26510 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 110 / Thursday, June 7, 2018 / Notices 

the proposed rule change, along with a brief 

description and the text of the proposed rule 

change, at least five business days prior to the date 

of filing of the proposed rule change, or such 

shorter time as designated by the Commission. 

24 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

25 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6)(iii). 

26For purposes only of waiving the 30-day 

operative delay, the Commission has also 

considered the proposed rule’s impact on 

efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 

15 U.S.C. 78c(f). 27 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1The rule generally requires all assets to be 

deposited in the safekeeping of a ‘‘bank or other 

company whose functions and physical facilities 

are supervised by Federal or State authority.’’ The 

fund’s securities must be physically segregated at 

all times from the securities of any other person. 

2The accountant must transmit to the 

Commission promptly after each examination a 

certificate describing the examination on Form N– 

17f–2. The third (scheduled) examination may 

coincide with the annual verification required for 

every fund by section 30(g) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 

80a–29(g)). 

A proposed rule change filed 

pursuant to Rule 19b–4(f)(6) under the 

Act 24 normally does not become 

operative for 30 days after the date of its 

filing. However, Rule 19b–4(f)(6)(iii) 25

permits the Commission to designate a 

shorter time if such action is consistent 

with the protection of investors and the 

public interest. The Exchange has asked 

the Commission to waive the 30-day 

operative delay so that the proposed 

rule change may become operative upon 

filing. The Exchange states that waiver 

of the operative delay would be 

consistent with the protection of 

investors and the public interest 

because it will allow the Exchange to 

provide an amended NYSE BQT market 

data feed that will include the NYSE 

National Market Data Feeds 

immediately upon launch of NYSE 

National, which the Exchange states is 

intended in May 2018, and will further 

allow the Exchange to compete directly 

with the similar NASDAQ and Cboe 

market data products on a timely basis. 

The Commission believes that waiving 

the 30-day operative delay is consistent 

with the protection of investors and the 

public interest. Therefore, the 

Commission hereby waives the 

operative delay and designates the 

proposal as operative upon filing.26

At any time within 60 days of the 

filing of the proposed rule change, the 

Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is necessary or appropriate in the 

public interest, for the protection of 

investors, or otherwise in furtherance of 

the purposes of the Act. If the 

Commission takes such action, the 

Commission shall institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

should be approved or disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

NYSE–2018–22 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NYSE–2018–22. This file 

number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

internet website (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549 on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change. 

Persons submitting comments are 

cautioned that we do not redact or edit 

personal identifying information from 

comment submissions. You should 

submit only information that you wish 

to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NYSE–2018–22, and 

should be submitted on or before June 

28, 2018. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.27

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12193 Filed 6–6–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[SEC File No. 270–233, OMB Control No. 

3235–0223] 

Submission for OMB Review; 

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 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 350l et seq.), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget a 

request for extension of the previously 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

Rule 17f–2 (17 CFR 270.17f–2), 

entitled ‘‘Custody of Investments by 

Registered Management Investment 

Company,’’ was adopted in 1940 under 

section 17(f) of the Investment Company 

Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–17(f)) (the 

‘‘Act’’), and was last amended 

materially in 1947. Rule 17f–2 

establishes safeguards for arrangements 

in which a registered management 

investment company (‘‘fund’’) is 

deemed to maintain custody of its own 

assets, such as when the fund maintains 

its assets in a facility that provides 

safekeeping but not custodial services.1

The rule includes several recordkeeping 

or reporting requirements. The fund’s 

directors must prepare a resolution 

designating not more than five fund 

officers or responsible employees who 

may have access to the fund’s assets. 

The designated access persons (two or 

more of whom must act jointly when 

handling fund assets) must prepare a 

written notation providing certain 

information about each deposit or 

withdrawal of fund assets, and must 

transmit the notation to another officer 

or director designated by the directors. 

An independent public accountant must 

verify the fund’s assets three times each 

year, and two of those examinations 

must be unscheduled.2


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 110 / Thursday, June 7, 2018 / Notices 26511 

3The 974 responses are: 1 (one) response to draft 

and adopt the resolution and 973 notations. 

Estimates of the number of hours are based on 

conversations with individuals in the fund 

industry. The actual number of hours may vary 

significantly depending on individual fund assets. 

4This estimate is based on the following 

calculation: 0.5 (burden hours per fund) × $204 

(senior accountant’s hourly rate) = $102. Unless 

otherwise indicated, the hourly wage figures used 

herein are from the Securities Industry and 

Financial Markets Association’s Management & 

Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 

2013, modified by Commission staff to account for 

an 1800-hour work-year and inflation, and 

multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, 

employee benefits and overhead. 

5The estimate for the cost of board time as a 

whole is derived from estimates made by the staff 

regarding typical board size and compensation that 

is based on information received from fund 

representatives and publicly available sources. 

6Respondents estimated that each fund makes 

974 responses on an annual basis and spends a total 

of 0.25 hours per response. The fund personnel 

involved are Accounts Payable Manager ($192 

hourly rate), Operations Manager ($345 hourly rate) 

and Accounting Manager ($274 hourly rate). The 

average hourly rate of these personnel is $270. The 

estimated cost of preparing notations is based on 

the following calculation: 974 × 0.25 × $270 = 

$65,745. 

7This estimate is based on the following 

calculation: 7 × $204 (senior accountant’s hourly 

rate) = $1,428. 

8On average, each year approximately 206 funds 

filed Form N–17f–2 with the Commission during 

calendar years 2015–2017. 

9This estimate is based on the following 

calculation: 206 (funds) × 252 (total annual hourly 

burden per fund) = 51,912 hours for rule. The 

annual burden for rule 17f–2 does not include time 

spent preparing Form N–17f–2. The burden for 

Form N–17f–2 is included in a separate collection 

of information. 

10This estimate is based on the following 

calculation: $65,745 (total annual cost per fund) × 

206 funds = $13,543,470. 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 15 U.S.C. 78a. 

3 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

Rule 17f–2’s requirement that 

directors designate access persons is 

intended to ensure that directors 

evaluate the trustworthiness of insiders 

who handle fund assets. The 

requirements that access persons act 

jointly in handling fund assets, prepare 

a written notation of each transaction, 

and transmit the notation to another 

designated person are intended to 

reduce the risk of misappropriation of 

fund assets by access persons, and to 

ensure that adequate records are 

prepared, reviewed by a responsible 

third person, and available for 

examination by the Commission. The 

requirement that auditors verify fund 

assets without notice twice each year is 

intended to provide an additional 

deterrent to the misappropriation of 

fund assets and to detect any 

irregularities. 

The Commission staff estimates that 

each fund makes 974 responses and 

spends an average of 252 hours annually 

in complying with the rule’s 

requirements.3 Commission staff 

estimates that on an annual basis it 

takes: (i) 0.5 hours of fund accounting 

personnel at a total cost of $102 to draft 

director resolutions; 4 (ii) 0.5 hours of 

the fund’s board of directors at a total 

cost of $2,233 to adopt the resolution; 5

(iii) 244 hours for the fund’s accounting 

personnel at a total cost of $65,745 to 

prepare written notations of 

transactions; 6 and (iv) 7 hours for the 

fund’s accounting personnel at a total 

cost of $1,428 to assist the independent 

public accountants when they perform 

verifications of fund assets.7

Commission staff estimates that 

approximately 206 funds file Form N– 

17f–2 each year.8 Thus, the total annual 

hour burden for rule 17f–2 is estimated 

to be 51,912 hours.9 Based on the total 

costs per fund listed above, the total 

cost of rule 17f–2’s collection of 

information requirements is estimated 

to be approximately $13.5 million.10

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 and forms. 

Complying with the collections of 

information required by rule 17f–2 is 

mandatory for those funds that maintain 

custody of their own assets. Responses 

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 website, 

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 email to: Shagufta_

Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Pamela 

Dyson, Director/Chief Information 

Officer, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549 

or send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@

sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to 

OMB within 30 days of this notice. 

Dated: June 1, 2018. 

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12192 Filed 6–6–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–83360; File No. SR–NYSE– 

2018–24] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; New 

York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of 

Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of 

Proposed Rule Change To Amend the 

NYSE Proprietary Market Data Fee 

Schedule Regarding the NYSE Best 

Quote and Trades Market Data Feed 

June 1, 2018. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) 1 of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3

notice is hereby given that on May 21, 

2018, New York Stock Exchange LLC 

(‘‘NYSE’’ or the ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with 

the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’) the 

proposed rule change as described in 

Items I, II, and III below, which Items 

have been prepared by the selfregulatory organization. The 

Commission is publishing this notice to 

solicit comments on the proposed rule 

change from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of the Substance 

of the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to amend the 

NYSE Proprietary Market Data Fee 

Schedule (‘‘Fee Schedule’’) regarding 

the NYSE Best Quote and Trades 

(‘‘BQT’’) market data feed. The 

Exchange proposes to make the fee 

change effective May 21, 2018. The 

proposed rule change is available on the 

Exchange’s website at www.nyse.com, at 

the principal office of the Exchange, and 

at the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

self-regulatory organization included 

statements concerning the purpose of, 

and basis for, the proposed rule change 

and discussed any comments it received 

on the proposed rule change. The text 

of those statements may be examined at 

the places specified in Item IV below. 

The Exchange has prepared summaries, 

set forth in sections A, B, and C below, 

of the most significant parts of such 

statements. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES