2015-08619. Regulatory Publication and Review Under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996

AGENCIES:

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), Treasury; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”); and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”).

ACTION:

Notice of outreach meeting.

SUMMARY:

The OCC, Board, and FDIC (“Agencies”) announce the third in a series of outreach meetings on the Agencies' interagency process to review their regulations under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (“EGRPRA”).

DATES:

An outreach meeting will be held in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday, May 4, 2015, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Online registrations will be accepted through April 27, 2015, or until all seats are filled, whichever is earlier. If seats are available after the close of online registration, individuals may register in person at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on the day of the meeting. Additional outreach meetings are scheduled for August 4, 2015, in Kansas City, Missouri (focusing on rural insured depository institutions); October 19, 2015, in Chicago, Illinois; and December 2, 2015, in Washington, DC.

ADDRESSES:

The Agencies will hold the May 4, 2015, outreach meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02210. Live video of this meeting will be streamed at http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​. All participants should register at

http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​outreach/​outreach-index.html.

Any interested individual may submit comments through the EGRPRA Web site during open comment periods at: http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​submit-comment/​submit-comment-index.html. On this site, click “Submit a Comment” and follow the instructions. Alternatively, comments also may be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal “Regulations.gov” at: http://www.regulations.gov. Enter “Docket ID FFIEC-2014-0001” in the Search Box, click “Search,” and click “Comment Now.” Those who wish to submit their comments by an alternate means may do so as indicated by each agency below.

OCC:

The OCC encourages commenters to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, Regulations.gov, in accordance with the previous paragraph. Alternatively, comments may be emailed to [e-mail] or sent by mail to Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Mail Stop 9W-11, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. Comments also may be faxed to [phone] or hand delivered or sent by courier to 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. For comments submitted by any means other than Regulations.gov, you must include “OCC” as the agency name and “Docket ID FFIEC-2014-0001” in your comment.

In general, the OCC will enter all comments received into the docket and publish them without change on Regulations.gov. Comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, as well as any business or personal information you provide, such as your name and address, email address, or phone number, are part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. Therefore, please do not include any information with your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure.

You may inspect and photocopy in person all comments received by the OCC at 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. For security reasons, the OCC requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect or photocopy comments. You may make an appointment by calling [phone]. Upon arrival, visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo identification and submit to a security screening.

Board:

The Board encourages commenters to submit comments regarding the Board's regulations by any of the following methods:

• Agency Web site : http://www.federalreserve.gov/​apps/​foia/​proposedregs.aspx. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the Agency Web site.
• Federal eRulemaking Portal, in accordance with the directions above.
• Email: [e-mail]. Include “EGRPRA” and Docket No. R-1510 in the subject line of the message.
• FAX: [phone].
• Mail: Robert deV. Frierson, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20551.

In general, the Board will enter all comments received into the docket and publish them without change on the Board's public Web site, www.federalreserve.gov;​; Regulations.gov; and http://egrpra.ffiec.gov. Comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, as well as any business or personal information you provide, such as your name and address, email address, or phone number, are part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. Therefore, please do not enclose any information with your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure.

You may inspect and photocopy in person all comments received by the Board at 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20551. For security reasons, the Board requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. You may make an appointment by calling [phone]. Upon arrival, visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo identification and submit to a security screening.

FDIC:

The FDIC encourages commenters to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, “Regulations.gov,” in accordance with the directions above. Alternatively, you may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Agency Web site: http://www.fdic.gov/​regulations/​laws/​federal. Follow instructions for submitting comments on the Agency Web site.
• Email: [e-mail]. Include “EGRPRA” in the subject line of the message.
• Mail: Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary, Attention: Comments, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20429.
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Guard station at the rear of the 550 17th Street Building (located on F Street) on business days between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. (EDT).

The FDIC will post all comments received to http://www.fdic.gov/​regulations/​laws/​federal without change, including any personal information provided. Comments may be inspected and photocopied in the FDIC Public Information Center, 3501 North Fairfax Drive, Room E-1002, Arlington, VA 22226, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (EDT) on business days. Paper copies of public comments may be ordered from the Public Information Center by calling [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

OCC: Heidi M. Thomas, Special Counsel, [phone]; for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, TTY [phone].

Board: Kevin Wilson, Financial Analyst, [phone]; Claudia Von Pervieux, Counsel [phone]; for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, TTY [phone].

FDIC: Ruth R. Amberg, Assistant General Counsel, [phone]; for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, TTY 1-800-925-4618.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

EGRPRA ^[1] directs the Agencies, along with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (Council), not less frequently than once every ten years, to conduct a review of their regulations to identify outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulations imposed on insured depository institutions. As part of this review, the Agencies are holding a series of six outreach meetings to provide an opportunity for bankers, consumer and community groups, and other interested persons to present their views directly to senior management and staff of the Agencies on any of 12 specific categories of the Agencies' regulations, as further described below. The Agencies held the first of these outreach meetings on December 2, 2014, in Los Angeles, California, and the second outreach meeting on February 4, 2015, in Dallas, Texas.^[2] Additional details about the first two outreach meetings, including the agendas, are available on the EGRPRA Web site at http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​outreach/​outreach-index.html.

The third outreach meeting will be held on May 4, 2015, in Boston, Massachusetts and will be streamed live at http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​. Senior agency staff from the Board, OCC, and FDIC are scheduled to attend. The meeting will consist of panels of bankers and consumer and community groups who will present particular issues. There will be limited time after each panel for comments from meeting attendees. In addition, there will be a session at the end of the meeting during which audience members may present views on any of the regulations under review. The Agencies reserve the right to limit the time of individual commenters, if needed, in order to accommodate the number of persons desiring to speak.

Comments made by panelists and audience members at this meeting will be reflected in the public comment file. Audience members who do not wish to comment orally may submit written comments at the meeting. As noted above, any interested person may submit comments through the EGRPRA Web site during open comment periods at: http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​submit-comment/​submit-comment-index.html or directly to the Agencies through any of the other manners specified above.

All participants should register for the Boston outreach meeting at http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​outreach/​outreach-index.html. Because of space constraints, on-site attendance will be limited. Online registrations will be accepted through April 27, 2015, or until all seats are filled, whichever is earlier. If seats are available, individuals may register in person at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on the day of the meeting. Individuals do not need to register to view the live-stream broadcast.

We note that the meeting will be video-recorded and publicly webcast in order to increase education and outreach. By participating in person at the meeting, you consent to appear in such recordings.

Additional Background on EGRPRA

Section 2222 of EGRPRA directs the Agencies, along with the Council, to conduct a review of their regulations not less frequently than once every ten years to identify outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements imposed on insured depository institutions. In conducting this review, the Agencies are required to categorize their regulations by type and, at regular intervals, provide notice and solicit public comment on categories of regulations, requesting commenters to identify areas of regulations that are outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome. The statute requires the Agencies to publish in the Federal Register a summary of the comments received, identifying significant issues raised and commenting on these issues. The statute also directs the Agencies to eliminate unnecessary regulations to the extent that such action is appropriate. Finally, section 2222 requires the Council, of which the Agencies are members, to submit a report to Congress that summarizes any significant issues raised in the public comments and the relative merits of such issues. The report also must include an analysis of whether the Agencies are able to address the regulatory burdens associated with such issues by regulation or whether these burdens must be addressed by legislative action.

For purposes of this review, the Agencies have grouped our regulations into 12 categories: Applications and Reporting; Banking Operations; Capital; Community Reinvestment Act; Consumer Protection; Directors, Officers and Employees; International Operations; Money Laundering; Powers and Activities; Rules of Procedure; Safety and Soundness; and Securities. On June 4, 2014, we published a Federal Register notice announcing the start of the EGRPRA review process and also asking for public comment on three of these categories—Applications and Reporting; Powers and Activities; and International Operations regulations.^[3] In that notice we published a chart, listing the Agencies' regulations in the 12 categories included in the EGRPRA review. On February 13, 2015, we published a Federal Register notice asking for public comment on three additional categories—Banking Operations; Capital; and the Community Reinvestment Act.^[4] The comment period for the current Federal Register notice closes on May 14, 2015.

Recently, the Agencies have decided to expand the scope of the EGRPRA review in order to be as inclusive as possible. Accordingly, the Agencies will take comment on all of our regulations issued in final form up to the date that we publish our last EGRPRA notice for public comment and report back to the Congress on all such regulations.

Dated: April 8, 2015.

Thomas J. Curry,

Comptroller of the Currency.

By order of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, April 7, 2015.

Robert deV. Frierson,

Secretary of the Board.

Dated: April 6, 2015.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation by

Robert E. Feldman,

Executive Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  Public Law 104-208 (1996), 110 Stat. 3009-414, codified at 12 U.S.C. 3311.

2.  Recorded videos of these outreach meetings are available on the EGRPRA Web site at http://egrpra.ffiec.gov/​outreach/​outreach-index.html.

3.  79 FR 32172.

4.  80 FR 7980.