2011-12203. 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-5; SEC File No. 270-259; OMB Control No. 3235-0269.

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) requests for extension of the previously approved collections of information discussed below.

Rule 17f-5 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a) (“Investment Company Act” or “Act”) governs the custody of the assets of registered management investment companies (“funds”) with custodians outside the United States.^[1] Under rule 17f-5, the fund's board of directors must find that it is reasonable to rely on each delegate it selects to act as the fund's foreign custody manager. The delegate must agree to provide written reports that notify the board when the fund's assets are placed with a foreign custodian and when any material change occurs in the fund's custody arrangements. The delegate must agree to exercise reasonable care, prudence, and diligence, or to adhere to a higher standard of care. When the foreign custody manager selects an eligible foreign custodian, it must determine that the fund's assets will be subject to reasonable care if maintained with that custodian, and that the written contract that governs each custody arrangement will provide reasonable care for fund assets. The contract must contain certain specified provisions or others that provide at least equivalent care. The foreign custody manager must establish a system to monitor the performance of the contract and the appropriateness of continuing to maintain assets with the eligible foreign custodian.

The collection of information requirements in rule 17f-5 are intended to provide protection for fund assets maintained with a foreign bank custodian whose use is not authorized by statutory provisions that govern fund custody arrangements,^[2] and that is not subject to regulation and examination by U.S. regulators. The requirement that the fund board determine that it is reasonable to rely on each delegate is intended to ensure that the board carefully considers each delegate's qualifications to perform its responsibilities. The requirement that the delegate provide written reports to the board is intended to ensure that the delegate notifies the board of important developments concerning custody arrangements so that the board may exercise effective oversight. The requirement that the delegate agree to exercise reasonable care is intended to provide assurances to the fund that the delegate will properly perform its duties.

The requirements that the foreign custody manager determine that fund assets will be subject to reasonable care with the eligible foreign custodian and under the custody contract, and that each contract contain specified provisions or equivalent provisions, are intended to ensure that the delegate has evaluated the level of care provided by the custodian, that it weighs the adequacy of contractual provisions, and that fund assets are protected by minimal contractual safeguards. The requirement that the foreign custody manager establish a monitoring system is intended to ensure that the manager periodically reviews each custody arrangement and takes appropriate action if developing custody risks may threaten fund assets.

Commission staff estimates that each year, approximately 135 registrants ^[3] could be required to make an average of one response per registrant under rule 17f-5, requiring approximately 2.5 hours of board of director time per response, to make the necessary findings concerning foreign custody managers. The total annual burden associated with these requirements of the rule is up to approximately 337.5 hours (135 registrants × 2.5 hours per registrant). The staff further estimates that during each year, approximately 15 global custodians ^[4] are required to make an average of 4 responses per custodian concerning the use of foreign custodians other than depositories. The staff estimates that each response will take approximately 270 hours, requiring approximately 1,080 total hours annually per custodian. The total annual burden associated with these requirements of the rule is approximately 16,200 hours (15 global custodians × 1,080 hours per custodian). Therefore, the total annual time burden of all collection of information requirements of rule 17f-5 is estimated to be up to 16,537.5 hours (337.5 + 16,200). The total annual internal cost of the burden is estimated to be $4,914,000 (337.5 hours × $4,000/hour for board of director's time, plus 16,200 hours × $220/hour for a trust administrator's time).^[5] Compliance with the collection of information requirements of the rule is necessary to obtain the benefit of relying on the rule's permission for funds to maintain their assets in foreign custodians.

The estimate of average time burden is made solely for the purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The estimate is not derived from a comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of the costs of Commission rules and forms. Rule 17f-5 does not impose any paperwork related cost burden.

The public may view the background documentation for this information collection at the following Web site, http://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 e-mail to: [e-mail]; and (ii) Thomas Bayer, Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, VA 22312 or send an e-mail to: [e-mail]. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30 days of this notice.

Dated: May 13, 2011.

Cathy H. Ahn,

Deputy Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  17 CFR 270.17f-5. All references to rules 17f-5, 17f-7, 17d-1, or 19b-1 in this notice are to 17 CFR 270.17f-5, 17 CFR 270.17f-7, 17 CFR 270.17d-1, and 17 CFR 270.19b-1, respectively.

2.  See section 17(f) of the Investment Company Act [15 U.S.C. 80a-17(f)].

3.  This figure is an estimate of the number of new funds each year, based on data reported by funds in 2010 on Form N-1A and Form N-2. In practice, not all funds will use foreign custody managers, and the actual figure may be smaller.

4.  This estimate is based on staff research.

5.  The board hourly rate is based on fund industry representations. The $220/hour figure for a trust administrator is from SIFMA's Management & Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2010, modified to account for an 1,800-hour work-year and multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits and overhead.