[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 103 (Friday, May 28, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29083-29086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-13567]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Office of Thrift 
Supervision; Federal Reserve System; Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCIES: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Office of 
Thrift Supervision (OTS), Treasury; Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System (FRB); and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
OCC, OTS, FDIC, and FRB (Agencies) are soliciting comments concerning 
their extension of the currently approved information collections 
contained in their respective Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) 
regulations.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by July 27, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed as follows:
    OCC: Communications Division, Attention: Paperwork Docket No. 1557-
0160, Third Floor, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 250 E 
Street, SW, Washington, DC 20219. In addition, comments may be sent by 
facsimile transmission to (202) 874-5274, or by electronic mail to 
[email protected]. Comments are available for inspection and 
photocopying at 250 E Street, SW, Washington, DC.
    OTS: Manager, Dissemination Branch, Information Management and 
Services Division, Office of Thrift Supervision, Attention 1550-0012, 
1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC. Hand deliver comments to the Public 
Reference Room, 1700 G Street NW, lower level, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 
p.m. on business days. Send facsimile transmissions to FAX number (202) 
906-7755, or to (202) 906-6956 (if comment exceeds 25 pages). Send e-
mails to [email protected] and include your name and telephone 
number. Interested persons may inspect comments at 1700 G Street NW 
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on business days.
    FRB: Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System, 20th and C Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20551. 
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may contact Diane 
Jenkins, (202) 452-3544, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20551. 
Additionally, comments may be 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, NW. Comments received may be 
inspected in room M-P-500 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., except as 
provided in the Board's Rules Regarding Availability of Information, 12 
CFR 261.14(a).
    FDIC: Steven F. Hanft, Assistant Executive Secretary for Regulatory 
Analysis, Attention: Comments/CRA, Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation, Room 4001B, 550 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20429. 
Comments may be hand-delivered to room F-4001B, 1776 F Street, NW, 
Washington, DC, on business days between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. 
Comments may be sent through facsimile to (202) 898-3838 or by the 
Internet to: [email protected].
    OMB: In addition, copies of comments should be sent to the OMB desk 
officer for the Agencies: Alexander Hunt, Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 3208, Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Additional information or a copy of 
the collection may be requested from:
    OCC: Jessie Gates or Camille Dickerson, (202)874-5090, Legislative 
and Regulatory Activities Division (1557-0160), Office of the 
Comptroller of the Currency, 250 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20219.
    OTS: Mary Rawlings-Milton, (202) 906-6028, Manager, Records 
Management Branch, Information Management and Services, (1550-0012), 
Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20552.
    FRB: Mary M. West, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer, (202) 
452-3829, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551. Telecommunications 
Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may contact Dorothea Thompson, (202) 
452-3544, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, 
DC 20551.
    FDIC: Steven F. Hanft, FDIC Clearance Officer, (202) 898-3907, 
Office of the Executive Secretary, Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation, 550 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Introduction

    The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) requires that an agency receive 
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of an 
information collection that is subject to the PRA before the agency may 
collect the information. To obtain OMB approval for collections of 
information contained in rules, an agency must publish initial 
estimates in the Federal Register of the burden that likely will be 
imposed by a given information collection and invite comments on their 
accuracy. The agency is then required to prepare revised estimates, if 
necessary, taking the comments into consideration and publish a second 
Federal Register notice. At the time of the second publication, the 
agency also submits to OMB a request for approval of the information 
collection. If OMB determines that the information

[[Page 29084]]

collection satisfies the relevant criteria,1 it will approve 
the collection. Approval typically lasts for three years, after which 
an agency must obtain a renewal of the OMB approval by going through 
the same steps outlined above if it wishes to continue collecting the 
information.
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    \1\ To be approved, an information collection must: be the least 
burdensome necessary for the proper performance of the agency's 
functions to comply with legal requirements and achieve program 
objectives; not unnecessarily duplicate information otherwise 
available to the agency; have practical utility; and seek to 
minimize the cost of the collection to the agency without shifting 
disproportionate costs or burdens to the public. See 5 CFR Part 
1320.
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    The Agencies have submitted a joint request to OMB, pursuant to the 
PRA, to renew approval of the information collections in their 
regulations implementing the CRA (12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.). The CRA 
regulations were developed jointly by the Agencies in a rulemaking 
process that concluded with the issuance of final regulations in 1995. 
See Community Reinvestment Act Regulations, 60 FR 22156 (May 4, 1995). 
The Agencies jointly developed the paperwork burden estimates for the 
final rules, and, similarly, have jointly developed the burden 
estimates in this notice.
    The Agencies have made no substantive revisions to the CRA 
regulations since the regulations were adopted in 1995. Thus, there is 
no change to the information collection provisions of the CRA 
regulations, and the Agencies' request for OMB review involves a 
reestimate of burden but no change in the underlying information 
collections.
    The final CRA regulations issued in 1995 were not merely revisions 
of the prior rules, but a new and comprehensive reworking of the 
Agencies' approach to CRA implementation. Therefore, the 1995 burden 
estimates were based on assumptions and projections, rather than on 
experience with the information collection provisions of the revised 
CRA regulations. The Agencies have reevaluated the burden associated 
with the CRA regulations based on their experience in administering the 
regulations, changes in the number and business strategies of reporting 
institutions, and the comments received as part of the process for 
obtaining an extension of OMB's approval of the information 
collections.
     As a result of this analysis, the Agencies have concluded 
that large banks and thrifts 2--generally, institutions with 
$250 million or more in assets and institutions regardless of asset 
size, that are affiliates of holding companies with bank and thrift 
assets of $1 billion or more--spend significantly more time geocoding 
loans and collecting and reporting optional loan data than estimated in 
1995. The term ``geocoding'' means the identification of the census 
tracts or block numbering areas and the metropolitan statistical areas 
(MSAs) where applicable, for small business and small farm loans, 
outside-MSA home mortgage loans, appropriate affiliate loans, and, in 
some instances, consumer loans. This geocoding burden accounts for most 
of the increase over the Agencies' 1995 burden estimates.
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    \2\ The CRA regulations do not contain a definition of a large 
bank or thrift. They define a small institution as one that ``as of 
December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, had total 
assets of less than $250 million and was independent or an affiliate 
of a holding company that, as of December 31 of either of the prior 
two calendar years, had total banking and thrift assets of less than 
$1 billion.'' Sec. ____.12(t) or Sec. 563e.12(s).
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     The Agencies' reestimate of geocoding burden has no effect 
on institutions that have assets of less than $250 million and that are 
not affiliates of a holding company with banking and thrift assets of 
$1 billion or more. These institutions, referred to in this Notice as 
``small institutions,'' are not required to geocode. The Agencies 
continue to estimate that the CRA regulations impose a modest 
information collection burden on small institutions--an average of 10 
burden hours per institution per year.
     For large institutions, the Agencies estimate average 
burden hours, i.e., the total number of burden hours divided by the 
number of institutions affected, as follows: OCC--612.7 burden hours 
per large institution per year; FRB--634.6 burden hours per large 
institution per year; FDIC--624.3 burden hours per large institution 
per year; and OTS--554.2 burden hours per large institution per year. 
Differences in burden among Agencies result from differences in the 
number of loans reported by institutions. Total burden hours for the 
collection are presented, by agency, in the Burden Estimates section of 
this notice.
     As OMB requires, the Agencies' burden estimates include 
not only burden hours associated with mandatory data collections, but 
also burden hours attributable to certain data collection, maintenance, 
and reporting activities that are optional under the CRA regulations. 
Recordkeeping for consumer loans pursuant to Sec. ____.42(c)(1) is an 
example of an optional data collection and maintenance activity. If an 
institution elects to collect and maintain these data, however, certain 
requirements do apply.

Discussion of Comments Received

    Three of the Agencies--the OCC, the OTS, and the FDIC--published 
requests for comment on the information collections contained in the 
CRA regulations.3 In light of the comments received by the 
three Agencies, and since the FRB has delegated authority 4 
from OMB to review and approve collections of information subject to 
the PRA, the FRB opted to delay publication of its initial Federal 
Register notice. The FRB has had full benefit of the initial public 
comments received by the other Agencies, has reviewed these comments, 
and has participated fully in the development of the burden estimates 
described in this notice.
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    \3\ The publication dates and Federal Register citations for 
these notices are as follows: OCC: 63 FR 4692 (Jan. 30, 1998); OTS: 
62 FR 64,908 (Dec. 9, 1997); and FDIC: 63 FR 3324 ( Jan. 22, 1998).
    \4\ See 5 CFR Part 1320 App. A.
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    Two commenters responded to the OCC's and the FDIC's Federal 
Register notices of intent to request that OMB renew its approval of 
the CRA information collections. One commenter, a bank trade 
association, raised various questions regarding the CRA regulations, 
including the information collection requirements. The second 
commenter, a bank holding company, raised issues involving the factors 
used by the Agencies in determining compliance.

Authority To Collect Information

    The bank trade association commenter asserted that the CRA does not 
authorize any data collection and that the information collection 
requirements contained in the Agencies' CRA rules are unauthorized. The 
Agencies carefully considered these same assertions in connection with 
their analysis of the public comments received during the CRA 
rulemaking process and continue to disagree with the commenter. First, 
the CRA specifically requires the Agencies to issue regulations to 
carry out its purposes. See 12 U.S.C. 2905. The information collection 
and reporting requirements contained in the CRA regulations are 
necessary to permit the Agencies to carry out the statutory directives 
regarding assessment, evaluation, assigning ratings, reporting, and 
consideration of performance in connection with corporate applications. 
See 12 U.S.C. 2903, 2906. Second, the CRA regulations are also 
authorized by each Agency's general authority to examine, supervise, 
and issue regulations governing banks and thrifts.

[[Page 29085]]

See 12 U.S.C. 93a (OCC); 1462a, 1463, and 1464 (OTS); 1819 (FDIC); 248 
(FRB). See also 60 FR at 22173-74 (preamble to 1995 final regulations 
discussing need and basis for information collection).

Location of Small Business Loans

    The bank holding company commenter questioned the need for 
information about the location of small business loans. The commenter 
asserted that, under the CRA regulations, small business lending is 
evaluated primarily by the size of the loan and the size of the 
business. The Agencies evaluate small business lending using these 
factors, but they also consider where the borrower is located. This 
requirement helps the Agencies evaluate how an institution helps to 
meet the needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-
income neighborhoods. As part of this evaluation, examiners consider 
the proportion of loans made in the institution's assessment area, the 
dispersion of loans throughout the institution's assessment area, and 
the number and amount of loans made in areas of different income 
categories. The Agencies have reduced the burden associated with this 
requirement, however, by permitting an institution to report the 
location of a small business loan by either the location of the 
business headquarters or the location where the greatest proportion of 
the proceeds are to be applied. See ``Interagency Questions and Answers 
Regarding Community Reinvestment,'' 62 FR 23645 (May 3, 1997) (Q&A 1 
addressing Sec. __.42(a)(3)).

Other Issues

    The bank holding company commenter also raised two general concerns 
with the CRA regulations. First, noting that institutions must classify 
income levels of various geographies according to the 1990 census, the 
commenter urged the Agencies to take into account subsequent events 
that have a material adverse impact on a geography's income level for 
purposes of this classification. Although the Agencies rely on official 
census information, they also consider subsequent events in an 
institution's performance evaluations in many ways--for example, in the 
context of an institution's performance and through annual updating of 
the income levels of the institution's individual borrowers, including 
the borrowers residing in such a geography.
    This commenter also remarked that when the Agencies evaluate CRA 
performance, loans categorized as made outside an institution's 
assessment area, which may include credit card loans, are not evaluated 
favorably. The Agencies note that many out-of-area loans, including 
credit card loans, to low- and moderate-income individuals can be 
considered favorably in a performance evaluation so long as the 
institution has addressed adequately the needs of borrowers within its 
assessment area. See id. at 23632 (Q&A 4 addressing Sec. ____.22(b)(2) 
and (3)).

Burden Estimates

    The bank trade association commenter asserted that the Agencies' 
burden estimates were too low, and provided anecdotal information 
intended to demonstrate this point. The Agencies note that the final 
CRA regulations issued in 1995 were not merely revisions of the prior 
rules, but were a new and comprehensive reworking of the Agencies' 
approach to the CRA. These regulations measure institutions' CRA 
performance using criteria that vary with the size, business strategy, 
and other characteristics of the institution. As a result, the 1995 
burden estimates were necessarily based on assumptions and projections, 
rather than on actual experience with the information collections 
required by the CRA regulations. In addition, since that time, the 
number and business strategies of covered institutions has changed.
    To test the continuing validity of those assumptions, the Agencies 
each consulted informally with a number of institutions of varying 
sizes about the information collection burden they experience as a 
result of the CRA regulations. These institutions provided information 
useful to the Agencies in understanding the burden of specific aspects 
of the CRA information collections. However, the number of institutions 
consulted was too small to enable the Agencies to make useful 
projections regarding CRA burden industry wide. Further, because of 
differences in the institutions' size and geographic locations, the 
range of estimated burden reported by the institutions was extremely 
broad. Thus, the burden estimates described in this notice are not 
extrapolated from the information provided by those institutions.
    The burden estimates contained in this notice were developed by 
staff from the Agencies. They reviewed the provisions in the 
regulations that impose paperwork burden and arrived at estimates based 
on the Agencies' experience in administering the CRA regulations over 
the past three years. In reaching the updated estimates, the Agencies' 
staff considered both the information provided by the trade association 
commenter and the information provided by the institutions that were 
informally consulted.
    In particular, the Agencies have concluded that large institutions 
are spending substantially more time geocoding loans and collecting and 
reporting optional loan data than was originally estimated. The 
Agencies' initial estimates of burden for the CRA regulations included 
two assumptions: First, that geocoding software would significantly 
reduce the burden of the geocoding requirements for large institutions; 
and second, that large institutions would fully employ then-existing 
geocoding software and upgrade their systems as improvements to that 
software were developed. Neither of these assumptions has proven to be 
accurate. As a result, the Agencies significantly increased their 
burden estimates from those done in 1995.
    Although institutions do typically use a software program to 
geocode, portions of the geocoding task must still be done manually for 
some loans. For example, an employee may need to consult census tract 
maps or street index books or place a call to the Census Bureau if the 
information needed to geocode is not included in their software 
program. Moreover, it has taken longer than anticipated for burden-
reducing improvements in the software to become available. For example, 
the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's (FFIEC) 
improved data-entry software and its geocoding website did not become 
fully available to the industry until after the March 1, 1997, due date 
for reporting calendar year 1996 data. Finally, it appears that 
institutions sometimes rely on manual processing to geocode even though 
there is software available that can perform much of the work.
    The Agencies and financial institutions now have three years of 
experience with the geocoding requirements and the level of use of 
available tools for complying with these requirements. As a result, the 
Agencies are better able to review and estimate the geocoding burden. 
The Agencies have increased the information collection burden estimate 
for large institutions significantly. The reestimation of geocoding 
burden does not affect small institutions because they are not subject 
to the geocoding requirements unless they choose to be evaluated under 
the lending, investment, and service tests.
    In order to have a better understanding of the overall burden 
imposed by the CRA regulations, the Agencies averaged recordkeeping and 
reporting burden over the total number

[[Page 29086]]

of reporting institutions. The Agencies did not distinguish between the 
lending characteristics of different charters when averaging the 
burden. As a result, although the Agencies were careful in their 
attempt to estimate the burden imposed by CRA on the industry overall, 
the averages presented do not necessarily reflect the burden 
experienced by the institutions of any specific agency. For instance, 
thrift institutions generally report many fewer small business and 
small farm loans than banks. On the other hand, the number of home 
mortgage loans reported by the average thrift is higher than that of a 
bank. These differences in the credit offered by various charters may 
result in differences between the estimated burden associated with the 
charters and actual burden experienced. As a whole, however, the 
Agencies believe that this methodology best expresses the overall 
aggregate burden imposed on institutions.

Burden Estimates

Title

OCC: Community Reinvestment Act Regulation (12 CFR 25).
OTS: Community Reinvestment Group I.
FRB: Recordkeeping, Reporting, and Disclosure Requirements in 
Connection with Regulation BB (Community Reinvestment Act).
FDIC: Community Reinvestment Act.

OMB Control Number

OCC: 1557-0160.
OTS: 1550-0012.
FRB: 7100-0197.
FDIC: 3064-0092.

    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection 
without revision.
    Form Number: None.
    Abstract: This submission covers an extension of the Agencies' 
currently approved information collections in their CRA regulations. 
The Agencies need the information collected to fulfill their 
obligations under the CRA (12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) to evaluate and 
assign ratings to the performance of institutions in connection with 
helping to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including 
low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound 
banking practices. The Agencies use the information in the examination 
process and in evaluating applications for mergers, branches, and 
certain other corporate activities. Financial institutions maintain and 
provide the information to the Agencies.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit; This information 
collection will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities.

Number of Respondents

OCC:
    Small national banks: 1,907.
    Large national banks: 612.
    Total: 2,519.
OTS:
    Small thrifts: 849.
    Large thrifts: 305.
    Total: 1,154.
FRB:
    Small institutions: 762.
    Large institutions: 227.
    Total: 989.
FDIC:
    Small institutions: 5,415.
    Large institutions: 754.
    Total: 6,169.

Total Annual Responses

OCC:
    Small national banks: 1,907.
    Large national banks: 612.
    Total: 2,519.
OTS:
    Small thrifts: 849.
    Large thrifts: 305.
    Total: 1,154.
    FRB: Small institutions: 762.
    Large institutions: 227.
    Total: 989.
FDIC:
    Small institutions: 5,415.
    Large institutions: 754.
    Total: 6,169.

    Frequency of Response: Annually.

Total Annual Burden Hours

OCC:
    Small national banks: 19,070 hours.
    Large national banks: 374,955 hours.
    Total burden: 394,025 hours.
OTS:
    Small thrifts: 8,490 hours.
    Large thrifts: 169,035 hours.
    Total: 177,525 hours.
FRB:
    Small institutions: 7,620 hours.
    Large institutions: 144,060 hours.
    Total: 151,680 hours.
FDIC:
    Small institutions: 54,150 hours.
    Large institutions: 470,711 hours.
    Total: 524,861 hours.

Comments

    All comments will become a matter of public record. Comments are 
invited on:
    (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
collection of information;
    (c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    (d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology; and
    (e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

    Dated: May 21, 1999.
Karen Solomon,
Director, Legislative & Regulatory Activities Division, Office of the 
Comptroller of the Currency.

    Dated: May 21, 1999.

    By the Office of Thrift Supervision.
Frank R. DiGialleonardo,
Chief Information Officer and Director, Office of Information Systems.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 20, 1999.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.

    Dated: May 21, 1999.

    Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Robert E. Feldman,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-13567 Filed 5-27-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE OCC: 4810-33-P, OTS: 6720-01-P, FRB: 6210-01-P, FDIC: 
6714-01-P