[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 162 (Tuesday, August 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48927-48929]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-13833]


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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.

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[[Page 48928]]

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 (OCC) (collectively, 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.
    On June 5, 2006, the Board, under the auspices of the Federal 
Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) and on behalf of the 
agencies, published a notice in the Federal Register (71 FR 32347) 
requesting public comment for 60 days on the revision of 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 
comment period for this notice expired on August 4, 2006. After 
receiving one supportive comment letter, the FFIEC and the agencies 
have made no modifications to the proposal, but are providing 
transition guidance. The Board hereby gives notice that it plans to 
submit to OMB on behalf of the agencies a request for approval of the 
FFIEC 002.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 21, 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 the OMB 
control 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, 
N.W., Washington, DC 20551.
    All public comments are available from the Board's web site at 
www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm as submitted, 
unless modified 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, N.W.) between 9:00 
a.m. and 5:00 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 N.W., 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 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, N.W., 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, N.W., Washington, DC 20551.

Proposal to request approval from OMB of the revision of 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 Average 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: In response to the June 5, 2006, notice published 
in the Federal Register (71 FR 32347), the agencies received one 
comment letter from a federal agency describing its use of the data to 
prepare economic account information and estimates of international 
transactions. The revisions to the FFIEC 002 have been approved by the 
FFIEC as originally proposed, but with the addition of transition 
guidance, and are summarized below. The agencies will implement the 
changes as of the September 30, 2006, reporting date.

Schedule O - Other Data for Deposit Insurance Assessments

    1. Memorandum items 1.a.(1) through 1.b.(2) will be redefined to 
exclude retirement deposit accounts, which will be reported in four new 
items 1.c.(1) through 1.d.(2). The deposit insurance limit for 
retirement deposit accounts increased from $100,000 to $250,000 
effective April 1, 2006. For further details, see the Federal Register 
notice pertaining to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income 
(Call Report) published on May 8, 2006 (71 FR 26809).
    For purposes of reporting in the revised Schedule O Memorandum 
items, FDIC-insured branches should determine whether they have 
retirement deposit accounts eligible for the $250,000 insurance 
coverage. Such branches may provide reasonable estimates for the 
information to be reported in the revised Schedule O Memorandum items 
in their FFIEC 002 for September 30, 2006. If a branch's existing 
deposit records and systems for these retirement deposit accounts 
provide insufficient information to allow the branch to make a 
reasonable estimate, the branch may treat all of these deposit accounts 
as eligible for the $100,000 insurance coverage in the September 30 
FFIEC 002.
    For the FFIEC 002 for December 31, 2006, branches would be expected 
to have made appropriate systems changes to enable them to report 
reasonably accurate data on all types of retirement deposit accounts 
eligible for the $250,000 insurance coverage. Therefore, branches would 
no longer be permitted to elect to treat all retirement deposit 
accounts as eligible for the $100,000 insurance coverage in the revised 
Schedule O Memorandum items in their December 31 FFIEC 002. Thereafter, 
FDIC-insured branches' deposit records and systems should enable them 
to report information on all retirement deposit accounts in these 
Schedule O

[[Page 48929]]

Memorandum items in accordance with the applicable instructions.
    In addition, the agencies are providing guidance concerning the 
reporting of brokered certificates of deposit issued in $1,000 amounts 
under a master certificate of deposit in the revised Schedule O items 
and in Schedule E of the FFIEC 002. For these so-called ``retail 
brokered deposits,'' multiple purchases by individual depositors from 
an individual FDIC-insured branch normally do not exceed the applicable 
deposit insurance limit (either $100,000 or $250,000), but under 
current deposit insurance rules the deposit broker is not required to 
provide information routinely on these purchasers and their account 
ownership capacity to the insured branch issuing the deposits. For 
purposes of revised Schedule O, Memorandum item 1, multiple accounts of 
the same depositor should not be aggregated. Therefore, in the absence 
of information on account ownership capacity for retail brokered 
certificates of deposit in $1,000 amounts, which are rebuttably 
presumed to be fully insured deposits, branches issuing these brokered 
deposits should include them in Schedule O, Memorandum item 1, as 
``Deposit accounts of $100,000 or less.'' Furthermore, these brokered 
certificates of deposit in $1,000 amounts should not be included in 
Schedule E, Memorandum item 1.a, ``Time deposits of 100,000 or more,'' 
or Memorandum item 1.c, ``Time certificates of deposit of $100,000 or 
more with remaining maturity of more than 12 months.''
    2. The caption for Memorandum item 1 will 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. 
This footnote will 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 instructions for this Memorandum item 
will 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).
    3. Memorandum items 2.a and 2.b will be replaced and redefined as 
Memorandum item 2, ``Estimated amount of uninsured deposits in the 
branch (excluding IBF),'' and will be completed only by FDIC-insured 
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).

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' estimates 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 estimates 
and ways to minimize burden including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology as well as other 
relevant aspects of the information collection request.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, August 16, 
2006.
Robert deV. Frierson,
Deputy Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. E6-13833 Filed 8-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-S