[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72349-72350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-29312]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

SUMMARY: On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
delegated to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
(Board) its approval authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.16, to approve of and assign OMB control numbers 
to collection of information requests and requirements conducted or 
sponsored by the Board under conditions set forth in 5 CFR part 1320 
Appendix A.1. 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 instruments 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.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 4, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 2230, 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: Robert deV. Frierson, 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: A copy of the PRA OMB submission, 
including the proposed reporting form and instructions, supporting 
statement, and other documentation will be placed into OMB's public 
docket files, once approved. These documents will also be made 
available on the Federal Reserve

[[Page 72350]]

Board's public Web site at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/reportforms/review.cfm or may be requested from the agency clearance 
officer, whose name appears below.
    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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    The following information collection, which is being handled under 
this delegated authority, has received initial Board approval and is 
hereby published for comment. At the end of the comment period, the 
proposed information collection, along with an analysis of comments and 
recommendations received, will be submitted to the Board for final 
approval under OMB delegated authority. Comments are invited on the 
following:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Federal Reserve's functions; including 
whether the information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Federal Reserve's 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;
    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; and
    e. Estimates of capital or start up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for 
Three Years, With Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: Bank Secrecy Act Suspicious Activity Report (BSA-
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.
    Estimated annual reporting hours: 139,515 hours.
    Estimated average hours per response: 1.5 hours.
    Number of respondents: 6,000.
    General description of report: The BSA-SAR is mandatory, pursuant 
to authority contained in the following statutes: 12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1), 
625, 1844(c), 3105(c)(2), 3106(a), and 1818(s). SARs are exempt from 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure by 31 U.S.C. 5319 and FIOA 
exemption 3 which incorporates into the FOIA certain nondisclosure 
provisions that are contained in other federal statutes, 5 U.S.C. 
552(b)(3), and by FOIA exemption 7, which generally exempts from public 
disclosure ``records or information compiled for law enforcement 
purposes,'' 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7). Additionally, pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 
5318(g), officers and employees of the Federal government are generally 
forbidden from disclosing the contents of a SAR, or even acknowledging 
that a SAR exists, to a party involved in a transaction that is the 
subject of a SAR. Finally, information contained in SARs may be exempt 
from certain disclosure and other requirements of the Privacy Act 
pursuant to 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 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union 
Administration) and the Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes 
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) 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: As BSA administrator, FinCEN is transitioning from 
industry specific paper forms to electronic submissions. Based on type, 
financial institutions (depository institutions, broker-dealers in 
securities, futures commission merchants and introducing brokers in 
commodities, insurance companies, mutual funds, money services 
businesses, and casinos) currently provide data on four separate forms. 
FinCEN has proposed to have one electronically-filed dynamic and 
interactive BSA-SAR that would be used by all filing institutions to 
report suspicious activity as of April 1, 2013.
    The BSA-SAR would integrate four institution-specific SARs into one 
data collection. The previous five parts of the SAR-DI remain with 
changes to their titles and order of completion. Fields from other 
industry SARs that may be new to depository institutions as well as 
specific data fields that are new to all types of industry filers have 
been identified. Please use the following link for a detailed listing 
of all the proposed revisions. http://www.federalreserve.gov/reportforms/review.cfm.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 29, 
2012.
Robert deV. Frierson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2012-29312 Filed 12-4-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P