53456 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 16, 2008 / Notices 

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. 

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: 

Kimberly_P._Nelson@omb.eop.gov; and 

(ii) Lewis W. Walker, Acting Director/ 

Chief Information Officer, Securities 

and Exchange Commission, c/o Shirley 

Martinson, 6432 General Green Way, 

Alexandria, VA 22312 or send an e-mail 

to PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments 

must be submitted within 30 days of 

this notice. 

Dated: September 8, 2008. 

Florence E. Harmon, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–21529 Filed 9–15–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213 

Extension: 

Rule 17a–5(c), OMB Control No. 3235– 

0199, SEC File No. 270–199 

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’’) is soliciting comments 

on the existing collection of information 

provided for in the following rule: Rule 

17a–5(c) (17 CFR 240.17a–5(c)) under 

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

U.S.C. 78a et seq.) (‘‘Exchange Act’’). 

The Commission plans to submit this 

existing collection of information to the 

Office of Management and Budget for 

extension and approval. 

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 (5) of Rule 

17a–5(c) provides a conditional 

exemption from this requirement. A 

broker-dealer that elects to take 

advantage of the exemption must 

publish its statements on its Web site 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 275 broker-dealer 

respondents carrying approximately 110 

million public customer accounts incur 

an average burden of 138,000 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 

unless it displays a currently valid 

control number. 

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 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

collection of information; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information to be 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. 

Comments should be directed to: 

Lewis W. Walker, Acting Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o Shirley 

Martinson, 6432 General Green Way, 

Alexandria, VA 22312, or send an email to PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: September 8, 2008. 

Florence E. Harmon, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–21530 Filed 9–15–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–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 17f–2(c), SEC File No. 270–35, OMB 

Control No. 3235–0029 

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 a 

request for approval of extension of Rule 

17f–2(c). 

• Rule 17f–2(c) (17 CFR 240.17f–2(c)) 

Rule 17f–2(c) allows persons required 

to be fingerprinted pursuant to Section 

17(f)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act 

of 1934 to submit their fingerprints 

through a registered securities exchange 

or a national securities association in 

accordance with a plan submitted to 

and approved by the Commission. The 

Commission has approved such plans 

for several exchanges and for the 

Financial Industry Regulatory 

Authority, Inc. (‘‘FINRA’’). 

It is estimated that 5,984 respondents 

submit approximately 368,000 

fingerprint cards to exchanges or a 

national securities association on an 

annual basis. The Commission estimates 

that it would take approximately 15 

minutes to create and submit each 

fingerprint card. The total reporting 

burden is therefore estimated to be 

92,000 hours, or approximately 15 hours 

per respondent, annually. In addition, 

the exchanges and FINRA charge an 

estimated $30 fee for processing 

fingerprint cards, resulting in a total 

annual cost to all 5,984 respondents of 

$11,040,000, or $1,845 per respondent 

per year. 

Because the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation will not accept fingerprint 

cards directly from submitting 

organizations, Commission approval of 

plans from certain exchanges and 

national securities associations is 

essential to the Congressional goal of 

fingerprint personnel in the security 

industry. The filing of these plans for 

review assures users and their personnel 

that fingerprint cards will be handled 

responsibly and with due care for 

confidentiality. 

Submission of fingerprint plans under 

Rule 17f–2(c) is mandatory for selfregulatory organizations. An agency 


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