2017-14970. 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 20549-0213

Extension:

Rule 611; SEC File No. 270-540, OMB Control No. 3235-0600

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 611 (17 CFR 242.611).

On June 9, 2005, effective August 29, 2005 (see 70 FR 37496, June 29, 2005), the Commission adopted Rule 611 of Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) to require any national securities exchange, national securities association, alternative trading system, exchange market maker, over-the-counter market maker, and any other broker-dealer that executes orders internally by trading as principal or crossing orders as agent, to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the execution of a transaction in its market at a price that is inferior to a bid or offer displayed in another market at the time of execution (a “trade-though”), absent an applicable exception and, if relying on an exception, that are reasonably designed to assure compliance with the terms of the exception. Without this collection of information, respondents would not have a means to enforce compliance with the Commission's intention to prevent trade-throughs pursuant to the rule.

There are approximately 304 respondents ^[1] per year that will require an aggregate total of 18,240 hours to comply with this rule. It is anticipated that each respondent will continue to expend approximately 60 hours annually: Two hours per month of internal legal time and three hours per month of internal compliance time to ensure that its written policies and procedures are up-to-date and remain in compliance with Rule 611. The estimated cost for an in-house attorney is $396 per hour and the estimated cost for an assistant compliance director in the securities industry is $349 per hour. Therefore the estimated total cost of compliance for the annual hour burden is as follows: [(2 legal hours × 12 months × $396) × 304] + [(3 compliance hours × 12 months × $349) × 304] = $6,708,672.^[2]

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 Web site: 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: [e-mail]; and (ii) Pamela Dyson, Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549, or by sending an email to: [e-mail]. Comments must be submitted within 30 days of this notice.

Dated: July 11, 2017.

Jill M. Peterson,

Assistant Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  This estimate includes twelve national securities exchanges and one national securities association that trade NMS stocks. The estimate also includes the approximately 255 firms that were registered equity market makers or specialists at year-end 2015, as well as 36 alternative trading systems that operate trading systems that trade NMS stocks.

2.  The total cost of compliance for the annual hour burden has been revised to reflect updated estimated cost figures for an in-house attorney and an assistant compliance director. These figures are from SIFMA's Management & Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2017, modified by Commission staff for an 1800-hour work-year and multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits, and overhead.