[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 1, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 31441]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-15479]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board 
Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

SUMMARY:

Background

    Notice is hereby given of the final approval of a proposed 
information collection by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, as per 5 CFR 1320.16 (OMB 
Regulations on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). Board-
approved collections of information are incorporated into the official 
OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act Submission, supporting statements and 
approved collection of information instrument(s) are placed into OMB's 
public docket files. The Federal Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, 
and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information 
collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after 
October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Acting Federal Reserve Board Clearance 
Officer--Cynthia Ayouch--Division of Research and Statistics, Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202-452-
3829).
    OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503.
    Final approval under OMB delegated authority of the extension for 
three years, without revision, of the following report:
    Report title: Suspicious Activity Report by Depository Institutions 
(SAR).
    Agency form number: FR 2230.
    OMB Control number: 7100-0212.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Reporters: State member banks, bank holding companies and their 
nonbank subsidiaries, Edge and agreement corporations, and the U.S. 
branches and agencies, representative offices, and nonbank subsidiaries 
of foreign banks supervised by the Federal Reserve.
    Annual reporting hours: 86,404 hours.
    Estimated average hours per response: 1 hour.
    Number of respondents: 7,000.
    General description of report: This information collection is 
mandatory, pursuant to authority contained in the following statutes: 
12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1), 625, 1818, 1844(c), 3105(c)(2), and 3106(a). The 
obligation to file a SAR is set forth in the Board's rules, and is 
mandatory: 12 CFR 208.62(c) (state member banks); 12 CFR 225.4(f) 
(entities subject to the Bank Holding Company Act and their nonbank 
subsidiaries); 12 CFR 211.5(k) (Edge and agreement corporations); and 
12 CFR 211.24(f) (U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices 
of foreign banks).
    Section 5318(g)(2)(A)(ii) of Title 31 generally prohibits an 
officer or employee of the Federal Government from disclosing the 
existence of a SAR to anyone involved in the transaction, and section 
5319 of Title 31 provides that SARs are exempt from disclosure under 
FOIA. The information collected on a SAR is covered by, among other 
things, exemptions 3 and 7 of the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)(3)&(7)) and exemption 2 of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2))
    Abstract: Since 1996, the federal banking agencies (the Federal 
Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the 
Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration) and the 
Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 
(FinCEN) (collectively, the agencies) have required certain types of 
financial institutions to report known or suspected violations of law 
and suspicious transactions. To fulfill these requirements, supervised 
banking organizations file SARs. Law enforcement agencies use the 
information submitted on the reporting form to initiate investigations 
and the Federal Reserve uses the information in the examination and 
oversight of supervised institutions.
    Current Actions: On April 1, 2009, the agencies published a notice 
in the Federal Register (74 FR 14863) requesting public comment for 60 
days on the extension, without revision, of the interagency Suspicious 
Activities Report by Depository Institutions. The comment period for 
this notice expired on June 1, 2009. The Federal Reserve did not 
receive any comments on this proposal. However, three comment letters 
were received by FinCEN. Two of the comment letters were from banking 
institutions and one was from a credit union association. The other 
agencies will publish a separate Federal Register notice addressing the 
comments and each agency will separately submit their SAR information 
collection to OMB.


    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, June 25, 2009.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. E9-15479 Filed 6-30-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P