[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 31 (Friday, February 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6972-6973]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3770]
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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Agency information collection activities: Submission for OMB
review; comment request
AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board).
ACTION: Notice of information collection to be submitted to OMB for
review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
SUMMARY: In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Board hereby gives notice that it
has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on behalf of
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, and the Board (the agencies) a request for
approval of the information collection system described below. 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 OMB control number.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 17, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments, which should refer to the OMB control number,
should be addressed to the OMB desk officer for the Board: Alexander
Hunt, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 3208,
Washington, DC 20503. Comments should also be addressed to Mr. William
W. Wiles, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, DC 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).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the Paperwork Reduction Act
Submission (OMB 83-I), supporting statement, and other documents that
have been submitted to OMB for review and approval may be requested
from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears below.
Mary M. McLaughlin, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer (202-
452-3829), Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551. For
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users only, Dorothea
Thompson, (202-452-3544), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, Washington, DC 20551.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposal to request approval from OMB of the extension, with
revision, of the following report:
1. Report title: Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches
and Agencies of Foreign Banks
Form number: FFIEC 002
OMB control number: 7100-0032
Frequency: Quarterly
Reporters: U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks
Annual reporting hours: 46,683
Estimated average hours per response: 22.75
Number of respondents: 513
Small businesses (that is, small U.S. branches and agencies of foreign
banks) are affected.
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)).
Abstract: On November 5, 1996, the Board published on behalf of the
three agencies, a notice in the Federal Register (61 FR 56957)
describing in detail and inviting comment on the proposed changes to
this collection of information. This notice provides the public with
the opportunity to obtain, review, and comment on, the Board's
supporting statement.
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
Federal Reserve System collects and processes this report on behalf of
all three agencies.
Current Actions: Effective with the March 31, 1997, report date,
generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) would be used as the
reporting basis for the FFIEC 002, although it should be noted that
GAAP need not be applied to immaterial items. Changes would be made to
the reporting instructions for the following topics to bring them into
conformity with GAAP: treatment of assets sold with recourse; treatment
of futures, forward, and standby contracts; general prohibition on the
netting of assets and liabilities; the initial valuation of foreclosed
assets; the treatment of repurchase agreements; and the treatment of
reciprocal balances. The changes to the FFIEC 002 reporting forms as of
March 31, 1997, reflect new items that would be added for
(1) The amount of assets netted against liabilities to nonrelated
parties (excluding deposits in insured branches) on the balance sheet
in accordance with GAAP,
(2) For insured branches, the amount of assets netted against
deposit liabilities of the branch (excluding IBF) on the balance sheet
in accordance with GAAP,
(3) Credit derivatives,
[[Page 6973]]
(4) Significant components of other assets including claims on
nonrelated parties, and other liabilities to nonrelated parties,
(5) And the number of full-time equivalent employees at each U.S.
branch. These new items would conform with items proposed or previously
added to the commercial bank Reports of Condition and Income (Call
Report) (FFIEC 031-034; OMB No. 7100-0036). Other changes include
revising the instructions for the reporting of ``when-issued
securities'' and for ``firm commitments to sell residential mortgage
loans.'' Clarifications or other conforming changes would also be made
to several other instructions. The Board did not receive any letters of
comment in response to the notice published in the Federal Register
requesting comment on the proposed revisions to the FFIEC 002 for 1997.
However, the agencies did receive a comment letter in response to a
proposed instructional change related to the reporting of ``when-issued
securities'' commitments on the Call Report. The commenter observed
that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) defined the term
``derivative financial instrument'' in its June 1996 exposure draft of
the proposed accounting standard ``Accounting for Derivative and
Similar Financial Instruments and for Hedging Activities'' as a
financial instrument that generally does not require the holder or
writer of the instrument to own or deliver the underlying. This
commenter felt it would be confusing to report when-issued securities
as derivatives in Schedule RC-L if they are not reported as such for
other financial reporting purposes. The Federal Financial Institutions
Examination Council decided that institutions that do not include
``when-issued securities'' commitments as part of their disclosures
about derivatives for other financial reporting purposes would be
permitted to report commitments to sell ``when-issued securities'' as
``other off-balance sheet assets'' and commitments to purchase ``when-
issued securities'' as ``other off-balance sheet liabilities'' in
Schedule RC-L. For purposes of consistency, the agencies also will
provide this option in the FFIEC 002 instructions.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 10,
1997.
William W. Wiles,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 97-3770 Filed 2-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-F
