Form ABS-EE Supporting Statement.2021

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT INFORMATION COLLECTION
SUBMISSION FOR FORM ABS-EE
A.

JUSTIFICATION
1.

Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

On September 4, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“Commission”) adopted significant revisions to Regulation AB and other rules governing
the offering process, disclosure, and reporting for asset-backed securities (“ABS”). The
final rules require that, with some exceptions, prospectuses for public offerings under the
Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) and ongoing reports under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) of asset-backed securities backed by real estate
related assets, auto related assets, or backed by debt securities, including
resecuritizations, contain specified asset-level information about each of the assets in the
pool. The asset-level information is required to be provided according to specified
standards and in a tagged data format using eXtensible Markup Language (“XML”). In
addition, the rules extended filing deadlines for ABS offerings to provide investors with
more time to consider transaction-specific information, including information about the
pool assets. These rules are designed to enhance investor protection in the ABS market.
The rules are intended to provide investors with timely and sufficient information, reduce
the likelihood of undue reliance on credit ratings, and help restore investor confidence in
the representations and warranties regarding the assets.
Form ABS-EE is used by asset-backed issuer s to provide asset-level information
for registered offering of asset-backed secruties at the time of secritization and on an
ongoing basis required by Item 1111(h) of Regulation AB.
2.

Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The purpose of the collections of information is to provide enhanced disclosure
and transparency to investors and participants in the ABS market.
3.

Consideration Given to Information Technology

The information in each of the collections of information discussed above is filed
electronically with the Commission using Commission’s Electronic Data Gathering and
Retrieval (“EDGAR”) system.
4.

Duplication of Information
We are not aware of any rules that conflict with or substantially duplicate these

rules.
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5.

Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

The Commission believes that there will not be any significant economic impact
on substantial number of small entities.
6.

Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

The objectives of offering disclosure requirements under the Securities Act could
not be met with less frequent collection of this information for asset-backed securities.
7.

Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances.

8.

Consultations with Persons Outside the Agency

No comments were received during the 60 day comment period prior to OMB’s
review of this submission.
9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents
No payment or gift has been provided to any respondents.

10.

Confidentiality
Form ABS-EE is a public document.

11.

Sensitive Questions

No information of a sensitive nature, including social security numbers, will be
required under this collection of information. The information collection collects basic
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that may include signature of the official signing
on behalf of the entity. However, the agency has determined that the information
collection does not constitute a system of record for purposes of the Privacy Act.
Information is not retrieved by a personal identifier. In accordance with Section 208 of
the E-Government Act of 2002, the agency has conducted a Privacy Impact Assessment
(PIA) of the EDGAR system, in connection with this collection of information. The
EDGAR PIA, published on February 5, 2021 is provided as a supplemental document
and is also available at https://www.sec.gov/privacy.

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12.

Estimate of Respondents Reporting Burden
Estimated Reporting Burden
Information
Collection Title
Form ABS-EE

OMB
Control
Number

Number of
Responses

Burden
Hours

3235-0706

13,374

170,089

For purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”), we estimate that
Form ABS-EE takes approximately 50.87 hours per response to comply with the
collection of information requirements and that there are 13,374 respondents. We
derived our burden hour estimates by estimating the average number of hours it would
take an issuer to compile the necessary information and data, prepare and review
disclosure, file documents and retain records. In connection with rule amendments to the
form, we occasionally receive PRA estimates from public commenters about incremental
burdens that are used in our burden estimates. We believe that the actual burdens will
likely vary among individual issuers based on the nature of their operations. We further
estimate that 25% of the collection of information burden is carried by the issuer
internally and that 75% of the burden of preparation is carried by outside professionals
retained by the company. Based on our estimates, we calculated the total reporting
burden to be 170,089 hours ((0.25% x 50.87 total burden hours per response) x 13,374
responses). For administrative convenience, the presentation of the total related to the
paperwork burden hours has been rounded to the nearest whole number. The estimated
burden hours are made solely for the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
13.

Estimate of Total Annualized Cost Burden
Estimated Cost Burden
Information
Collection Title
Form ABS-EE

OMB
Control
Number

Number of
Responses

Burden
Hours

3235-0706

13,374

$57,459,063

We estimate that 75% of 50.87 total hours per response (38.1546 hours) is
prepared by outside consultant hired by the company. We estimate that it will cost
112.6030919208 per hours ($112.6030919208 x 38.1546 hours per response x 13,374
responses) for a total of 57,459,063. We estimate an hourly cost of $112.6030919208 for
outside legal and accounting services used in connection with public company reporting.
This estimate is based on our consultations with registrants and professional firms who
regularly assist registrants in preparing and filing disclosure documents with the
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Commission. Our estimates reflect average burdens, and therefore, some companies may
experience costs in excess of our estimates and some companies may experience costs
that are lower than our estimates. For administrative convenience, the presentation of the
cost total has been rounded to the nearest dollar. The cost estimate is made solely for the
purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
14.

Costs to Federal Government

The annual cost of reviewing and processing disclosure documents, including
registration statements, post-effective amendments, proxy statements, annual reports and
other filings of operating companies amounted to approximately $103,479,690 in fiscal
year 2019, based on the Commission’s computation of the value of staff time devoted to
this activity and related overhead.
15.

Reason for Change in Burden
There is no change in burden.

16.

Information Collection Planned for Statistical Purposes
The information collection is not planned for statistical purposes.

17.

Approval to Omit OMB Expiration Date.

We request authorization to omit the expiration date on the electronic version of
the form. Including the expiration date on the electronic version of the form will result in
increased costs, because the need to make changes to the form may not follow the
application’s scheduled version release dates. The OMB control number will be
displayed.
18.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to certification for Paperwork Reduction Act
submissions.

B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
The information collection does not employ statistical methods.

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