[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8440-8441]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-3878]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD

[No. 2004-N-04]


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Board.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Board (Finance Board) has 
submitted the information collection entitled ``Federal Home Loan Bank 
Acquired Member Assets, Core Mission Activities, Investments and 
Advances'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and 
approval of a three-year extension of the OMB control number, which is 
due to expire on February 29, 2004.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before March 25, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer 
for the Federal Housing Finance Board, Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR COPIES OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTION 
CONTACT: David Roderer, Financial Analyst, Risk Monitoring Division, 
Office of Supervision, by e-mail at [email protected], by telephone at 
202/408-2540, or by regular mail at the Federal Housing Finance Board, 
1777 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20006.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection

    The Finance Board has authorized the Federal Home Loan Banks 
(FHLBanks) to acquire mortgage loans and other assets from their 
members or housing

[[Page 8441]]

associates under certain circumstances. 12 CFR part 955. The regulation 
refers to these assets as acquired member assets or AMA. As part of 
this regulatory authorization, each FHLBank that acquires residential 
mortgage loans must provide to the Finance Board certain loan-level 
data elements on a quarterly basis. While the FHLBanks provide this 
data directly to the Finance Board, each FHLBank initially must collect 
the information from the private-sector member or housing associate 
from which the FHLBank acquires the mortgage loan.
    Many FHLBank members and housing associates already collect the 
majority of the data elements the Finance Board rule requires as part 
of their customary and usual business practices. They must collect this 
data in order to do business with the Federal National Mortgage 
Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation 
(Freddie Mac) under regulatory requirements issued by the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and pursuant to the information 
collection requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). 
While the information collection imposes only a minor incremental 
additional burden on most FHLBank members and housing associates, the 
burden estimate in Section B reflects the total annual burden of the 
entire information collection, not just the additional Finance Board 
specific data elements.
    The primary duty of the Finance Board is to ensure that the 
FHLBanks operate in a safe and sound manner. 12 U.S.C. 1422a(a)(3)(A). 
To the extent consistent with the safety and soundness charge, the 
Finance Board also ensures that the FHLBanks carry out their housing 
finance mission. 12 U.S.C. 1422a(a)(3)(B). The Finance Board believes 
that the information collection is essential in order to monitor the 
safety and soundness of the FHLBanks. The Finance Board also believes 
that the information collection is necessary to monitor the extent to 
which the FHLBanks are fulfilling their statutory housing finance 
mission through their acquired member asset programs.
    The OMB number for the information collection is 3069-0058. The OMB 
clearance for the information collection expires on February 29, 2004.
    The likely respondents are institutions that sell AMA assets to 
FHLBanks.

B. Burden Estimate

    The Finance Board estimates the total annual average number of 
respondents at 600, with 4 responses per respondent. The estimate for 
the average hours per response is 24 hours. The estimate for the total 
annual hour burden is 57,600 hours (600 respondents x 4 responses per 
respondent x 24 hours). While the first notice correctly reflected the 
total annual burden at 57,600 hours, it inadvertently misstated the 
number of responses per respondent at 12 not 4, and the average hours 
per response at 8 not 24.

C. Comment Request

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), the Finance 
Board published a request for public comments regarding this 
information collection in the Federal Register on December 12, 2003. 
See 68 FR 69405 (Dec. 12, 2003). The 60-day comment period closed on 
February 10, 2004. The Finance Board received two public comments, one 
each from an FHLBank and a member. The comments are available on the 
Finance Board Web site at http://www.fhfb.gov/pressroom/pressroom_regs.htm.
    Both commenters state that certain data elements are difficult to 
collect and one commenter questions whether all data elements are 
necessary for the Finance Board to perform its functions. The Finance 
Board continues to believe that each data element is necessary to 
perform its safety and soundness and housing mission functions. 
However, the Finance Board presently is reviewing the data elements it 
collects as part of a review of the AMA regulation and will take the 
commenters views into consideration as part of that review.
    The member commenter states that the Finance Board underestimates 
the level of effort for members to produce the information requested 
and does not include the cost of the operational processes and systems 
programming necessary to collect the data and create the data files. 
The Finance Board prepared its estimate with input from an FHLBank 
based on the FHLBanks' experience with hundreds of members. While the 
commenter's burden may vary from the average reported by the FHLBank, 
the Finance Board believes that the burden estimate remains, on 
average, valid for the 600 members that sell loans to FHLBanks.
    Written comments are requested on: (1) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of Finance Board 
functions, including whether the information has practical utility; (2) 
the accuracy of the Finance Board's estimates of the burdens of the 
collection of information; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 
burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology. Comments may be submitted to OMB in writing at 
the address listed above.

    Dated: February 18, 2004.

    By the Federal Housing Finance Board.
Donald Demitros,
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-3878 Filed 2-23-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6725-01-P