Extension of Compliance Dates for Electronic Submission of Certain Materials Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; Amendments Regarding the FOCUS Report

<RULE> SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION <CFR>17 CFR Parts 202, 232, 240, 249, and 249b</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Release Nos. 33-11386; 34-103877; IC-35738; File No. S7-08-23]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 3235-AL85</RIN> <SUBJECT>Extension of Compliance Dates for Electronic Submission of Certain Materials Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; Amendments Regarding the FOCUS Report</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Securities and Exchange Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule; extension of compliance dates. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is extending by twelve months the compliance dates for certain of the rule amendments the Commission adopted on December 16, 2024, regarding the electronic submission of certain materials under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and amendments to the FOCUS Report (Form X-17A-5), a periodic financial and operational report filed by broker-dealers and security-based swap dealers. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective Date:</E> This release is effective September 10, 2025. The effective date for the Commission release adopted on December 16, 2024, which is entitled “Electronic Submission of Certain Material Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; Amendments Regarding the FOCUS Report”, remains March 24, 2025. <E T="03">Compliance Date:</E> The compliance dates for certain amendments adopted on December 16, 2024, and published on January 21, 2025 at 90 FR 7250, are extended by twelve months, as discussed in more detail below. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For Forms 1 and 15A—Justin Pica, Assistant Director, and David Michehl, Special Counsel; for Form 1-N—David Dimitrious, Senior Special Counsel, and Michou Nguyen, Special Counsel; for Form CA-1—Matthew Lee, Assistant Director, and Claire Noakes, Senior Special Counsel; for Form 19b-4(e) and technical amendment to Form 19b-4—Cristie March, Senior Special Counsel, and Edward Cho, Special Counsel; for Rule 17a-22—Matthew Lee, Assistant Director, and Susan Petersen, Special Counsel; for Rule 17a-5, Rule 17a-12, Rule 18a-7, Form X-17A-5 Part III and related annual filings, Form X-17A-5 Parts II, IIA, and IIC, Form 17-H, and Form X-17A-19—Raymond A. Lombardo, Assistant Director, and Valentina Minak Deng, Special Counsel; for notices provided pursuant to Rule 3a71-3(d)(1)(vi) and Rule 15fi-3(c)—John Guidroz, Assistant Director, and Israel Goodman, Senior Counsel; and for reports submitted pursuant to Rule 15fk-1(c)(2)(ii)(A), Kelly Shoop, Branch Chief, and Patrick Bloomstine, Attorney-Adviser, Division of Trading and Markets, at (202) 551-5500, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> The Commission is extending by twelve months the compliance dates for all of the rule amendments the Commission adopted on December 16, 2024 regarding the electronic submission of certain materials under the Exchange Act, except for the following rule amendments which continue to have the same compliance date stated in the Commission's December 16, 2024 release: rule amendments that originally had a compliance date of March 24, 2025; rule amendments relating to the filing requirements for new derivative securities products;  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> and rule amendments requiring Form 17-H and broker-dealer and security-based swap entity annual reports be filed electronically on the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (“EDGAR”) system. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 17 CFR 240.19b-4(e). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 17 CFR 232.101's requirements relating to 17 CFR 240.17a-5, 17 CFR 240.17a-12, 17 CFR 240.17h-2T, and 17 CFR 240.18a-7; 17 CFR 240.17a-5(d)(6) and (k)'s requirements to file electronically; 17 CFR 240.17a-12(a)(2); 17 CFR 240.17a-12(b)(6), (k), (l)(1), and (m)(1)'s requirements to file electronically; 17 CFR 240.17h-2T's requirement to file electronically; 17 CFR 240.18a-7(c)(6)'s requirement to file electronically. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Discussion</HD> On December 16, 2024, the Commission adopted rule amendments that require, among other things, electronic filing or submission, using structured data where appropriate, of certain forms and other filings or submissions that are required to be filed with or submitted to the Commission under the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations thereunder. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> The Commission addressed the compliance dates for these rule amendments in the Adopting Release, intending to give regulated entities time to incorporate these changes into their policies, procedures, systems, and practices. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See Electronic Submission of Certain Materials Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; Amendments Regarding the FOCUS Report,</E> Exchange Act Release No. 101925 (Dec. 16, 2024), 90 FR 7250 (Jan. 21, 2025), <E T="03">available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-21/pdf/2024-30433.pdf</E> (“Adopting Release”). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> section VIII of Adopting Release at 7304. </FTNT> In the period since the Commission adopted the rule amendments, industry representatives and market participants have expressed concerns about the EDGAR filing or submission and structured data requirements, and have requested additional time to comply. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> For example, an industry group  <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> requested that the Commission extend by twelve months the compliance date for the requirement to file or submit the following forms and submissions on EDGAR in structured data format: Form X-17A-5 Part III pursuant to Exchange Act Rules 17a-5, 17a-12, and 18a-7, <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> Form 17-H pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 17h-2T, <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> valuation dispute notices pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 15fi-3(c), <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> and compliance reports pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 15fk-1(c)(2)(ii)(A). <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> SIFMA also asked to extend the compliance date to file notices (and any withdrawals of notices) pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 3a71-3(d)(1)(vi) (also known as “ANE Exception Notices”) on EDGAR. <SU>11</SU> <FTREF/> SIFMA stated that the Commission has yet to produce any structured data taxonomies, and filers and submitters and their technology vendors cannot begin meaningful work on the technology builds required to convert their documents into structured data format until the Commission finalizes the relevant taxonomies. <SU>12</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See, e.g.,</E> Letter from Kyle Brandon, Managing Director, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) (May 13, 2025), <E T="03">available at https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-08-23/s70823-600675-1751083.pdf</E> (“SIFMA 2025 Letter”). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> SIFMA 2025 Letter. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>  17 CFR 240.17a-5; 17 CFR 240.17a-12; 17 CFR 240.18a-7. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>  17 CFR 240.17h-2T. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>  17 CFR 240.15fi-3(c). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>  17 CFR 240.15fk-1(c)(2)(ii)(A). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>11</SU>  17 CFR 240.3a71-3(d)(1)(vi). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>12</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> SIFMA 2025 Letter. </FTNT> After consideration of these requests, the Commission is extending by twelve months the compliance dates for the following rule amendments (hereinafter, the “Twelve Month Rules”): <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,nj,tp0,i1" CDEF="s100,r100"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Rule</CHED> <CHED H="1">Compliance date</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">• 17 CFR 240.15fk-1(c)</ENT> <ENT>New requirements apply to submissions due on or after January 1, 2027 (extended from January 1, 2026).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> • 17 CFR 232.101's requirements relating to § 249.1 (Form 1) • 17 CFR 232.405's requirements relating to § 249.1 (Form 1). • 17 CFR 240.6a-1, 6a-2, and 6a-3. </ENT> <ENT>New requirements apply to filings due on or after March 2, 2027 (extended from March 2, 2026).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> • 17 CFR 232.101's requirements relating to § 249.200 (Form CA-1) • 17 CFR 232.405's requirements relating to § 249.200 (Form CA-1). • 17 CFR 240.17ab2-1's requirements relating to § 249.200 (Form CA-1). </ENT> <ENT>New requirements apply to filings due on or after April 30, 2027 (extended from April 30, 2026).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> • 17 CFR 232.101's requirements relating to § 249.10 (Form 1-N) • 17 CFR 232.101's requirements relating to § 249.801 (Form 15A). • 17 CFR 240.6a-4. • 17 CFR 240.15aa-1 and 15aa-2. </ENT> <ENT>New requirements apply to filings due on or after July 1, 2027 (extended from July 1, 2026).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> • 17 CFR 232.405's requirements relating to 17 CFR 240.17a-5, 17a-12, and 18a-7 • 17 CFR 240.17a-5(d)(6) and (k)'s requirements to file as an Interactive Data File. • 17 CFR 240.17a-12(b)(6), (k), (l)(1), and (m)(1)'s requirements to file as an Interactive Data File. • 17 CFR 240.18a-7(c)(6)'s requirement to file as an Interactive Data File. </ENT> <ENT> <E T="03">For firms with a minimum fixed dollar net capital requirement greater than or equal to $250,000 as of December 31, 2025 (extended from December 31, 2024):</E> New requirements apply to filings due on or after June 30, 2027 (extended from June 30, 2026). <E T="03">For all other firms:</E> New requirements apply to filings due on or after June 30, 2029 (extended from June 30, 2028). </ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> • 17 CFR 232.405's requirements relating to 17 CFR 240.17 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 28k characters. 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