2012-28641. 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 17a-25; OMB Control No. 3235-0540, SEC File No. 270-482.

Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) (“PRA”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) a request for approval of extension of the existing collection of information provided for in Rule 17a-25 (17 CFR 204.17a-25) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.).

Paragraph (a)(1) of Rule 17a-25 requires registered broker-dealers to electronically submit securities transaction information, including identifiers for prime brokerage arrangements, average price accounts, and depository institutions, in a standardized format when requested by the Commission staff. In addition, Paragraph (a)(3)(c) of Rule 17a-25 requires broker-dealers to submit, and keep current, contact person information for electronic blue sheets (“EBS”) requests. The Commission uses the information for enforcement inquiries or investigations and trading reconstructions, as well as for inspections and examinations.

The Commission estimates that it sends approximately 7169 electronic blue sheet requests per year to clearing broker-dealers, who in turn submit an average 87,454 responses.^[1] It is estimated that each broker-dealer who responds electronically will take 8 minutes, and each broker-dealer who responds manually will take 1^[1/2] hours to prepare and submit the securities trading data requested by the Commission. The annual aggregate hour burden for electronic and manual response firms is estimated to be 11,780 (87,454 × 8 ÷ 60 = 11,660 hours) + (80 × 1.5 = 120 hours), respectively.^[2] In addition, the Commission estimates that it will request 500 broker-dealers to supply the contact information identified in Rule 17a-25(c) and estimates the total aggregate burden hours to be 125. Thus, the annual aggregate burden for all respondents to the collection of information requirements of Rule 17a-25 is estimated at 11,905 hours (11,660 + 120 + 125).

The Commission may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.

Background documentation for this information collection may be viewed 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) Thomas Bayer, Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, Virginia 22312 or send an email to [e-mail]. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30 days of this notice.

Dated: November 20, 2012.

Kevin M. O'Neill,

Deputy Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  A single EBS request has a unique number assigned to each request (e.g. “0900001”). However, the number of broker-dealer responses generated from one EBS request can range from one to several thousand. EBS requests are sent directly to clearing firms, as the clearing firm is the repository for trading data for securities transactions information provided by itself and correspondent firms. Clearing brokers respond for themselves and other firms they clear for.

2.  Few of respondents submit manual EBS responses. The small percentage of respondents that submit manual responses do so by hand, via email, spreadsheet, disk, or other electronic media. Thus, the number of manual submissions (80) has minimal effect on the total annual burden hours.