2015-05154. Agency Information Collection Activities: Information Collection Renewal; Comment Request; Recordkeeping Requirements for Securities Transactions

AGENCY:

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). In accordance with the requirements of the PRA, the OCC may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, “Recordkeeping Requirements for Securities Transactions.”

DATES:

You should submit comments by May 5, 2015.

ADDRESSES:

Because paper mail in the Washington, DC area and at the OCC is subject to delay, commenters are encouraged to submit comments by email, if possible. Comments may be sent to: Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Attention: 1557-0142, 400 7th Street SW., Suite 3E-218, Mail Stop 9W-11, Washington, DC 20219. In addition, comments may be sent by fax to [phone] or by electronic mail to [e-mail]. You may personally inspect and photocopy comments at the OCC, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. For security reasons, the OCC requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. You may do so by calling [phone]. Upon arrival, visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo identification and to submit to security screening in order to inspect and photocopy comments. All comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. Do not enclose any information in your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary H. Gottlieb, OCC Clearance Officer, [phone], for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, TTY, [phone], Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW., Suite 3E-218, Mail Stop 9W-11, Washington, DC 20219.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The OCC is proposing to extend OMB approval of the following information collection:

Title: Recordkeeping Requirements for Securities Transactions—12 CFR parts 12 and 151.

OMB Number: 1557-0142.

Description: The information collection requirements in 12 CFR parts 12 and 151 are required to ensure that national banks and Federal savings associations comply with securities laws and to improve the protections afforded to persons who purchase and sell securities through these financial institutions. Parts 12 and 151 establish recordkeeping and confirmation requirements applicable to certain securities transactions effected by national banks or Federal savings associations for customers. The transaction confirmation information required by these regulations ensures that customers receive a record of each securities transaction and that financial institutions and the OCC have the records necessary to monitor compliance with securities laws and regulations. The OCC uses the required information in the course of its examinations to evaluate, among other things, an institution's compliance with the antifraud provisions of the Federal securities laws.

The information collection requirements contained in 12 CFR parts 12 and 151 are as follows:

• 12 CFR 12.3 requires a national bank effecting securities transactions for customers to maintain records for at least three years. The records required by this section must clearly and accurately reflect the information required and provide an adequate basis for the audit of the information.
• 12 CFR 151.50 requires a Federal savings association effecting securities transactions for customers to maintain records for at least three years. 12 CFR 151.60 provides that the records required by 12 CFR 151.50 must clearly and accurately reflect the information required and provide an adequate basis for audit of the information.
• 12 CFR 12.4 requires a national bank to give or send to the customer a written notification of the transaction or a copy of the registered broker/dealer confirmation relating to the transaction at or before completion of the securities transaction and establishes minimum disclosures needed for a customer's securities transactions.
• 12 CFR 151.70, 151.80 and 151.90 establish the minimum disclosures required for a Federal savings association's confirmation of a customer's securities transactions.
• 12 CFR 151.90 requires a Federal savings association to provide its customers with a written notice of each securities transaction, which it must give or send to the customer at or before the completion of the securities transaction.
• 12 CFR 12.5(a), (b), (c), and (e) describe notification procedures that a national bank may elect to use, as an alternative to complying with § 12.4, to notify customers of transactions in which the bank does not exercise investment discretion, trust transactions, agency transactions, and certain periodic plan transactions.
• 12 CFR 151.100 describes notification procedures that a Federal savings association may use, as an alternative to complying with 12 CFR 151.70, 151.80 or 151.90, for an account in which the savings association does not exercise investment discretion, trust transactions, agency transactions, certain periodic plan transactions, collective investment fund transactions, and money market funds.
• 12 CFR 12.7(a)(1) through (a)(3) require national banks to maintain and adhere to policies and procedures that assign responsibility for supervision of employees who perform securities trading functions, provide for the fair and equitable allocation of securities and prices to accounts, and provide for crossing of buy and sell orders on a fair and equitable basis.
• 12 CFR 151.140 requires Federal savings associations to adopt written policies and procedures dealing with the functions involved in effecting securities transactions on behalf of customers. These policies and procedures must assign responsibility for the supervision of employees who perform securities trading functions, provide for the fair and equitable allocation of securities prices to accounts, and provide for crossing of buy and sell orders on a fair and equitable basis.
• 12 CFR 12.7(a)(4) requires certain national bank officers and employees involved in the securities trading process to report to the bank all personal transactions in securities made by them or on their behalf in which they have a beneficial interest.
• 12 CFR 151.150 requires certain Federal savings association officers and employees to report personal transactions they make or that are made on their behalf in which they have a beneficial interest.
• 12 CFR 12.8 requires a national bank seeking a waiver of one or more of the requirements of §§ 12.2 through 12.7 to file a written request for waiver with the OCC.

Type of Review: Regular.

Affected Public: Individuals; Businesses or other for-profit.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 399.

Estimated Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 2,315 hours.

Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on:

(a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the OCC, including whether the information has practical utility;

(b) The accuracy of the OCC's estimate of the burden of the collection of information;

(c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;

(d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and

(e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Dated: March 2, 2015.

Stuart E. Feldstein,

Director, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division.