2023-04136. Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

ACTION:

Notice, request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the Survey of Small Business and Farm Lending (FR 2028; OMB No. 7100-0061).

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before May 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by FR 2028, by any of the following methods:

• Agency Website:https://www.federalreserve.gov/​. Follow the instructions for submitting comments at https://www.federalreserve.gov/​apps/​foia/​proposedregs.aspx.

• Email:[e-mail]. Include the OMB number or FR number in the subject line of the message.

• Fax: [phone] or [phone].

• Mail: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Attn: Ann E. Misback, Secretary of the Board, Mailstop M-4775, 2001 C St NW, Washington, DC 20551.

All public comments are available from the Board's website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/​apps/​foia/​proposedregs.aspx as submitted, unless modified for technical reasons or to remove personally identifiable information at the commenter's request. Accordingly, comments will not be edited to remove any confidential business information, identifying information, or contact information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper in Room M-4365A, 2001 C St NW, Washington, DC 20551, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, except for Federal holidays. For security reasons, the Board requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. You may do so by calling [phone]. Upon arrival, visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo identification and to submit to security screening in order to inspect and photocopy comments.

Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Desk Officer for the Federal Reserve Board, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer—Nuha Elmaghrabi—Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, [e-mail], [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On June 15, 1984, OMB delegated to the Board authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to approve and assign OMB control numbers to collections of information conducted or sponsored by the Board. In exercising this delegated authority, the Board is directed to take every reasonable step to solicit comment. In determining whether to approve a collection of information, the Board will consider all comments received from the public and other agencies.

During the comment period for this proposal, a copy of the proposed PRA OMB submission, including the draft reporting form and instructions, supporting statement (which contains more detail about the information collection and burden estimates than this notice), and other documentation, will be made available on the Board's public website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/​apps/​reportingforms/​home/​review or may be requested from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears above. Final versions of these documents will be made available at https://www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain, if approved.

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

The Board invites public comment on the following information collection, which is being reviewed under authority delegated by the OMB under the PRA. Comments are invited on the following:

a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the Board's functions, including whether the information has practical utility;

b. The accuracy of the Board's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

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

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; and

e. Estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the Board should modify the proposal.

Proposal Under OMB Delegated Authority To Extend for Three Years, With Revision, the Following Information Collection

Collection title: Survey of Small Business and Farm Lending.

Collection identifier: FR 2028.

OMB control number:7100-0061.

General description of collection: The Survey of Small Business and Farm Lending (SSBFL) comprises the following three reports:

• Survey of Terms of Bank Lending to Farmers (FR 2028B),
• Prime Rate Supplement of Survey of Terms of Lending (FR 2028S), and
• Small Business Lending Survey (FR 2028D).

The SSBFL collects unique information concerning price and certain nonprice terms of loans made to businesses and farmers each quarter (February, May, August, and November) from a sample of banks. The FR 2028B collects detailed data on individual loans funded during the first full business week of the mid-month of each quarter, and the FR 2028S collects the prime interest rate for each day of the survey week from FR 2028B respondents. The FR 2028D provides focused and enhanced information on small business lending including rates, terms, credit availability, and reasons for their changes. The FR 2028D collects quarterly average quantitative data on terms of small business loans and qualitative information on changes and the reasons for changes in the terms of lending. From these sample SSBFL data, estimates of the terms of business loans and farm loans extended are constructed. The aggregate estimates for business loans are published in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's quarterly release, Small Business Lending Survey, and aggregate estimates for farm loans are published in the statistical release, Agricultural Finance Databook.

Proposed revisions: The Federal Reserve proposes to revise the FR 2028D form and instructions, to be effective for the September 30, 2023, as of date with the transmission period beginning on October 1, 2023, based on loan activity over the third quarter 2023. The proposed revisions would add clarity in reporting instructions and requirements, improve data quality, and make slight reductions in reporting burden. These changes include removing items related to credit card lending and net drawdowns on lines of credit. A question requesting information on how respondents define small businesses for the purposes of small business lending would be added. Additionally, three questions were modified to add open-ended text fields offering respondents the opportunity to provide additional information on reasons for changes in lending. Minor wording changes are proposed to the form and instructions to add clarity to the survey or address changes to the form. Additionally, minor changes are proposed to the Frequently Asked Questions section to increase clarity of form definitions.

FR 2028D Deletions

Questions determined to provide lower value, in comparison to the burden imposed on respondents required to track and respond, would be removed from the survey. Specifically, a survey question requesting net amounts of drawdowns on commercial and industrial (C&I) commitments broken out by fixed rate and variable rate would be removed. Additionally, questions related to new and outstanding credit card loans would be removed, eliminating 6 questions each for fixed rate and variable rate small business C&I loans along with one qualitative question.

FR 2028D Additions

An open-ended question would be added to increase clarity in how respondents are defining small business lending for quantitative and qualitative loan data. The question would clarify whether a respondent is utilizing the survey definition of a small business, non-farm businesses domiciled in the U.S. with no more than $5 million in total annual revenue, or another internal definition. Current reporters would be asked to respond annually to the new question or when a change occurs in their internal small business definition. First time reporters would respond in the quarter that they are added to the respondent panel. Additionally, three questions would be modified to add voluntary open-ended text fields, offering respondents the opportunity to provide additional information on reasons for changes in credit standards/terms and credit quality of applicants.

Frequency:Quarterly.

Respondents: The FR 2028B and FR 2028S panels have an authorized size of 250 domestically chartered commercial banks. The panel of banks has been drawn from a random sample of banks stratified according to farm loan volumes since 1989. The authorized panel for the FR 2028D panel is 398 domestically chartered commercial banks. The size is based on obtaining survey results with a 95% confidence level and 5% standard error, allowing for a 10% nonresponse rate. The panel of banks is a random sample of banks stratified according to the dollar volumes of commercial and industrial loans with original amounts of $1,000,000 or less.

Total estimated number of respondents:

FR 2028B—250.

FR 2028S—250.

FR 2028D—398.

Estimated average hours per response:

FR 2028B—1.4.

FR 2028S—0.1.

FR 2028D—2.8.

Total estimated change in burden: (318).

Total estimated annual burden hours: 5,958.^[1]

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 23, 2023.

Michele Taylor Fennell,

Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.

Footnotes

1.  More detailed information regarding this collection, including more detailed burden estimates, can be found in the OMB Supporting Statement posted at https://www.federalreserve.gov/​apps/​reportingforms/​home/​review. On the page displayed at the link, you can find the OMB Supporting Statement by referencing the collection identifier, FR 2028.