[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 237 (Monday, December 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63526-63527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-30037]
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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment
AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board).
ACTION: Notice and request for comment.
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BACKGROUND: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Board 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
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. Proposed
revisions to the following currently approved collections of
information have received approval from the Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the Board is a
member, and are hereby published for comment. At the end of the comment
period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to
determine the extent to which the proposed revisions should be modified
prior to the agencies' submission of them to OMB for review and
approval. Comments are invited on:
(a) Whether the proposed revisions to the following collections of
information are necessary for the proper performance of the agencies'
functions, including whether the information has practical utility;
(b) The accuracy of the agencies' estimate of the burden of the
information collections as they are proposed to be revised, including
the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
(c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
(d) Ways to minimize the burden of information collection on
respondents, including through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 9, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments
the agency listed below. All comments should refer to the OMB control
number.
Written comments should be addressed to Mr. William W. Wiles,
Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C
Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551, or delivered to the Board's mail
room between 8:45 a.m. and 5:15 p.m., and to the security control room
outside of those hours. Both the mail room and the security control
room are accessible from the courtyard entrance on 20th Street between
Constitution Avenue and C Street, N.W. Comments received may be
inspected in room M-P-500 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., except as
provided in section 261.8 of the Board's Rules Regarding Availability
of Information, 12 CFR 261.8(a).
A copy of the comments may also be submitted to the OMB desk
officer for the agencies: Milo Sunderhauf, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive
Office Building, Room 3208, Washington, D.C. 20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the proposed revisions to
the collections of information may be requested from the agency
clearance officers whose name appears below.
Mary M. McLaughlin, Board Clearance Officer, (202) 452-3829, Division
of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, 20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551. For the
hearing impaired only, Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD),
Dorothea Thompson, (202) 452-3544, Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System, 20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposal to revise the following currently approved collection of
information:
Title: Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies
of Foreign Banks
Form Number: FFIEC 002
OMB Number: 7100-0032.
Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
Affected Public: U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 557
Estimated Time per Response: 22.40 burden hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 49,907 burden hours.
General Description of Report: This information collection is
mandatory: 12 U.S.C. 3105(b)(2), 1817(a)(1) and (3), and 3102(b).
Except for select sensitive items, this information collection is not
given confidential treatment (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)). Small businesses
(i.e., small U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks) are affected.
Abstract: On a quarterly basis, all U.S. branches and agencies of
foreign banks (U.S. branches) are required to file detailed schedules
of assets and liabilities in the form of a condition report and a
variety of supporting schedules. This balance sheet information is used
to fulfill the supervisory and regulatory requirements of the
International Banking Act of 1978. The data are also used to augment
the bank credit, loan, and deposit information needed for monetary
policy purposes. The report is collected and processed by the Federal
Reserve on behalf of all three federal bank regulatory agencies (i.e.,
the Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the
[[Page 63527]]
Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).
Current Actions: The proposed revisions to the Report of Assets and
Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002)
that are the subject of this notice have been approved by the FFIEC for
implementation as of the March 31, 1996, report date. Nonetheless, as
is customary for FFIEC 002 reporting changes, U.S. branches are advised
that, for the March 31, 1996, report date, reasonable estimates may be
provided for any new or revised item for which the requested
information is not readily available.
The proposed revisions are summarized as follows:
New Items
FFIEC 002 items in the following areas would be added:
(1) Trading Assets and Liabilities
When off-balance-sheet derivative contracts held by U.S. branches
for trading purposes are periodically marked to market (or the lower of
cost or market, as appropriate), this process results in the recording
of the fair values of derivatives that are in gain and loss positions
as on-balance-sheet assets and liabilities, respectively. In order to
monitor the magnitude of these fair values and changes therein, new
items would be added for the reporting of these two amounts in the
Memoranda section of Schedule RAL, ``Assets and Liabilities.''
(2) Past Due Derivatives
The FFIEC 002 does not currently require disclosures about off-
balance sheet derivative contracts where the counterparty is not
performing in accordance with the contractual terms. Although the
number of such contracts is believed to be limited, the disclosure of
exposures associated with such contracts will highlight, for
supervisory purposes, the most immediate risks faced by a U.S. branch
from its involvement with off-balance-sheet derivatives. Information
about these past due derivatives would be added to the Memoranda
section of Schedule N, ``Past Due, Nonaccrual, and Restructured
Loans.'' Amounts would be separately reported for derivatives that are
past due 30 through 89 days and for those past due 90 days or more.
Reported amounts associated with derivatives that are past due 90 days
or more would also include information about derivatives that, while
not technically past due, are with counterparties that are not expected
to pay the full amounts owed to the institution under the derivative
contracts. As with the information U.S. branches currently report in
Schedule N, individual U.S. branch information on derivatives for which
payments are delinquent would be treated as confidential.
In these new items, U.S. branches would first report the book value
of any amounts carried as assets on the balance sheet that are related
to those off-balance sheet derivatives for which any required payment
from the counterparty is either past due 30 through 89 days or past due
90 days or more. In addition, in order to indicate the relative size
and volume of those contracts where the counterparty is not performing,
separate Memoranda items would be provided for reporting the current
replacement cost (if positive) for those contracts that are past due 30
through 89 days and for those that are past due 90 days or more.
Instructional Changes
Changes, which may affect how some banks report certain information
on the FFIEC 002, would be made to the instructions as follows.
(1) The FFIEC 002 Glossary entry for ``Trading Account'' would be
revised to incorporate parallel changes to the FFIEC 031 instructions
regarding report changes implemented since 1994 on trading assets and
liabilities and the treatment of off-balance-sheet derivatives held for
trading purposes. In addition, the Glossary entry's discussion of the
accounting for transfers to or from a trading account would be brought
into conformity with FASB Statement no. 115, ``Accounting for Certain
Investments in Debt and Equity Securities.''
(2) The instructions for the reporting of commercial and industrial
loans with remaining maturity of
(i) one year or less and
(ii) of more than one year in the loan schedule (Schedule C), would
be clarified to exclude nonaccrual status loans in a manner consistent
with the reporting of maturity and repricing data for loans and leases
on the FFIEC 031. Clarifications or other conforming changes would also
be made to several other instructions.
Request for Comment
Comments submitted in response to this Notice will be summarized or
included in the agencies' requests for OMB approval. All comments will
become a matter of public record. Written comments should address the
accuracy of the burden estimates and ways to minimize burden including
the use of automated collection techniques or the use of other forms of
information technology as well as other relevant aspects of the
information collection request.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 5,
1995.
William W. Wiles,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 95-30037 Filed 12-8-95; 8:45 am]
Billing Code 6210-01-F
