[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 207 (Thursday, October 24, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55151-55152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-27252]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB Under 
Delegated Authority

Background

    Notice is hereby given of the final approval of a proposed 
information collection by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, as per 5 CFR 1320.16 (OMB 
Regulations on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). The 
Federal Reserve 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer--Mary M. McLaughlin--Division 
of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, Washington, DC 20551 (202-452-3829).
OMB Desk Officer--Alexander T. Hunt--Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 3208, Washington, DC 20503 (202-395-7860).
    Final approval under OMB delegated authority of the extension, with 
revision, of the following report:
    1. Report title: Survey of Terms of Bank Lending
Agency form number: FR 2028A, FR 2028B, and FR 2028S
OMB Control number: 7100-0061
Effective Date: May 5, 1997
Frequency: quarterly
Reporters: commercial banks (all three reports) and U.S. branches and 
agencies of foreign banks (FR 2028A and FR 2028S)
Annual reporting hours: 8,095
Estimated average hours per response: FR 2028A: 4.0. FR 2028B: 1.5. FR 
2028S: 0.1.
Number of respondents: FR 2028A: 398. FR 2028B: 250. FR 2028S: 567.
Small businesses are affected.
    General description of report: This information collection is 
voluntary (12 U.S.C. 248(a)(2)) and is given confidential treatment (5 
U.S.C. 552(b)(4)).
    Abstract: The Survey of Terms of Bank Lending provides unique

[[Page 55152]]

information concerning the price and certain nonprice terms of loans 
made to businesses and farmers by commercial banks. The reports are 
completed for the first full business week of the mid-month of each 
quarter (February, May, August, and November). The FR 2028A and B 
collect detailed data on individual loans made during the survey week. 
The FR 2028S collects the prime interest rate for each day of the 
survey week. From these sample data, estimates of the terms of business 
and farm loans extended during the reporting week at all insured U.S. 
commercial banks are constructed. The estimates for business loans are 
published in the quarterly E.2 release, ``Survey of Terms of Bank 
Lending,'' while estimates for farm loans are published in the 
quarterly E.15 release, ``Agricultural Finance Databook.''
    The Board received comment letters from seven banks and two bank 
holding companies. Comments included the following: Four commentators 
stated that data required to answer selected new items on the reports 
would be difficult or very costly to obtain. Staff at the Reserve Banks 
will work with individual respondents to resolve these difficulties. 
Two commentators expressed concern about the amount of time that would 
be required to reprogram to meet the implementation date. In response 
to these comments, the Federal Reserve is delaying the implementation 
date three months from the proposed February 1997 to May 1997.
    Revisions to the business loan survey include the elimination of 
two items that either have proven difficult for respondents to report 
or are insufficiently useful to justify the burden their reporting 
imposes, the addition of two new items covering loan risk and 
termination options, and redefinitions of several existing items. The 
coverage of the reporting panel for the business loan survey, currently 
limited to U.S. commercial banks, will be expanded to include a sample 
of U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, which now account for a 
significant fraction of business lending. The same item additions and 
redefinitions for the business loan survey also will be made to the 
farm loan survey. The prime rate supplement, now collected only from 
respondents to the business loan survey, will be collected from 
respondents to the farm loan survey as well. The revised instructions 
have been reworded substantially to reflect the changes, clarifications 
requested by Reserve Bank staff and the respondent banks since the last 
review of this survey, and revisions necessitated by changes in lending 
practices.
    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, October 18, 
1996.
William W. Wiles,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 96-27252 Filed 10-23-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-F