2022-23246. Agency Information Collection Activities: Information Collection Renewal; Comment Request; Annual Stress Test Rule

AGENCY:

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites comment on a continuing information collection as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and respondents are not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning the renewal of its information collection titled “Annual Stress Test Rule.” The OCC also is giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before November 25, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

Commenters are encouraged to submit comments by email, if possible. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Email: [e-mail].

• Mail: Chief Counsel's Office, Attention: Comment Processing, 1557-0343, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, Washington, DC 20219.

• Hand Delivery/Courier: 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, Washington, DC 20219.

• Fax: [phone].

Instructions: You must include “OCC” as the agency name and “1557-0343” in your comment. In general, the OCC will publish comments on www.reginfo.gov without change, including any business or personal information provided, such as name and address information, email addresses, or phone numbers. Comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. Do not include any information in your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should also be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. You can find this information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

On June 30, 2022, the OCC published a 60-day notice for this information collection, 87 FR 39159. You may review comments and other related materials that pertain to this information collection following the close of the 30-day comment period for this notice by the method set forth in the next bullet.

• Viewing Comments Electronically: Go to www.reginfo.gov. Hover over the “Information Collection Review” tab and click on “Information Collection Review” from the drop-down menu. From the “Currently under Review” drop-down menu, select “Department of Treasury” and then click “submit.” This information collection can be located by searching by OMB control number “1557-0343” or “Annual Stress Test Rule.” Upon finding the appropriate information collection, click on the related “ICR Reference Number.” On the next screen, select “View Supporting Statement and Other Documents” and then click on the link to any comment listed at the bottom of the screen.

• For assistance in navigating www.reginfo.gov, please contact the Regulatory Information Service Center at [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Shaquita Merritt, OCC Clearance Officer, [phone], Chief Counsel's Office, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the OMB for each collection of information that they conduct or sponsor. “Collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) to include agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or disclose information to a third party. The OCC asks that OMB extend its approval of the collection in this notice.

Title: Annual Stress Test Rule.

OMB Control No.: 1557-0343.

Type of Review: Regular review.

Abstract: The annual stress test rule ^[1] implemented Section 165(i) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ^[2] (“Dodd-Frank Act”) which requires certain companies to conduct stress tests. As enacted by the Dodd-Frank Act, national banks and Federal savings associations with total consolidated assets of more than $10 billion were required to conduct annual stress tests and comply with reporting and disclosure requirements under the rule. The reporting templates for institutions with total consolidated assets of over $50 billion were finalized in 2012.^[3]

Section 165(i)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act required certain financial companies, including national banks and Federal savings associations, to conduct annual stress tests ^[4] and requires the primary financial regulatory agency ^[5] of those financial companies to issue regulations implementing the stress test requirements.^[6]

Under section 165(i)(2), a covered institution was required to submit to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) and to its primary financial regulatory agency a report at such time, in such form, and containing such information as the primary financial regulatory agency may require.^[7]

The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA), enacted on May 24, 2018, amended certain aspects of the company-run stress testing requirement in section 165(i)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act.^[8] Specifically, section 401 of EGRRCPA raises the minimum asset threshold for financial companies covered by the company-run stress testing requirement from $10 billion to $250 billion in total consolidated assets; revises the requirement for banks to conduct stress tests “annually” and instead requires them to conduct stress tests “periodically”; and no longer requires the OCC to provide an “adverse” stress-testing scenario, thus reducing the number of required stress test scenarios from three to two.

The OCC uses the information to assess the reasonableness of the stress test results and provide forward-looking information to the OCC regarding a covered institution's capital adequacy. The OCC also may use stress test results to determine whether additional analytical techniques and exercises could be appropriate to identify, measure, and monitor risks at the covered institution. The stress test results support ongoing improvement in a covered institution's stress testing practices with respect to its internal assessments of capital adequacy and overall capital planning.

Under 12 CFR 46.6(c), each covered institution is required to establish and maintain a system of controls, oversight, and documentation, including policies and procedures, describing the covered institution's stress test practices and methodologies, and processes for validating and updating the covered institution's stress test practices. The board of directors of the covered institution must approve and review these policies at least annually. Section 46.7(a) requires each covered institution to report the results of their stress tests to the OCC annually. Section 46.8(a) requires that a covered institution publish a summary of the results of its annual stress tests on its website or in any other forum that is reasonably accessible to the public.

The 2019 increase in the applicability threshold for these requirements ^[9] reduced the estimated number of respondents. In addition, the frequency of these reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements for some institutions were scaled back to biennial.

Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 6,240 Hours.

Frequency of Response: Annual or biannual.

Comments: On June 30, 2022, the OCC published a 60-day notice for this information collection, 87 FR 39159. No comments were received. Comments continue to be solicited on:

(a) Whether the collections of information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the OCC, including whether the information has practical utility;

(b) The accuracy of the OCC's estimates of the information collection burden;

(c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;

(d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and

(e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Patrick T. Tierney,

Assistant Director, Bank Advisory, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Footnotes

1.  77 FR 61238 (October 9, 2012).

2.  Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010).

3.  77 FR 49485 (August 16, 2012); 77 FR 66663 (November 6, 2012).

4.  12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)(A).

5.  12 U.S.C. 5301(12).

6.  12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)(C).

7.  12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)(B).

8.  Public Law 115-174, 132 Stat. 1296-1368 (2018).

9.  84 FR 54472 (October 10, 2019).