[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 8 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1515-1516]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-369]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD

[No. 2007-N-02]


Notice of Annual Adjustment of the Cap on Average Total Assets 
That Defines Community Financial Institutions; Notice of Annual 
Adjustment of the Limits on Annual Compensation for Federal Home Loan 
Bank Directors

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Board.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance Board (Finance Board) has adjusted 
the cap on average total assets that defines a ``Community Financial 
Institution'' and the limits on annual compensation for Federal Home 
Loan Bank (Bank) directors based on the annual percentage increase in 
the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) as published 
by the Department of Labor (DOL). These changes took effect on January 
1, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia L. Sweeney, Office of 
Supervision, by telephone at 202-408-2872, by electronic mail at 
[email protected], or by regular mail at the Federal Housing Finance 
Board, 1625 Eye Street, NW., Washington DC 20006-4001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Statutory and Regulatory Background

    Section 2(13) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) and 
Sec.  925.1 of the Finance Board regulations define a member that is a 
``Community Financial Institution'' (CFI) by the member's total asset 
size. See 12 U.S.C. 1422(13)(A) and 12 CFR 925.1. The Bank Act requires 
the Finance Board annually to adjust the CFI asset cap to reflect any 
percentage increase in the preceding year's CPI-U as published by the 
DOL. See 12 U.S.C. 1422(13)(B).
    Section 7(i)(2)(B) of the Bank Act and Sec.  918.3(a)(1) of the 
Finance Board regulations require the Finance Board to make similar 
annual adjustments to the annual compensation limits for members of the 
boards of directors of the Banks. See 12 U.S.C. 1427(i)(2) and 12 CFR 
918.3(a).
    Effective January 1, 2007, the CPI adjustment provisions in the 
Affordable Housing Program (AHP) regulation were removed. See 71 FR 
59262 (Oct. 6, 2006) (12 CFR 951.3(a)(1)(iii) and 951.3(a)(2) 
(removed)). The revised provisions of the AHP regulation are located at 
12 CFR 951.2(b)(2)(i) and (b)(3). As a result, this notice does not 
include any CPI adjustments under the AHP regulation.

B. Calculating the Annual Adjustments

    The annual adjustments to the CFI asset cap and Bank director 
compensation limits reflect the percentage by which the CPI-U published 
for November of the preceding calendar year exceeds the CPI-U published 
for November of the year before the preceding calendar year (if at 
all). Thus, the adjustments that took effect on January 1, 2007, were 
based on the percentage increase in the CPI-U from November 2005 to 
November 2006. The Finance Board uses November data to provide notice 
of the changes to the annual limits before the January 1st effective 
date. This practice is consistent with that of other federal agencies.
    The DOL encourages use of CPI-U data that has not been seasonally 
adjusted in ``escalation agreements'' because seasonal factors are 
updated annually and seasonally adjusted data are subject to revision 
for up to 5 years following the original release.

[[Page 1516]]

Unadjusted data are not routinely subject to revision, and previously 
published unadjusted data are only corrected when significant 
calculation errors are discovered. Accordingly, the Finance Board is 
using data that has not been seasonally adjusted.
    The unadjusted CPI-U increased 2 percent between November 2005 and 
November 2006. Based on this change, the Finance Board made the 
following adjustments, which took effect on January 1, 2007:
    CFI Asset Cap: The CFI Asset Cap, which was $587 million for 2006, 
is $599 million in 2007. The Finance Board arrived at the adjusted 
limit of $599 million by rounding to the nearest million.
    Annual Compensation Limits: The annual compensation limits for 
members of the Bank boards of directors is as follows in 2007: for a 
Chairperson--$29,944; for a Vice-Chairperson--$23,955; for any other 
member of a Bank's board of directors--$17,967. The Finance Board 
arrived at the adjusted annual compensation limits by rounding to the 
nearest dollar.

    Date: January 9, 2007.

    By the Federal Housing Finance Board.
Ronald A. Rosenfeld,
Chairman.
 [FR Doc. E7-369 Filed 1-11-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6725-01-P