[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 107 (Monday, June 4, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32970-32974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13397]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


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

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
SUMMARY: 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.
    On February 22, 2012, the Federal Reserve published a notice in the 
Federal Register (77 FR 10525) requesting public comment for 60 days to 
revise, without extension, the Capital Assessments and Stress Testing 
information collection. The comment period for this notice expired on 
April 23, 2012. The Federal Reserve received six comment letters. The 
substantive comments are summarized and addressed below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 5, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR Y-14A/Q/M, by any 
of the following methods:
     Agency Web Site: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include OMB 
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, 
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 form in Room MP-
500 of the Board's Martin Building (20th and C Streets NW.) between 
9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office 
Building, Room 10235 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503 or by 
fax to (202) 395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may 
contact (202) 263-4869, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, Washington, DC 20551.
    OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.
    Final approval under OMB delegated authority to revise, without 
extension, the following report:
    Report title: Capital Assessments and Stress Testing information 
collection.
    Agency form number: FR Y-14A/Q/M.
    OMB Control Number: 7100-0341.
    Effective Date: June 30, 2012.
    Frequency: Annually, quarterly, and monthly.
    Reporters: Large domestic bank holding companies that participated 
in the 2009 Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP) and the 
Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review 2011 (CCAR 2011) exercises 
(BHCs).
    Estimated annual reporting hours: FR Y-14A: Summary, 15,580 hours; 
Macro scenario, 589 hours; Counterparty credit risk (CCR), 2,292 hours; 
Basel III/Dodd-Frank, 380 hours; and Regulatory capital instruments, 
380 hours. FR Y-14 Q: Securities risk, 760 hours; Retail risk, 288,800 
hours; Pre-provision net revenue (PPNR), 47,500 hours; Wholesale 
corporate loans, 3,840 hours; Wholesale commercial real estate (CRE) 
loans, 4,560 hours; Trading, private equity, and other fair value 
assets (Trading risk), 41,280 hours; Basel III/Dodd-Frank, 1,140 hours; 
Regulatory capital instruments, 2,280 hours; and Operational risk, 
2,128 hours. FR Y-14M: Retail 1st lien mortgage, 72,240 hours; Retail 
home equity, 67,080 hours; and Retail credit card, 56,760 hours.
    Estimated average hours per response: FR Y-14A: Summary, 820 hours; 
Macro scenario, 31 hours; CCR, 382 hours; Basel III/Dodd-Frank, 20 
hours; and Regulatory capital instruments, 20 hours. FR Y-14Q: 
Securities risk, 10

[[Page 32971]]

hours; Retail risk, 3,800 hours; PPNR, 625 hours; Wholesale corporate 
loans, 60 hours; Wholesale CRE loans, 60 hours; Trading risk, 1,720 
hours; Basel III/Dodd-Frank, 20 hours; Regulatory capital instruments, 
40 hours; and Operational risk, 28 hours. FR Y-14M: Retail 1st lien 
mortgage, 430 hours; Retail home equity, 430 hours; and Retail credit 
card, 430 hours.
    Number of respondents: FR Y-14A: Summary, 19; Macro scenario, 19; 
CCR, 6; Basel III/Dodd-Frank, 19; and Regulatory capital instruments, 
19. FR Y-14Q: Securities risk, 19; Retail risk, 19; PPNR, 19; Wholesale 
corporate loans, 16; Wholesale CRE loans, 19; Trading risk, 6; Basel 
III/Dodd-Frank, 19; Regulatory capital instruments, 19; and Operational 
risk, 19. FR Y-14M: Retail 1st lien mortgage, 14; Retail home equity, 
13; and Retail credit card, 11.
    General description of report: The FR Y-14 series of reports are 
authorized by section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act), which requires the 
Federal Reserve to ensure that certain BHCs and nonbank financial 
companies supervised by the Federal Reserve are subject to enhanced 
risk-based and leverage standards in order to mitigate risks to the 
financial stability of the United States (12 U.S.C. 5365). 
Additionally, section 5 of the BHC Act authorizes the Board to issue 
regulations and conduct information collections with regard to the 
supervision of BHCs (12 U.S.C. 1844).
    As these data are collected as part of the supervisory process, 
such information may be afforded confidential treatment under exemption 
8 of the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)). In addition, 
commercial and financial information contained in these information 
collections may be exempt disclosure under exemption 4 (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)(4)). Such exemptions would be made on a case-by-case basis.
    Abstract: The FR Y-14A annually collects large BHCs' quantitative 
projections of balance sheet, income, losses, and capital across a 
range of macroeconomic scenarios and qualitative information on 
methodologies used to develop internal projections of capital across 
scenarios. The FR Y-14Q collects granular data on BHCs' various asset 
classes and PPNR for the reporting period, which are used to support 
supervisory stress test models and for continuous monitoring efforts, 
on a quarterly basis. The new FR Y-14M will collect one loan-level 
collection for Domestic First Lien Closed-End 1-4 Family Residential 
Mortgage data, one loan-level collection for Domestic Home Equity 
Residential Mortgage data, one account- and portfolio-level collection 
for Domestic Credit Card data, and one collection for Address Matching 
data to supplement the two mortgage collections.
    Current actions: On February 22, 2012, the Federal Reserve 
published a notice in the Federal Register (77 FR 10525) requesting 
public comment for 60 days to revise, without extension, the FR Y-14 
information collection. The comment period expired on April 23, 2012. 
The Board received six comment letters from four BHCs and four trade 
associations.\1\ All substantive comments are summarized and addressed 
below.
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    \1\ Three trade associations submitted a joint comment letter.
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    The FR Y-14A/Q/M revisions proposed in the Federal Reserve's 
February 2012 Federal Register notice, effective June 30, 2012, 
included (1) implementing a new monthly schedule, the FR Y-14M, which 
would collect data previously collected on several quarterly Retail 
Risk portfolio-level worksheets (two new loan-level collections and one 
new loan- and portfolio-level collection), and collecting detailed 
address matching data for the two loan-level collections; (2) revising 
the quarterly Wholesale Risk schedule (corporate loan data collection) 
by adding data items that would allow the Federal Reserve to derive an 
independent probability of default, expanding the scope of loans 
included in the collection by moving loans from the CRE data collection 
to the corporate loan data collection, clarifying definitions of 
existing data items, and requesting additional detail about collateral 
securing a facility; (3) revising the quarterly Wholesale Risk schedule 
(CRE collection) by moving loans to the corporate loan data collection, 
adding a non-accrual data item, and modifying the loan status data item 
to include the number of days past due; (4) implementing a new 
quarterly Operational Risk schedule to gather data that would support 
supervisory stress test models to forecast the BHCs' operational loss 
levels under various macroeconomic conditions; and (5) expanding the 
respondent panel (for the FR Y-14 A/Q/M) to include large banking 
organizations that meet an asset threshold of $50 billion or more in 
total consolidated assets (large BHCs), as defined by the Capital Plan 
Rule (12 CFR 225.8).

Summary of Comments

    The Federal Reserve received comments from the industry by letter, 
email, and orally through industry outreach calls. Most of the comments 
received requested clarification of the instructions for the 
information to be reported, or were technical in nature. Response to 
these comments will be addressed in the final FR Y-14 reporting 
instructions. The following is a detailed discussion of aspects of the 
proposed FR Y-14 collection for which the Federal Reserve received one 
or more substantive comments and an evaluation of, and response to, the 
comments received.

A. General

    In general, three trade associations expressed support for the 
capital adequacy and risk review process proposed by the Federal 
Reserve and appreciated the opportunity for public comment on the 
proposed schedules. However, the commenters noted their concerns about 
the scope of the information collection increasing since the release of 
the Federal Reserve's 2012 CCAR.
    The trade associations commented that the time schedule proposed 
for submitting the data imposes burden on the BHCs' resources that are 
already fully dedicated to submitting other regulatory reports during 
the same time period. The commenters requested that the FR Y-14Q be 
submitted 60 days after quarter end, as opposed to 40 days (for the 
first, second, and third quarters) and 45 days (for the fourth quarter) 
after the quarter end. The Federal Reserve is cognizant of the extra 
resources BHCs must devote to prepare data submissions for the first 
quarter data are being implemented. However, the Federal Reserve 
expects that subsequent submissions would require fewer resources given 
that BHCs would likely automate much of the process. Further, BHCs 
already aggregate the more granular data reported in the FR Y-14Q and 
the FR Y-14M schedules for their Consolidated Financial Statements for 
Bank Holding Companies (FR Y-9C; OMB No. 7100-0128) reporting. 
Therefore, the Federal Reserve will allow BHCs to request approval to 
file a late submission following major revisions to data schedules.
    One commenter suggested that the Federal Reserve provide an 
acquiring bank with one year to incorporate the assets into its systems 
before requiring data to be submitted for the FR Y-14. The Federal 
Reserve has reached out to several BHCs to inquire about the challenges 
associated with providing data on merged portfolios. Through those 
inquiries, the Federal Reserve has learned that the amount of time 
required to integrate the risk information from a new portfolio with 
the risk information

[[Page 32972]]

from an existing portfolio varies greatly depending on the similarities 
of the risk information in the two portfolios. The Federal Reserve will 
consider on a case-by-case basis requests from BHCs to file a delayed 
submission for newly acquired data (integrated with the legacy 
portfolio) following an acquisition.
    Several commenters suggested that BHCs with assets greater than $50 
billion (covered companies) that have not previously participated in 
CCAR should receive extra time to make their first submissions. While 
the Federal Reserve believes that the proposed data items reflected 
important elements of any sound risk management system for large BHCs, 
the Federal Reserve agrees that BHCs not previously subject to CCAR 
would benefit from additional time to build their internal reporting 
systems. As a result, the Federal Reserve finalized the proposed 
schedules only for the 19 BHCs that have previously participated CCAR 
at this time. The Federal Reserve may publish a separate proposal to 
address data requirements for the remaining covered companies in the 
future.

B. FR Y-14M: Domestic First Lien Closed-End 1-4 Family Residential 
Mortgage (first lien), Domestic Home Equity Residential Mortgage (Home 
Equity), Domestic Credit Cards, and Address Matching Schedules

    The Federal Reserve proposed that respondents would submit loan-
level monthly data schedules for material first lien, home equity, and 
credit card portfolios. Several commenters noted that the monthly 
proposed schedules contain a number of substantive data items that are 
duplicative of data collected by other agencies, namely the Office of 
the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The Federal Reserve has reviewed 
the OCC's data collections and determined that the collections differ 
in scope and substance. For example, the universe of loans proposed to 
be collected in the FR Y-14M includes all loans owned or serviced by 
the BHCs, while the OCC collects all loans serviced by national banks. 
Furthermore, there are definitional differences between the data items 
collected by the OCC and those proposed by the Federal Reserve.
    The agencies' staff worked together to ensure that data items 
included in the final schedules (or data items specifically suggested 
by the industry) aligned to the extent possible with the OCC data 
collections. In response to the comments, the Federal Reserve will 
broaden the scope of the monthly Domestic Credit Card schedule to 
include all credit cards, not just those reported on the FR Y-9C in 
Schedule HC-C, Loans and Lease Financing Receivables, data items 4.a, 
commercial and industrial loans to U.S. addressees, and 6.a, credit 
cards, as originally proposed. In particular, this schedule will now 
include credit card and charge card loans included in data item 6.d, 
other consumer loans. In addition, the Federal Reserve is continuing to 
work with the OCC and anticipates engaging other agencies in 
discussions to determine how best to collect the data so as to satisfy 
each agency's mandate while imposing minimal burden on the industry. If 
any future revisions are required based on this more extensive review, 
the agencies would publish information collection notices in the 
Federal Register to seek comment on any future revisions to their 
collections.
    One commenter requested clarity on how to report ``Income Source at 
Origination'' for purchased loans where this information is not 
available. The Federal Reserve will revise the four choices of answers 
to read: Individual, at origination; Household, at origination; 
Individual, at acquisition; and Household, at acquisition.
    Several commenters noted that the proposed first lien and home 
equity schedules were not clear regarding whether only loans owned by 
the respondent or loans serviced by the respondent would be reported. 
The Federal Reserve will collect data on both owned and serviced 
portfolios. In making this final determination, the Federal Reserve 
carefully weighed the benefits of capturing servicing data versus the 
burden imposed on the respondents. During an industry outreach call, 
one participant indicated that the burden associated with reporting the 
servicing portfolio loans would be minimal because those data are 
already aggregated. The collection of the servicing portfolio loans 
will allow the Federal Reserve to investigate other potential risk 
factors, such as factors associated from multiple loans being 
collateralized by the same property.
    One commenter suggested that the data for BHC-owned loans serviced 
by third parties be collected at the portfolio-level with an extended 
due date. The Federal Reserve will implement the revisions as proposed, 
as many of the data items in the schedules will be used for ongoing 
internal risk management. The Federal Reserve expects that most 
respondents can readily access the information for BHC-owned loans. 
However, the Federal Reserve recognizes that it may be more difficult 
for the BHCs to initially submit the data as requested for loans 
serviced by other entities. Over time the Federal Reserve expects that 
BHCs will maintain the data as requested by the Federal Reserve in 
their internal systems. The Federal Reserve will consider on a case-by-
case basis request to file a delayed submission for portfolio loans 
serviced by others.
    Two commenters noted that the proposed first lien and home equity 
schedules were unclear as to whether real estate owned after 
foreclosure but before the disposition of the property would need to be 
reported. The commenters suggested that many of the data items in the 
first lien and home equity schedules are related to loans, and thus 
would not be available for real estate owned. In light of the comments, 
the Federal Reserve will require the reporting of loans through the 
month they were liquidated or transferred to another servicer. The 
Federal Reserve believes it is important to capture data for the final 
month in order to understand what happened to loans that cease to be a 
part of the data collection (to help determine, for example, if the 
loan dropped out of the data collection due to a prepayment, 
liquidation, or servicer transfer).
    Several commenters noted inconsistencies between the definitions 
for similar data items in the first lien and home equity schedules. The 
commenters requested standardized data item definitions across the two 
collections. The schedules were reviewed and several definitions were 
identified that could be standardized (for example, Product Type, 
Income Documentation, Property Type, Refreshed Property Valuation 
Method, Foreclosure Status, and Occupancy); therefore, the Federal 
Reserve will implement these standardized definitions.
    Several commenters noted that some data items in the first lien and 
home equity schedules would be difficult to provide. In some cases, the 
commenters suggested that the data items could be provided at a 
portfolio-level but not at a loan-level, while in other cases the 
commenters noted that some data items are not maintained for certain 
loan types. The Federal Reserve carefully considered these comments, 
and reviewed the reporting instructions to identify data items that 
would be difficult to report at the loan-level. Based on the review, 
the Federal Reserve will (1) modify these loan-level collections to 
include the reporting of portfolio-level data for certain items such as 
purchase impairments which typically are unavailable at the loan-level 
and (2) require that only certain data items be reported for loans 
serviced

[[Page 32973]]

for others or loans obtained through mergers or acquisitions.
    Several commenters suggested adding a number of data items to the 
first lien and home equity schedules. The Federal Reserve reviewed the 
data items proposed by the commenters, and carefully weighed the value 
of having the items versus the additional burden on respondents. While, 
in most cases, the Federal Reserve does not have sufficient evidence to 
justify the inclusion of the data items, there were a few instances in 
which it was determined that the value of having the data items 
outweighed the burden imposed on respondents.
    One commenter suggested that the address matching schedule be 
appended to the first lien and home equity schedules to reduce the 
number of schedules. The Federal Reserve does not believe incorporating 
this suggestion would reduce the overall burden on respondents and will 
maintain the structure of schedules as proposed.

C. FR Y-14Q Wholesale Schedule (Corporate Loan and CRE Collections)

    One commenter suggested that respondents should not be required to 
provide a guarantor's tax ID number. The commenter noted that it is not 
relevant for the information collection, and expressed concerns about 
the sensitivity of the information. The Federal Reserve notes that 
while all information reported in the FR Y-14 is confidential 
supervisory information, extra care should be taken to protect the 
privacy of individuals; therefore the Federal Reserve will implement 
the instructions as proposed, which indicate that if the guarantor is a 
natural person, respondents should not report the tax ID number.
    One commenter noted that the Federal Reserve should not model 
probability of default (PD) on corporate loans. Specifically, the 
commenter stated that internal bank ratings produce a better estimate 
of PD than would be done based on the reported data. The commenter also 
noted that the Federal Reserve should use reporter generated PDs when 
evaluating capital submissions. The Federal Reserve notes that the 
process of mapping the internal ratings to a common scale introduces a 
potential for inconsistency due to possible differences in the way 
BHCs' assign internal ratings. Collecting the data necessary to 
calculate the PD on corporate loans would enhance the comparability of 
estimated PDs across BHCs and promote greater consistency in 
supervisory stress test estimates. Therefore, the Federal Reserve will 
implement the revision as proposed.
    Several commenters suggested that a number of the data items 
requested in the corporate loan collection may not be readily 
available, and some of the data items may not be available for certain 
types of loans. The Federal Reserve spoke with several BHCs to 
determine whether the proposed data items would be available in the 
BHCs' credit risk systems. These discussions revealed that all of these 
BHCs use financial spreading software and while the systems varied, 
they capture all or most of the proposed data items. Though it is 
possible that some BHCs may not use financial spreading software, which 
would result in the increased burden, the Federal Reserve believes the 
benefit of the data outweighs the increased burden and recommends 
implementing the revision as proposed. The Federal Reserve also 
recognizes that for certain categories of borrowers the financial 
information may not be readily available. Therefore, the Federal 
Reserve will revise the instructions to exclude certain populations of 
loans on which the Obligor Financial Information may not be available.
    One commenter noted that, in the corporate loan collection, the 
Federal Reserve should define obligor for purposes of the Obligor 
Financial Information section to be the ``risk unit underwritten by the 
BHC for the purpose of approving the loan.'' The commenter further 
noted that, in cases in which there are multiple obligors, it is 
possible that a different obligor in the credit agreement could drive 
default risk. The Federal Reserve agrees with the comment. These 
situations may be rare, but could lead to an overestimation of credit 
risk. The current structure of the collection is based on the legal 
borrowing entity. The Federal Reserve believes that, for consistency, 
it is important to retain the link between the legal borrowing entity 
and the other data items. However, the Federal Reserve will allow a 
respondent to submit the financial information in the Obligor Financial 
Information section for the entity that represents the primary source 
of repayment (i.e. not a guarantor). The Federal Reserve will add three 
identification data items to capture information about the entity 
underwritten by the respondent in cases in which that entity is 
different from the obligor.

D. FR Y-14Q Operational Risk Schedule

    A trade association provided a general comment expressing support 
for collecting quarterly data on operational risk, but had concerns 
about implementing the proposed new schedule on operational risk.
    Several commenters requested that the Federal Reserve not collect 
data on legal reserves for pending and probable litigation claims on 
the proposed Operational Risk schedule. The commenters had concerns 
that the Federal Reserve may not be able to guarantee the 
confidentiality of the information in all cases; the data could become 
discoverable in third-party litigation; and should the information make 
its way into the public domain, it could significantly jeopardize the 
BHC's position in litigation. Based on the comments received and 
subsequent discussions with commenters, the Federal Reserve's 
preliminary view is that these concerns are justified. Accordingly, the 
Federal Reserve will not require BHCs to submit these data as part of 
the June collection. However, the Federal Reserve will implement the 
remainder of Operational Risk schedule as proposed.
    Furthermore, Federal Reserve will re-open the comment period on 
legal reserves for an additional 30 days to facilitate feedback on 
methods that would enable the Federal Reserve to collect legal reserves 
data in a fashion that would protect the confidentiality of the 
information. See the Supplementary Information section below for 
additional information.
    One commenter suggested requiring the submission of data on loss 
events of $20,000 or more. Supervisory stress testing of operational 
risk is focused on estimating expected loss under certain macroeconomic 
scenarios. As such, the reporting of operational losses at and above 
the BHC-established collection threshold, versus a fixed threshold, is 
necessary as the full distribution of captured losses is important to 
expected loss estimation. The Federal Reserve will implement the 
revision as proposed.
    One commenter suggested providing flexibility with how each loss 
event is assigned to a business line(s), event type(s), or accounting 
date(s). The Federal Reserve agrees with this comment and will revise 
the reporting instructions. The instructions will no longer require 
single loss events that affect multiple business lines to be 
``aggregated'' into one business line (the business line which incurred 
the largest loss amount). Instead, the revised instructions will enable 
institutions to report multiple records or transactions for the same 
loss event and to respectively assign those records or transactions to 
the appropriate business line.
    One commenter also noted that providing a single ``Accounting 
Date'' per loss event would be confusing,

[[Page 32974]]

because BHCs do not typically have a single accounting date for every 
loss event. As described above, the reporting instructions have been 
revised to require the quarterly submission of the BHCs' complete 
history of operational losses. This will enable BHCs to submit multiple 
transactions or records for the same loss event, as long as multiple 
transactions or records contain the same reference number for the 
respective event.
    Several commenters requested that the data collection be revised to 
allow BHCs' to submit their entire operational loss databases, rather 
than only submitting new and amended events every quarter. The 
commenters stated that separating the new and amended loss events would 
be burdensome. The original proposal was written in the spirit of 
reducing burden on the respondents and therefore, based on the 
comments, the Federal Reserve will revise the instructions to require 
submission of the entire database every quarter.
    One commenter suggested allowing BHCs additional time to submit 
their data after the quarter end. In order to facilitate timely risk 
monitoring and entry to supervisory models, operational loss data must 
be submitted within time schedule prescribed; therefore, the Federal 
Reserve will implement the time schedule requirements as proposed.
    One commenter suggested that certain BHCs be exempt from using the 
definitions of Level 1 and Level 2 Business Lines as described in the 
instructions. The Federal Reserve believes that having consistent 
definitions of business lines is critical for the comparability of data 
across BHCs. BHCs should map their internal business lines as defined 
in the instructions. The Federal Reserve will implement the 
requirements as proposed.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    Abstract: As mentioned above in the Current Actions section, the 
Federal Reserve will not require BHCs to submit legal reserves data as 
part of the June collection. Instead, the Federal Reserve is re-opening 
the public comment period for 30 days and requesting comments on 
collecting these data in one or more of the following ways:
    1. Collect the data on an aggregate level rather than on a granular 
loss event-level (for example, the number of loss events and the 
average estimated reserve amount for these events);
    2. Collect data on legal reserves in an anonymous fashion such that 
neither the identity of the BHC or the loss event would be known; and
    3. Collect the data in a way such that BHCs would submit a 
combination of actual and randomized data,\2\ so as not to reveal how 
any particular data item would or could tie back to an actual loss 
event for a particular BHC.
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    \2\ Randomizing survey responses have been a common technique 
when asking sensitive questions since the mid-1960's. The Federal 
Reserve will provide more detail on such techniques upon request and 
anticipates that industry outreach calls would be conducted if this 
reporting option is selected.
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    In addition, the Federal Reserve also is requesting comment on 
other methods that would allow the Federal Reserve to measure, 
understand, and analyze these types of legal risk without requiring a 
BHC to submit data on specific legal reserves.
    The collection of these data or any new reporting requirements 
related to these data would take effect no sooner than the September 
30, 2012, report date.
    Additional comments are also invited on:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information 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 
proposed 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; and
    d. Ways to minimize the burden of information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    e. Estimates of capital or start up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    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 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.

    Dated: May 29, 2012.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2012-13397 Filed 6-1-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P