[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 21, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16485-16486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6806]


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FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION

12 CFR Parts 611, 612, 619, 620 and 630

RIN 3052-AC41


Compensation, Retirement Programs, and Related Benefits

AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Farm Credit Administration (FCA, us, we, or our) published 
a proposed rule to amend our regulations related to Farm Credit System 
(System) bank and association disclosures to shareholders and 
investors. The proposed rule would require enhanced reporting of senior 
officer compensation and retirement programs and reporting to 
shareholders of significant events that occur between annual reporting 
periods. The proposed rule would also identify the minimum 
responsibilities a compensation committee must perform and require that 
System banks and associations provide for a nonbinding, advisory vote 
on senior officer compensation. To allow interested parties additional 
time to submit comments, we are extending the comment period on the 
proposed rule from March 23, 2012 to April 16, 2012.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted on or before 
April 16, 2012.

ADDRESSES: We offer a variety of methods for you to submit your 
comments. For accuracy and efficiency reasons, commenters are 
encouraged to submit comments by email or through the FCA's Web site. 
As facsimiles (fax) are difficult for us to process and achieve 
compliance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, we no longer 
accept comments submitted by fax. Regardless of the method you use, 
please do not submit your comments multiple times via different 
methods. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: Send an email to [email protected].
     FCA Web site: http://www.fca.gov. Select ``Public 
Commenters,'' then ``Public Comments,'' and follow the directions for 
``Submitting a Comment.''
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Gary K. Van Meter, Director, Office of Regulatory 
Policy, Farm Credit Administration, 1501 Farm Credit Drive, McLean, VA 
22102-5090.
    You may review copies of all comments we receive at our office in 
McLean, Virginia or on our Web site at http://www.fca.gov. Once you are 
in the Web site, select ``Public Commenters,'' then ``Public 
Comments,'' and follow the directions for ``Reading Submitted Public 
Comments.'' We will show your comments as submitted, including any 
supporting data provided, but for technical reasons we may omit items 
such as logos and special characters. Identifying information that you 
provide, such as phone numbers and addresses, will be publicly 
available. However, we will attempt to remove email addresses to help 
reduce Internet spam.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Deborah Wilson, Senior Accountant, Office of Regulatory Policy, Farm 
Credit Administration, McLean, VA 22102-5090, (703) 883-4414, TTY (703) 
883-4434, or
Laura McFarland, Senior Counsel, Office of General Counsel, Farm Credit 
Administration, McLean, VA 22102-5090, (703) 883-4020, TTY (703) 883-
4020.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 23, 2012, the FCA published a 
proposed rule in the Federal Register seeking public comment on 
proposed changes to senior officer compensation disclosures and related 
topics. See 77 FR 3172. The comment period is scheduled to close on 
March 23, 2012. The FCA received several letters in response to the 
proposed rule requesting we extend the comment period by 60 days. Many 
of the commenters explained that the proposed rule was published while 
System institutions were fully engaged in completion of their annual 
reports. The commenters emphasized that System institutions have 
significant interest in the proposed rule and were, therefore, 
requesting more time to evaluate and comment in a thoughtful and 
coordinated manner.
    The FCA supports public involvement and participation in its 
regulatory process and invites all interested parties to review and 
comment on our proposed rule. We balanced the request for more time 
against the fact that most of the issues in the proposed rule were 
previously subject to a 120-day comment period under an Advance Notice 
of Proposed Rulemaking (75 FR 70619, November 18, 2010). We also 
considered that a related proposed rule on the System Audit Committee 
(77 FR 8179, February 14, 2012) has a comment period closing April 16. 
As a result, we are extending the comment period 24 days instead of the 
requested 60 days to coincide with the related proposed rule.


[[Page 16486]]


    Dated: March 15, 2012.
Dale L. Aultman,
Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board.
[FR Doc. 2012-6806 Filed 3-20-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6705-01-P