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]

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]

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 ( printed 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]

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: www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAViewICR?​ref_​nbr=​202607-3235-001 or email comment to MBX.OMB.OIRA.SEC_desk_officer@omb.eop.gov within 30 days of the day after publication of this notice, by October 15, 2026.