[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47069-47070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-19243]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2012-N-09]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 60-Day Notice of Submission of Information Collection for 
Approval From the Office of Management and Budget.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking 
public comments concerning a currently approved information collection 
known as ``Federal Home Loan Bank Acquired Member Assets, Core Mission 
Activities, Investments and Advances,'' which has been assigned control 
2590-0008 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FHFA intends to 
submit the information collection to OMB for review and approval of a 
three year extension of the control number, which is due to expire on 
October 31, 2012.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before October 9, 
2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA using any one of the following 
methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Please include Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: Federal Home Loan Bank Acquired Member 
Assets, Core Mission Activities, Investments and Advances (No. 2012-N-
09) in the subject line of the message.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 
Seventh Street SW., Eighth Floor, Washington, DC 20024, ATTENTION: 
Public Comments/Proposed Collection; Comment Request: Federal Home Loan 
Bank Acquired Member Assets, Core Mission Activities, Investments and 
Advances (No. 2012-N-09).
    We will post all public comments we receive without change, 
including any personal information you provide, such as your name, 
address (mailing and email), and telephone number on the FHFA Web site 
at http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received 
will be available for examination by the public on business days 
between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Federal Housing Finance 
Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Eighth Floor, Washington, DC 20024. To 
make an appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of 
General Counsel at (202) 649-3804.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rajkumar Thangavelu, Financial 
Database Specialist at 202-649-3943 (not a toll-free number), 
[email protected]. The telephone number for the 
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf is 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Need for and Use of the Information Collection

    The Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) are authorized under 12 CFR 
part 955 to acquire from their member financial institutions and non-
member housing associates certain home mortgage loans and related 
assets, which are referred to as ``Acquired Member Assets'' or ``AMA.'' 
In conjunction with this authority, each Bank that acquires AMA is 
required by regulation to report to FHFA certain data regarding each 
loan acquired, as specified in FHFA's Data Reporting Manual (DRM). The 
DRM specifies 87 data elements that must be reported semi-annually for 
each new loan acquired, as well as 22 additional data elements that 
must be reported semi-annually for existing AMA loans or loan 
participations held in the Bank's portfolio. The DRM also requires that 
the Banks report aggregated AMA loan data on a quarterly basis. FHFA 
uses the collected loan-level and aggregated AMA data to monitor the 
safety and soundness of the Banks and the extent to which the Banks are 
fulfilling their statutory housing finance mission through their AMA 
programs.\1\
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    \1\ FHFA is responsible for supervising the safety and soundness 
of the Banks, as well as the fulfillment of the Banks' statutory 
housing finance mission. See 12 U.S.C. 4513(a)(1).
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    Since 2010, FHFA has also published the previous calendar year's 
loan-level AMA data in an online public use database.\2\ The agency 
maintains this public use database in order to fulfill its duties under 
section 10(k) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act), which 
requires that the Banks report to FHFA specified census tract-level 
data relating to purchased mortgages and that the agency make this data 
available to the public in a useful form.\3\ At the time that Congress 
enacted section 10(k) in 2008, the Banks were already reporting most of 
the data referenced in that provision pursuant to the existing 
requirements of part 955 and the DRM. In order to implement fully the 
new statutory requirements, FHFA amended the DRM in September 2009 to 
require the Banks to report to FHFA six additional data elements 
relating to newly-acquired AMA loans (in addition to then-existing 81 
data elements) beginning in February 2010.
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    \2\ This public use database is accessible at http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=304.
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(k).
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    While each Bank that acquires or holds AMA loans must report both 
loan-level and aggregated AMA data directly to FHFA, the Bank initially 
must collect some of the underlying loan-level data from the member 
institution or housing associate from which the Bank acquires the loan 
(this is usually, but not always, the originator of the loan). The Bank 
typically collects the data for a particular AMA loan from the seller 
at the time the Bank agrees to acquire the loan. The Bank then uses 
this loan-level data to derive many of the other data elements that it 
is required to report to FHFA. For example, from the address of the 
property that secures the loan, a Bank is able to determine from 
publicly-available information the census tract code (and other similar 
geographic codes) for the property, as well as the median family 
income, and other data regarding the census tract or other defined 
geographic area. With this additional information, the Bank is also 
able to calculate various ratios, such as the ratio of the borrower's 
income to the area median family income, which it is required to report 
under the DRM. Finally, some of the loan-level data originates with the 
Bank itself, such as the name of the acquiring Bank, the unique loan 
number assigned to the acquired loan, and the AMA program under which 
the loan was acquired.
    All but 8 to 10 of the data elements provided by the seller to the 
acquiring Bank are information that any purchaser of mortgage loans 
would require a seller to furnish in the ordinary course of business, 
even in the absence of any statutory or regulatory requirements. For 
example, the Bank must report, and the seller must therefore initially 
provide, data on: The location and type of the residential property 
securing the loan; the annual income and the debt-to-

[[Page 47070]]

income ratio of the borrower and any co-borrowers; and the unpaid 
principal balance, term-to-maturity, interest rate, and type (i.e., 
fixed- or adjustable-rate) of the loan. The remaining data that would 
not normally be exchanged in the ordinary course of business comprises 
information identifying the race, ethnicity, and gender of the borrower 
and any co-borrowers, which are items that the Banks are required to 
aggregate and report by census-tract to FHFA under section 10(k) of the 
Bank Act. It is these few items that comprise the actual information 
collection requirement to which Bank members and housing associates may 
be required to respond.
    The OMB control number for the information collection, which 
expires on October 31, 2012, is 2590-0008. The likely respondents are 
member and non-member financial institutions that sell AMA assets to 
Banks.

B. Burden Estimate

    FHFA estimates that the hour burden associated with the AMA 
collection will be lower than that estimated when the agency last 
requested clearance for this control number. FHFA estimates that the 
total annual average number of AMA loans acquired by all Banks will be 
48,000 and that the average time needed for a respondent to record and 
transmit the relevant data to the acquiring Bank will be 5 minutes per 
loan. Accordingly, the estimate for the total annual hour burden on 
respondents is 4,000 hours (48,000 loans x 5 minutes per loan).

C. Comment Request

    FHFA requests written comments on the following: (1) Whether the 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
FHFA functions, including whether the information has practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the FHFA estimates of the burdens of the 
collection of information; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 
burden of the collection of information, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

    Dated: July 31, 2012.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2012-19243 Filed 8-6-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P