SEC Renews Transfer Agent Notification Rules Without Fanfare
Published Date: 8/1/2025
Notice
Summary
The SEC is asking to keep a rule that makes transfer agents send quick written notices when they start, stop, or change their info to the right securities depositories. This helps stop delays in moving stock certificates to the right place. Transfer agents and depositories must keep these notices for two years, with easy access for six months, and the rule’s paperwork burden stays about the same.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
Transfer Agents Must Send Written Notices
If you are a registered transfer agent, Rule 17Ad-16 requires you to send a written notice to the designated qualified registered securities depository (the Depository Trust Company, DTC) when you assume or terminate transfer agent services for an issuer or when you change your name or address. The designated depository must deliver those notices to its participants.
Estimated Annual Filing Burden
The Commission estimates transfer agents submit about 16,412 Rule 17Ad-16 notices per year, with each notice taking about 15 minutes (0.25 hours) to create and submit, for a total estimated industry burden of 4,103 hours per year.
Per-Notice Compliance Cost Estimate
The Commission estimates the internal compliance cost to prepare and send each Rule 17Ad-16 notice is $129.25 (0.25 hours at $517 per hour), producing an industry-wide internal compliance cost estimate of $2,121,251 annually (16,412 notices × $129.25).
Two-Year Record Retention Requirement
Transfer agents that send Rule 17Ad-16 notices and qualified registered securities depositories that receive them must keep those notices for at least two years, with the first six months stored in an easily accessible place.
Rule Applies Only To DTC Notices
Rule 17Ad-16 requires written notice to the appropriate qualified registered securities depository, and the Commission has designated only the Depository Trust Company (DTC) as that depository; notices sent to other securities depositories are outside the scope of this collection.
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