Notice2026-18635
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 17Ab2-1 and Form CA-1
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 14, 2026
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 176 (Monday, September 14, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 176 (Monday, September 14, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58221-58222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-18635]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[OMB Control No. 3235-0195]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 17Ab2-1 and Form CA-1
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 (``SEC'' or ``Commission'') is submitting to the Office of
Management and Budget (``OMB'') this request for extension of the
proposed collection of information provided for in Rule 17Ab2-1 (17 CFR
240.17Ab2-1) and Form CA-1: Registration of Clearing Agencies (17 CFR
249b.200) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'')
(15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.).
Rule 17Ab2-1 and Form CA-1 require clearing agencies to register
with the Commission and to meet certain requirements with regard to,
among other things, the clearing agency's organization, capacities, and
rules. The information is collected from the clearing agency upon the
initial application for registration on Form CA-1. Thereafter,
information is collected by amendment to the initial Form CA-1 when
changes in circumstances that render certain information on Form CA-1
inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete necessitate modification of the
information previously provided to the Commission.
The Commission uses the information disclosed on Form CA-1 to: (1)
determine whether an applicant meets the standards for registration set
forth in Section 17A of the Exchange Act, (2) enforce compliance with
the Exchange Act's registration requirement, and (3) provide
information about specific registered clearing agencies for compliance
and investigatory purposes. Without Rule 17Ab2-1, the Commission could
not perform these duties as statutorily required.
The Commission staff estimates that the Commission receives
approximately three new Form CA-1 applications, and approximately ten
amendments to existing Forms CA-1, per year pursuant to Rule 17Ab2-1.
Recently, Commission staff has seen an increase in the complexity and
length of Form CA-1 applications received, likely due to new market
developments such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, sponsored
clearing, Distributed Ledger Technology, and Treasury clearing
products. As such, the Commission staff estimates that the Form CA-1
would take approximately 651 hours to complete and submit for approval,
and amending an existing Form CA-1 would take approximately 60 hours to
complete and submit. Consequently, the aggregate annual burden
associated with compliance with Rule 17Ab2-1 and Form CA-1 is
approximately 2553 hours.\1\
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\1\ (651 burden hours per applicant x 3 applicants) + (60 hours
per amendment x 10 amendments).
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The Commission staff estimates that, in order to complete a new
Form CA-1, 611 hours of a Lawyer's time (estimated at $744 per hour)
\2\ and 40 hours of a Chief Executive's time (estimated at $999 per
hour) would be required, resulting in an internal cost of compliance of
approximately $494,544 for a new applicant.\3\ For an amendment of an
existing Form CA-1, the staff estimates that 40 hours of a Lawyer's
time and 20 hours of a Chief Executive's time would be required,
resulting in an internal cost of compliance of $49,740.\4\ Therefore,
the total annualized internal cost of compliance is estimated to be
approximately $1,981,032.\5\
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\2\ For purposes of calculating the dollar cost burdens
associated with applicants using Form CA-1, the Commission relies on
the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (``OEWS'') from the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (``BLS''). See Occupational
Employment and Wage Classification, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
<a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/">https://www.bls.gov/oes/</a>; see also Standard Occupational
Classification, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/soc/">https://www.bls.gov/soc/</a> (describing occupational classification system used
by BLS); Exec. Off. of the President, Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, North
American Industrial Classification System (2022), available at
<a href="https://www.census.gov/naics/reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf">https://www.census.gov/naics/reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf</a> (describing the industry adjusted for changes
in the seasonally adjusted employment cost index for private wages
and salaries between the data reference period and when the data are
released by BLS. See Employment Cost Index, U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/eci/">https://www.bls.gov/eci/</a>. The adjusted mean hourly wage
is then multiplied by a factor that accounts for nonwage costs borne
by employers, such as bonuses, benefits, and overhead. This factor
is calculated as an average over the 10 most recently available
years of data of the ratio of the Bureau of Economic Analysis's
annual gross output data for the North American Industry
Classification System (``NAICS) number to total annual wages across
all occupations for the NAICS number in the OEWS data.
\3\ (611 burden hours for a lawyer per applicant x $744 per
hour) + (40 burden hours for a Chief Executive per applicant x $999
per hour).
\4\ (40 burden hours for a lawyer per amendment x $744 per hour)
+ (20 burden hours for a Chief Executive per amendment x $999 per
hour).
\5\ (3 respondents x $494,544 per application) + (10 respondents
x $49,740 per amendment).
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The external costs associated with work on Form CA-1 include fees
charged by outside lawyers and accountants to assist the applicant or
registrant to collect and prepare the information sought by the form
(though such consultations are not required by the Commission). The
staff estimates that these external costs are more likely when novel
questions arise. Recently, the staff has seen an increase in the number
of novel issues presented in applications and amendments. The staff
estimates an annual external cost of 60 hours of an external Lawyer's
time (estimated at $498 per hour) and 10 hours of an external
Accountant's time (estimated at $241 per hour) for preparation of a
Form CA-1 application, resulting in an external cost of $32,290 per
year per applicant, with an aggregate external cost of approximately
$96,870
[[Page 58222]]
per year.\6\ The staff estimates an annual external cost of 5 hours of
an external Lawyer's time (estimated at $498 per hour) for preparation
of a Form CA-1 amendment, resulting in an external cost of $2,490 per
year per clearing agency, with an aggregate external cost of
approximately $24,900 per year.\7\
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\6\ (60 burden hours for a lawyer per applicant x 3 applications
per year x $498 per hour) + (10 burden hours for an accountant per
applicant x 3 applications per year x $241 per hour).
\7\ 5 burden hours for a lawyer per amendment x 10 amendments
per year x $498 per hour.
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An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB Control Number.
The public may view and comment on this information collection
request at: <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202607-3235-001">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202607-3235-001</a> or email comment to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e7aaa5bfc9a8aaa5c9a8aeb5a6c9b4a2a4b88382948cb88881818e848295a7888a85c9828897c9808891"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="420f001a6c0d0f006c0d0b10036c1107011d262731291d2d24242b212730022d2f206c272d326c252d34">[email protected]</span></a> within 30 days of the day
after publication of this notice, by October 15, 2026.
Dated: September 9, 2026.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-18635 Filed 9-11-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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