34192 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 139 / Thursday, July 19, 2018 / Notices 

1 $66/hour figure for a Compliance Clerk is based 

on the Commission’s estimates concerning the 

allocation of burden hours and the relevant wage 

rates from the Commission’s consultations with 

industry representatives and on salary information 

for the securities industry compiled by the 

Securities Industry and Financial Markets 

Association’s Office Salaries in the Securities 

Industry 2013. The estimated wage figures are 

modified by Commission staff to account for an 

1800-hour work-year and multiplied by 2.93 to 

account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits, 

overhead, and adjusted to account for the effects of 

inflation. See Securities Industry and Financial 

Markets Association, Report on Management & 

Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 

2013. 

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 17a–5(c), (17 CFR 240.17a–5(c)), 

under the Securities Exchange Act of 

1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.). 

Rule 17a–5(c) generally requires 

broker-dealers who carry customer 

accounts to provide statements of the 

broker-dealer’s financial condition to 

their customers. Paragraph (c)(5) of Rule 

17a–5 provides a conditional exemption 

from this requirement. A broker-dealer 

that elects to take advantage of the 

exemption must publish its statements 

on its website in a prescribed manner, 

and must maintain a toll-free number 

that customers can call to request a copy 

of the statements. 

The purpose of the Rule is to ensure 

that customers of broker-dealers are 

provided with information concerning 

the financial condition of the firm that 

may be holding the customers’ cash and 

securities. The Commission, when 

adopting the Rule in 1972, stated that 

the goal was to ‘‘directly’’ send a 

customer essential information so that 

the customer could ‘‘judge whether his 

broker or dealer is financially sound.’’ 

The Commission adopted the Rule in 

response to the failure of several brokerdealers holding customer funds and 

securities in the period between 1968 

and 1971. 

The Commission estimates that 

approximately 162 broker-dealer 

respondents carrying approximately 132 

million public customer accounts incur 

a burden of approximately 161,037 

hours per year to comply with the Rule. 

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. 

The public may view 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 Candace Kenner, 100 F 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20549, or by 

sending an email to: PRA_Mailbox@

sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to 

OMB within 30 days of this notice. 

Dated: July 13, 2018. 

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15375 Filed 7–18–18; 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 FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736. 

Extension: 

Rule 6c–7; SEC File No. 270–269, OMB 

Control No. 3235–0276. 

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 (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 6c–7 (17 CFR 270.6c–7) under 

the Investment Company Act of 1940 

(15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.) (‘‘1940 Act’’) 

provides exemption from certain 

provisions of Sections 22(e) and 27 of 

the 1940 Act for registered separate 

accounts offering variable annuity 

contracts to certain employees of Texas 

institutions of higher education 

participating in the Texas Optional 

Retirement Program. There are 

approximately 50 registrants governed 

by Rule 6c–7. The burden of compliance 

with Rule 6c–7, in connection with the 

registrants obtaining from a purchaser, 

prior to or at the time of purchase, a 

signed document acknowledging the 

restrictions on redeem ability imposed 

by Texas law, is estimated to be 

approximately 3 minutes per response 

for each of approximately 2300 

purchasers annually (at an estimated 

$66 per hour),1 for a total annual burden 

of 115 hours (at a total annual cost of 

$7,590). 

Rule 6c–7 requires that the separate 

account’s registration statement under 

the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77a 

et seq.) include a representation that 

Rule 6c–7 is being relied upon and is 

being complied with. This requirement 

enhances the Commission’s ability to 

monitor utilization of and compliance 

with the rule. There are no 

recordkeeping requirements with 

respect to Rule 6c–7. 

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 or forms. The 

Commission does not include in the 

estimate of average burden hours the 

time preparing registration statements 

and sales literature disclosure regarding 

the restrictions on redeem ability 

imposed by Texas law. The estimate of 

burden hours for completing the 

relevant registration statements are 

reported on the separate PRA 

submissions for those statements. (See 

the separate PRA submissions for Form 

N–3 (17 CFR 274.11b) and Form N–4 (17 

CFR 274.11c). 

Complying with the collection of 

information requirements of the rules is 

necessary to obtain a benefit. 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 Candace Kenner, 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: July 13, 2018. 

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15382 Filed 7–18–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 


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