00-30212. Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

SUMMARY:

Background

Notice is hereby given of the final approval of proposed information collection(s) by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, as per 5 CFR 1320.16 (OMB Regulation on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies of the OMB 82-Is and supporting statements and approved collection of information instruments(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer—Mary M. West, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202-452-3829).

OMB Desk Officer—Alexander T. Hunt—Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 3208, Washington, DC 20503 (202-395-7860).

Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority To Conduct the Following Survey:

1. Report title: 2001 Survey of Consumer Finance.

Agency form number: FR 3059.

OMB Control number: 7100-0287.

Frequency: One-time survey.

Reporters: U.S. families.

Annual reporting hours: 5,812.5 hours.

Estimated average hours per response: 75 minutes.

Number of respondents: Pretest, 50 families; main survey, 4,600 families. Small businesses are not affected.

General description of report: This information collection is voluntary. The Federal Reserve's statutory basis for collecting this information is section 2A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 225a); the Bank Merger Act (12 U.S.C. 1828(c)); and sections 3 and 4 of the Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C. 1842 and 1843) and 12 U.S.C. 353 and 461. The names and other characteristics that would permit identification of respondents are deemed confidential by the Board and are exempt from disclosure pursuant to exemption 6 in the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6)).

Abstract: For many years, the Board has sponsored consumer surveys to obtain information on the financial behavior of households. The 2001 Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF) will be the latest in a triennial series, which began in 1983, that provides comprehensive data for U.S. families on the distribution of assets and debts, along with related information and other data items necessary for analyzing behavior. These are the only surveys conducted in the United States that provide such financial data for a representative sample of households. Data for the SCF are collected by interviewers using a computer program. While some questions may be deleted and others modified, only minimal changes will be made to the questionnaire in order to preserve the time series properties of the data. The entire survey will be conducted between November 2000 and December 2001.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 21, 2000.

Jennifer J. Johnson,

Secretary of the Board.