[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 107 (Monday, June 5, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32347-32348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-8673]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board)

ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Board, the Federal Deposit 
Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the 
Currency (the ``agencies'') may not conduct or sponsor, and the 
respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection 
unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) control number. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination 
Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the 
agencies' publication for public comment of a proposal to revise the 
Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of 
Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002), which is a currently approved information 
collection. The Board is publishing this proposal on behalf of the 
agencies. At the end of the comment period, the comments and 
recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to 
which the FFIEC should modify the reports. The Board will then submit 
the reports to OMB for review and approval.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 4, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to 
the agency listed below. All comments, which should refer to the OMB 
control number, will be shared among the agencies. You may submit 
comments, identified by FFIEC 002 (7100-0032), by any of the following 
methods:
 Agency Web Site: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on the http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm.
 Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments.
 E-mail: [email protected]. Include docket 
number in the subject line of the message.
 FAX: 202-452-3819 or 202-452-3102.
 Mail: Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary, Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20551.
    All public comments are available from the Board's web site at 
www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm as submitted, 
except as necessary for technical reasons. Accordingly, your comments 
will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. 
Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper in Room 
MP-500 of the Board's Martin Building (20th and C Streets, NW.) between 
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.
    Additionally, commenters should send a copy of their comments to 
the Desk Officer for the agencies by mail to U.S. Office of Management 
and Budget, 725 17th Street NW., No. 10235, Washington, DC 20503 or by 
fax to 202-395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Additional information or a copy of 
the collection may be requested from

[[Page 32348]]

Michelle Long, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer, 202-452-3829, 
Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System, 20th and C Streets, NW., Washington, DC 20551. 
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may call 202-263-
4869, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C 
Streets, NW., Washington, DC 20551.

Proposal to revise the following currently approved collection of 
information:

    Report Title: Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and 
Agencies of Foreign Banks
    Form Number: FFIEC 002
    OMB Number: 7100-0032
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly
    Affected Public: U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 275
    Estimated Time per Response: 22.75 hours
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 25,025 hours
    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 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 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 and other 
public policy purposes. The Federal Reserve System collects and 
processes this report on behalf of all three agencies.
    Current Actions: The agencies propose to implement a number of 
revisions to modify the existing reporting requirements of the Report 
of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign 
Banks (FFIEC 002), consistent with revisions to Schedule RC-O (Other 
Data for Deposit Insurance and FICO Assessments) on the Reports of 
Condition and Income (Call Report) (FFIEC 031 and 041) filed by insured 
commercial banks and state-chartered savings banks. The proposed 
revisions to the FFIEC 002 summarized below, which would apply only to 
branches whose deposits are insured by the FDIC, have been approved for 
publication by the FFIEC. The agencies would implement these proposed 
changes as of the September 30, 2006, reporting date.

Changes to Schedule O, Memoranda item 1

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (Reform Act) (Pub. 
L. 109-171), enacted in February 2006, increased the deposit insurance 
limit for certain retirement plan deposit accounts from $100,000 to 
$250,000. The basic insurance limit for other depositors - individuals, 
joint accountholders, businesses, government entities, and trusts - 
remains at $100,000. The FDIC issued an interim rule to implement this 
increase in coverage and other provisions of the Reform Act pertaining 
to deposit insurance coverage effective April 1, 2006 (71 FR 14629).
    As a result of this legislation and rulemaking, Memoranda items 
1.a.(1) through 1.b.(2) of Schedule O would be redefined to exclude 
retirement accounts, which would be reported in four new items 1.c.(1) 
through 1.d.(2). For further details, see the Call Report Federal 
Register notice published on May 8, 2006 (71 FR 26809).
    Given the purpose of these memorandum items, the dollar amount 
cited in the caption would need to be changed if the deposit insurance 
limit were to change. To ensure that the dollar amount cited in the 
caption changes automatically as a function of the deposit insurance 
limit in effect on the report date, the caption for Memorandum item 1 
would be footnoted to state that the specific dollar amounts used as 
the basis for reporting the number and amount of deposit accounts in 
Memorandum items 1.a through 1.d reflect the deposit insurance limits 
in effect on the report date. The instructions for this Memorandum item 
would be similarly clarified. For further details, see the Call Report 
Federal Register notices published on November 8, 2002, and March 4, 
2003 (67 FR 68229 and 68 FR 10310, respectively).

Changes to Schedule O, Memoranda item 2

    Memorandum items 2.a and 2.b of Schedule O would be replaced and 
redefined as Memorandum item 2, ``Estimated amount of uninsured 
deposits in the branch (excluding IBF),'' and would be completed only 
by branches with $1 billion or more in total claims on nonrelated 
parties. For further details, see the Call Report Federal Register 
notices published on October 18, 2001, February 28, 2002, August 23, 
2005, and February 17, 2006 (66 FR 52973, 67 FR 9355, 70 FR 49363, and 
71 FR 8649, respectively).
    Currently there are 13 branches that would be required to report 
the proposed Memorandum item 1 and only 4 branches that would be 
required to report the proposed Memorandum item 2. Therefore the 
agencies estimate that these deposit-related reporting changes will 
have a nominal effect on the overall reporting burden of the FFIEC 002.
    The agencies will monitor the impact of the new deposit insurance 
limits on the practices of branches whose deposits are insured by the 
FDIC and may propose additional revisions to the FFIEC 002 in the 
future to address supervisory or other public policy concerns resulting 
from any changes in branch practices.

Request for Comment

Comments are invited on:
    a. Whether the information collection is necessary for the proper 
performance of the agencies' functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the agencies' estimate of the burden of the 
information collection, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    c. Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    d. Ways to minimize the burden of the information 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.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be shared among 
the agencies. All comments will become a matter of public record. 
Written comments should address the accuracy of the burden estimate and 
ways to minimize burden including the use of automated collection 
techniques or the use of other forms of information technology as well 
as other relevant aspects of the information collection request.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 31, 2006.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. E6-8673 Filed 6-2-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-S