E8-18540. Departmental Offices; Proposed Collections; Comment Requests

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on revisions of an information collection that are proposed for approval by the Office of Management and Budget. The Office of International Affairs within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning Treasury International Capital Form BQ-2, Part 1: Report of Foreign Currency Liabilities to, and Claims on, Foreigners of Depository Institutions, Brokers, Dealers, and Their Domestic Customers; Part 2: Report of Customers' Foreign Currency Liabilities to Foreigners.

DATES:

Written comments should be received on or before October 14, 2008 to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES:

Direct all written comments to Dwight Wolkow, International Portfolio Investment Data Systems, Department of the Treasury, Room 5422, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20220. In view of possible delays in mail delivery, please also notify Mr. Wolkow by e-mail ([e-mail]), FAX [phone]) or telephone [phone]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Copies of the proposed forms and instructions are available on the Treasury's TIC Forms Web page, http://www.treas.gov/​tic/​forms.html. Requests for additional information should be directed to Mr. Wolkow.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Titles: Treasury International Capital Form BQ-2, Part 1: Report of Foreign Currency Liabilities to, and Claims on, Foreigners of Depository Institutions, Brokers, Dealers, and Their Domestic Customers; Part 2: Report of Customers' Foreign Currency Liabilities to Foreigners.

OMB Control Number: 1505-0020.

Abstract: Form BQ-2 is part of the Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting system, which is required by law (22 U.S.C. 286f; 22 U.S.C. 3103; E.O. 10033; 31 CFR 128) and is designed to collect timely information on international portfolio capital movements. Form BQ-2 is a quarterly report that covers the liabilities to and claims on foreigners of banks, other depository institutions, brokers and dealers, and their customers' claims and liabilities with foreigners, where all claims and liabilities are denominated in foreign currencies. This information is necessary for compiling the U.S. balance of payments accounts and the U.S. international investment position, and for formulating U.S. international financial and monetary policies.

Current Actions: None. We expect to make some clarifications in the instructions.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations. Form BQ-2 (1505-0020).

Estimated Number of Respondents: 135.

Estimated Average Time per Respondent: Six and seven/tenths (6.7) hours per respondent per filing. This average time varies from 11 hours for the approximately 30 major reporters to 5.5 hours for the other reporters.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,630 hours, based on four reporting periods per year.

Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will become a matter of public record. The public is invited to submit written comments concerning: (a) Whether Form BQ-2 is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Office, including whether the information will have practical uses; (b) the accuracy of the above estimate of the burdens; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the reporting and/or record keeping burdens on respondents, including the use of information technologies to automate the collection of the data; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs of operation, maintenance and purchase of services to provide information.

Dwight Wolkow,

Administrator, International Portfolio Investment Data Systems.