 

Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act 

(‘‘Exchange Act’’) (15 U.S.C. 78m or 

78o(d)). The information provided by 

Form 10–K is intended to ensure the 

adequacy of information available to 

investors and securities markets about 

an issuer. Form 10–K takes 

approximately 2,249.366 hours per 

response to prepare and is filed by 

approximately 8,292 respondents. We 

estimate that 75% of the approximately 

hours per response (1,687.025 hours) is 

prepared by the company for an annual 

reporting burden of 13,988,811 hours 

(1,687.025 hours per response × 8,292 

responses). 

An agency may 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 background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following website: 

www.reginfo.gov. Find this particular 

information collection by selecting 

‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open 

for Public Comments’’ or by using the 

search function. Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice by October 13, 2023 to (i) 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain 

and (ii) David Bottom, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o John 

Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington, 

DC 20549, or by sending an email to: 

PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: September 8, 2023. 

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19791 Filed 9–12–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[SEC File No. 270–096, OMB Control No. 

3235–0151] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request; Extension: Rule 17Ac3–1(a) 

and Form TA–W 

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 

(‘‘PRA’’) (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 approval of 

extension of the previously approved 

collection of information provided for in 

Rule 17Ac3–1(a) (17 CFR 240.17Ac3– 

1(a)) and Form TA–W (17 CFR 

249b.101), under the Securities 

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

seq.). 

Section 17A(c)(4)(B) of the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 

78c(a)(34)(B) authorizes transfer agents 

registered with an appropriate 

regulatory agency (‘‘ARA’’) to withdraw 

from registration by filing with the ARA 

a written notice of withdrawal and by 

agreeing to such terms and conditions as 

the ARA deems necessary or 

appropriate in the public interest, for 

the protection of investors, or in the 

furtherance of the purposes of Section 

17A. 

In order to implement Section 

17A(c)(4)(B) of the Exchange Act, the 

Commission promulgated Rule 17Ac3– 

1(a) and accompanying Form TA–W on 

September 1, 1977. Rule 17Ac3–1(a) 

provides that notice of withdrawal of 

registration as a transfer agent with the 

Commission shall be filed on Form TA– 

W. Form TA–W requires the 

withdrawing transfer agent to provide 

the Commission with certain 

information, including: (1) the locations 

where transfer agent activities are or 

were performed; (2) the reasons for 

ceasing the performance of such 

activities; (3) disclosure of unsatisfied 

judgments or liens; and (4) information 

regarding successor transfer agents. 

The Commission uses the information 

disclosed on Form TA–W to determine 

whether the registered transfer agent 

applying for withdrawal from 

registration as a transfer agent should be 

allowed to deregister and, if so, whether 

the Commission should attach to the 

granting of the application any terms or 

conditions necessary or appropriate in 

the public interest, for the protection of 

investors, or in furtherance of the 

purposes of Section 17A of the 

Exchange Act. Without Rule 17Ac3–1(a) 

and Form TA–W, transfer agents 

registered with the Commission would 

not have a means to voluntarily 

deregister it is necessary or appropriate 

to do so. 

On average, respondents have filed 

approximately 50 TA-Ws with the 

Commission annually from 2020 to 

2023. A Form TA–W filing occurs only 

once, when a transfer agent is seeking 

deregistration. In view of the readily 

available information requested by Form 

TA–W, its short and simple 

presentation, and the Commission’s 

experience with the filers, we estimate 

that approximately 30 minutes is 

required to complete and file Form TA– 

W. Thus, the total annual time burden 

to the transfer agent industry is 

approximately 25 hours (50 filings × 0.5 

hours). We estimate that the internal 

labor cost of compliance per filing is 

$39 (0.5 hours × $78 average hourly rate 

for clerical staff time).1 Thus, the total 

internal compliance cost per year is thus 

approximately $975 (25 hours x $39 = 

$975). 

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 by 

November 13, 2023. 

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. 

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_

Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: September 8, 2023. 

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19789 Filed 9–12–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 


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