2023-25362. Submission for OMB Review; 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 (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 Form 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 $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 × $39 = $975).

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. 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 by December 18, 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: [e-mail].

Dated: November 13, 2023.

Sherry R. Haywood,

Assistant Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  The $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 1,800-hour work-year and inflation, and multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits and overhead.