[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