Notice2026-19616
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 31a-2
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 25, 2026
Issuing agencies
Securities and Exchange Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 185 (Friday, September 25, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 185 (Friday, September 25, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61015-61016]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-19616]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[OMB Control No. 3235-0179]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 31a-2
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 described below.
Section 31(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the
``Act'') \1\ requires registered investment companies (``funds'') and
certain underwriters, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and
depositors to maintain and preserve records as prescribed by Commission
rules.\2\ Rule 31a-1 under the Act specifies the books and records that
each of these entities must maintain.\3\ Rule 31a-2 under the Act
specifies the time periods that entities must retain certain books and
records, including those required to be maintained under rule 31a-1.\4\
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 80a1 et seq.
\2\ 15 U.S.C. 80a30(a)(1).
\3\ 17 CFR 270.31a1.
\4\ 17 CFR 270.31a2.
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Retention of records, as required by the rule, is necessary to
ensure access to material business and financial information about
funds and certain related entities. Commission staff periodically
inspect the operations of funds to ensure they are in compliance with
the Act and regulations under the Act. Due to the limits on the
Commission's resources, however, each fund may only be inspected at
intervals of several years. In addition, the prosecution of persons who
have engaged in certain violations of the federal securities laws may
not be limited by timing restrictions. For these reasons, Commission
staff often need information relating to events or transactions that
occurred years ago. Without the requirement to preserve books, records,
and other documents, Commission staff would have difficulty determining
whether the fund was in compliance with the law in such areas as
valuation of its portfolio securities, computation of the prices
investors paid, and, when purchasing and selling fund shares, types and
amounts of expenses the fund incurred, kinds of investments the fund
purchased, actions of affiliated persons, or whether the fund had
engaged in any illegal or fraudulent activities.
Rule 31a-2 requires every fund to preserve permanently, and in an
easily accessible place for the first two years, all books and records
required under rule 31a-1(b)(1)-(4).\5\ Every fund must preserve for at
least six years, and in an easily accessible place for the first two
years: all books and records required under rule 31a-1(b)(5)-(12); \6\
all
[[Page 61016]]
vouchers, memoranda, correspondence, checkbooks, bank statements,
canceled checks, cash reconciliations, canceled stock certificates, and
all schedules evidencing and supporting each computation of net asset
value of fund shares, including schedules evidencing and supporting
each computation of an adjustment to net asset value based on swing
pricing policies and procedures; all schedules evidencing and
supporting each computation of a liquidity fee by a money market fund
pursuant to rule 2a-7(c)(2); \7\ other documents required to be
maintained by rule 31a-1(a) and not enumerated in rule 31a-1(b); any
advertisement, pamphlet, circular, form letter, or other sales
literature addressed or intended for distribution to prospective
investors; \8\ any record of the initial determination that a director
is not an interested person of the fund, and each subsequent
determination that the director is not an interested person of the
fund; \9\ any materials used by the disinterested directors of a fund
to determine that a person who is acting as legal counsel to those
directors is an independent legal counsel; \10\ and any documents or
other written information considered by the directors of the fund
pursuant to section 15(c) of the Act in approving the terms or renewal
of a contract or agreement between the fund and an investment
advisor.\11\ Every underwriter, broker, or dealer that is a majority-
owned subsidiary of a fund must preserve records required to be
preserved by brokers and dealers under rules adopted under section 17
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Exchange Act'') \12\ for
the periods established in those rules.\13\ Every depositor of a fund
and every principal underwriter of a fund (other than a closed-end
fund) must preserve for at least six years records required to be
maintained by brokers and dealers under rules adopted under section 17
of the Exchange Act to the extent the records are necessary or
appropriate to record the entity's transactions with the fund.\14\
Every investment adviser that is a majority-owned subsidiary of a fund
must preserve the records required to be preserved by investment
advisers under rules adopted under section 204 of the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940 (the ``Investment Advisers Act'') \15\ for the
periods specified in those rules.\16\ Every investment adviser that is
not a majority-owned subsidiary of a fund must preserve for at least
six years records required to be maintained by registered investment
advisers under rules adopted under section 204 of the Investment
Advisers Act to the extent the records are necessary or appropriate to
reflect the adviser's transactions with the fund.\17\ Compliance with
rule 31a-2 is mandatory.
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\5\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(a)(1). These include, among other records,
journals detailing daily purchases and sales of securities; general
and auxiliary ledgers reflecting all assets, liability, reserve,
capital, income, and expense accounts; separate ledgers reflecting
for each portfolio security as of the trade date all ``long'' and
``short'' positions carried by the fund for its own account; and
corporate charters, certificates of incorporation, by-laws, and
minute books. 17 CFR 270.31a-1(b)(1)-(4).
\6\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(a)(2). These include, among other records,
records of each brokerage order given in connection with purchases
and sales of securities by the fund; records of all other portfolio
purchases or sales; records of all puts, calls, spreads, straddles,
and other options in which the fund has an interest, which it has
granted, or which it has guaranteed; records of proof of money
balances in all ledger accounts; files of all advisory material
received from the investment adviser; and memoranda identifying
persons, committees, or groups authorizing the purchase or sale of
securities for the fund. 17 CFR 270.31a1(b)(5)-(12).
\7\ Id. See also 17 CFR 270.2a-7(c)(2).
\8\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(a)(3).
\9\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(a)(4).
\10\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(a)(5).
\11\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(a)(6). Section 15 of the Act requires that
fund directors, including a majority of independent directors,
annually approve the fund's advisory contract and that the directors
first obtain from the adviser the information reasonably necessary
to evaluate the contract. The information request requirement in
section 15 provides fund directors, including independent directors,
a tool for obtaining the information they need to represent
shareholder interests. 15 U.S.C. 80a-15(c).
\12\ 15 U.S.C. 78q.
\13\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(b).
\14\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(c).
\15\ 15 U.S.C. 80b4.
\16\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(d).
\17\ 17 CFR 270.31a2(e).
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We estimate that approximately 2,741 funds are required to comply
with rule 31a-2 annually. Each fund is estimated to spend 221 hours per
year preserving the required books and records, at a monetized cost
burden of $49,283 per fund. The total annual burden is approximately
605,761 burden hours and total annual time costs of approximately
$135,084,703. The Commission estimates that funds incur about $40,602
in external cost burden each year, resulting in an aggregate external
cost burden of approximately $111,290,082.
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=202607-3235-005">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202607-3235-005</a> or email comment to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7d303f255332303f5332342f3c532e383e2219180e1622121b1b141e180f3d12101f5318120d531a120b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0548475d2b4a48472b4a4c57442b5640465a6160766e5a6a63636c666077456a68672b606a752b626a73">[email protected]</span></a> within 30 days of the day
after publication of this notice, by October 26, 2026.
Dated: September 22, 2026.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-19616 Filed 9-24-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 25, 2026.
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