[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6176-6179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01816]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) and Country 
Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 009a)

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury; 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board); and Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: Joint notice and request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (the ``agencies'') are 
seeking public comment on a proposal to extend and revise the currently 
approved information collections contained in the Country Exposure 
Report (FFIEC 009) and the Country Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 
009a). The agencies are all members of the Federal Financial

[[Page 6177]]

Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which has approved the 
agencies' publication of proposed revisions to the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 
009a reports to collect additional information on exposures to foreign 
entities. The agencies will review the comments and recommendations 
received to determine the extent to which the FFIEC should modify the 
reports. The agencies will then submit the reports to the U.S. Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 1, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to 
any or all of the agencies. All comments should refer to the OMB 
control number and will be shared among the agencies.

ADDRESSES: Communications Division, Office of the Comptroller of the 
Currency, Mail Stop 6W-11, Attention: 1557-0100, Washington, DC 20219. 
In addition, comments may be sent by fax to (202) 649-5709 or by 
electronic mail to [email protected]. You may personally 
inspect and photocopy comments at the OCC, 400 7th Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20219. For security reasons, the OCC requires that 
visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. You may do so by 
calling (202) 649-6700. Upon arrival, visitors will be required to 
present valid government-issued photo identification and submit to 
security screening in order to inspect and photocopy comments.
    All comments received, including attachments and other supporting 
materials, are part of the public record and subject to public 
disclosure. Do not enclose any information in your comment or 
supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate 
for public disclosure.
    Additionally, please send a copy of your comments by mail to: OCC 
Desk Officer, 1557-100, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th 
Street NW., 10235, Washington, DC 20503, or emailed to oira 
[email protected].
    Board: You may submit comments, identified by FFIEC 009 or FFIEC 
009a, by any of the following methods:
    Agency Web Site: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on the 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 the OMB control 
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 
http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm as 
submitted, except as necessary 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 in Room MP-500 of the Board's Martin Building (20th and C Streets 
NW.) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.
    FDIC: You may submit written comments, which should refer to 
``Country Exposure Reports, 3064-0017,'' by any of the following 
methods:
    Agency Web Site: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/propose.html. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the 
FDIC Web site.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Email: [email protected]. Include ``Country Exposure Reports, 3064-
0017'' in the subject line of the message.
    Mail: Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary, Attention: Comments, 
FDIC, 550 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20429.
    Hand Delivery/Courier: Guard station at the rear of the 550 17th 
Street Building (located on F Street) on business days between 7 a.m. 
and 5 p.m.
    Public Inspection: All comments received will be posted without 
change to http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/propose/html 
including any personal information provided. Comments may be inspected 
at the FDIC Public Information Center, Room E-1002, 3501 Fairfax Drive, 
Arlington, VA 22226, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on business days.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
OMB desk officer for the agencies by mail to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. 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: Additional information or a copy of 
the collections may be requested from:
    OCC: Mary H. Gottlieb or Johnny Vilela, OCC Clearance Officers, 
202-649-5490, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, Office of 
the Comptroller of the Currency, Washington, DC 20219.
    Board: Cynthia Ayouch, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer, 
202-452-3829, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C Streets NW., Washington, DC 
20551. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may call 202-
263-4869.
    FDIC: Gary Kuiper, Counsel, (202) 898-3877, Legal Division, Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 
20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the requirements of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), an Agency 
may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond 
to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid 
OMB control number. ``Collection of Information'' is defined in 44 
U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or 
requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, 
or provide information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires Federal Agencies to provide a 
60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed 
collection of information, including each proposed extension of an 
existing collection of information, before submitting the collection to 
OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, the OCC, the Board, 
and the FDIC are publishing notice of the proposed collection of 
information set forth in this document.

Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) and Country Exposure Information 
Report (FFIEC 009a)--OMB Control Numbers: OCC, 1557-0100; Board, 7100-
0035; FDIC, 3064-0017--Extension

    Proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the following 
currently approved collections of information:
    Report Titles: Country Exposure Report and Country Exposure 
Information Report.
    Form Numbers: FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
    Affected Public: Business or other for profit.
OCC
    OMB Number: 1557-0100.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 16 (FFIEC 009), 9 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 115 burden hours (FFIEC 009), 
6 burden hours (FFIEC 009a).

[[Page 6178]]

    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 54 burden hours (FFIEC 009a).
Board
    OMB Number: 7100-0035.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 42 (FFIEC 009), 32 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 115 burden hours (FFIEC 009), 
6.0 burden hours (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 19,320 burden hours (FFIEC 009), 768 
burden hours (FFIEC 009a).
FDIC
    OMB Number: 3064-0017.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 17 (FFIEC 009), 9 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 115 burden hours (FFIEC 009), 
6 burden hours (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 7,820 burden hours (FFIEC 009), 216 
burden hours (FFIEC 009a).

General Description of Reports

    The Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) is filed quarterly with the 
agencies and provides information on international claims of U.S. 
banks, savings associations, and bank holding companies that is used 
for supervisory and analytical purposes. The information is used to 
monitor the foreign country exposures of reporting institutions to 
determine the degree of risk in their portfolios and assess the 
potential risk of loss. The Country Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 
009a) is a supplement to the FFIEC 009 and provides publicly available 
information on material foreign country exposures (all exposures to a 
country in excess of 1 percent of total assets or 20 percent of 
capital, whichever is less) of U.S. banks, savings associations, and 
bank holding companies that file the FFIEC 009 report. As part of the 
Country Exposure Information Report, reporting institutions also must 
furnish a list of countries in which they have lending exposures above 
0.75 percent of total assets or 15 percent of total capital whichever 
is less.

Background for the Proposed Changes

    The nature of U.S bank exposure abroad has shifted considerably 
since the FFIEC 009 report was first introduced in 1977, and previous 
revisions have not kept pace with those changes. Initially, the 
agencies' primary concern focused on the possibility of sizeable losses 
to U.S. banks from foreign exposure to sovereigns and banks in Latin 
America, especially as a result of the imposition of exchange controls 
that would prevent repayment of credits originated in the U.S. 
Accordingly, reporting was limited to three categories of claims: 
``public,'' ``banks,'' and ``other,'' with the last category including 
all corporate and retail credits. Since then, banks have significantly 
increased their exposure to the private, non-bank sectors of economies 
around the world, increasing the possibility that losses could occur 
even in the absence of a sovereign default or the imposition of 
exchange controls.
    It became evident during the recent financial crisis that the level 
of detail provided in the current report was insufficient to capture 
the evolving risks from U.S. institutions' foreign exposures. In 
response, banks increasingly provided additional information in other 
public disclosures, including filings with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (e.g., in Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports 
on Form 10-K), about exposure to a selected group of countries. That 
information is drawn from banks' internal calculations of foreign 
exposure, and therefore differed from the amounts reported in the FFIEC 
009 report, which is based on a single standardized methodology for 
calculating and reporting such foreign exposures across all 
institutions, and the amounts publicly disclosed in the FFIEC's Country 
Exposure Lending Survey statistical release and the FFIEC 009a report, 
which are extracted from the FFIEC 009 report.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The quarterly statistical release and individual 
institutions' FFIEC 009a reports can be accessed at http://www.ffiec.gov/E16.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The FFIEC 009 report, as it is proposed to be revised, would serve 
an important purpose by ensuring consistency of reporting across 
institutions for a number of important components of foreign country 
exposure. These data would allow supervisors to compare the amount of 
one institution's exposures to those of its peers for a country or set 
of countries, to analyze the aggregate exposure of U.S. banks to 
foreign creditors, and to monitor trends in exposures. The revised 
FFIEC 009a data would allow market participants to analyze more 
detailed, aggregate exposure data. The FFIEC 009 report is not a 
substitute for other more detailed supervisory data or internal 
management information.
    The revised FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a reports are proposed to be 
effective June 30, 2013.

Proposed Changes to the Information Collection

    In response to these issues, the agencies have developed 
recommended improvements to the reporting of foreign country exposure 
data by U.S. reporting institutions on the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a 
reports. The changes are designed to improve the utility of the data 
for policy makers, bank supervisors, and market participants.
    In broad terms, the proposed revisions to the FFIEC 009 report 
would increase the number of counterparty categories, add additional 
information on the type of claim being reported, provide details on a 
limited number of risk mitigants to help provide perspective to 
currently reported gross exposure numbers, add more detailed reporting 
of credit derivatives, and add the United States as a country row to 
allow reconciliation between a reporting institution's FFIEC 009 report 
and its Consolidated Financial Statements for Bank Holding Companies 
(FR Y-9C; OMB No. 7100-0128) or Consolidated Reports of Condition and 
Income for a Bank with Domestic and Foreign Offices (Call Report; FFIEC 
031; OMB Nos. 7100-0036, 3064-0052, 1557-0081), as appropriate, and 
expand the entities that must report to include savings and loan 
holding companies (SLHCs). The specific proposed changes are discussed 
in more detail below.
    First, the number of exposure categories would be increased. The 
FFIEC 009 report currently has three categories for claims: ``bank,'' 
``public,'' and ``other.'' The revised form would split the ``other'' 
category into ``corporate,'' ``household,'' and ``non-bank financial 
institutions.'' This proposed disaggregation will allow supervisors and 
the public to better analyze risks by counterparty type.
    Second, the revisions would include a memorandum item for the 
amount of claims held in the form of securities held-to-maturity (HTM) 
and available-for-sale (AFS), providing additional information on this 
type of foreign country exposure, which may perform differently under 
stressed conditions than loans or leases.
    Third, the revisions would include memorandum information on 
collateral pledged against claims. Collateral pledged against a claim, 
for example in repurchase transactions, can reduce risk; with the 
proposed revisions, the FFIEC 009 would include information on such 
mitigants for the first time. Collateral held against claims would be 
reported on a gross basis, and would include additional information on 
the amount of such collateral that is in cash,

[[Page 6179]]

that is held in the same country as the claim against which it is 
pledged, and that is in the form of repurchase or securities lending 
agreements. The proposed new data on collateral held against claims 
will provide information for users to better assess net risks based on 
their own assumptions about the benefits of the collateral, and also 
should produce greater insight into reporting institutions' own 
internal calculations of foreign country exposure, which typically take 
collateral into account.
    Fourth, the revisions would modify the FFIEC 009a public reporting 
requirement for exposures to individual countries. The threshold 
triggering public disclosure would remain, as currently set, at 1 
percent of total assets or 20 percent of total capital, whichever is 
less. However, in calculating claims for this purpose, institutions 
would no longer subtract local liabilities of foreign branches or 
subsidiaries, changing the basis of reporting claims from transfer risk 
to country risk. This proposed change could result in the disclosure of 
claims for additional individual countries for a given institution.
    Fifth, data on gross credit derivatives purchased would be 
collected for the first time. Gross credit derivatives sold is already 
reported on the FFIEC 009 report. In addition, a conservatively netted 
(i.e., at the counterparty and reference entity level) version of 
credit derivatives purchased and sold would also be reported. The 
values reported would be notional amounts. These proposed additional 
data would provide a more complete view of credit derivative exposures.
    Sixth, information on offsetting positions in the securities 
trading book would be reported. Trading books may contain closely 
related long and short positions that partially or fully offset one 
another, mitigating the risk inherent in a given level of gross 
exposure. This proposed memorandum item would provide the portion of 
trading assets that can be offset by short positions at the level of 
the issuer (legal entity basis) and the instrument (debt versus debt; 
equity versus equity).
    Seventh, the United States would be added as a country for which 
exposures would be reported. Reporting institutions have indicated a 
strong preference for including the U.S. in the country rows so that 
amounts reported on an institution's FFIEC 009 report can be reconciled 
to those reported on its FR Y-9C report or Call Report (FFIEC 031), as 
appropriate, which includes exposures to the U.S.
    Eighth, the banking agencies propose adding SLHCs \2\ to the panel 
of entities that must file the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a. The proposed 
revisions would provide data to analyze the foreign country exposures 
and overall financial condition of SLHCs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 
Act (Pub. L. 111-203) was enacted into law on July 21, 2010. Title 
III of the Dodd-Frank Act abolished the Office of Thrift Supervision 
(OTS) and transferred all former OTS authorities (including 
rulemaking) related to SLHCs to the Federal Reserve effective as of 
July 21, 2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Finally, the publicly available FFIEC 009a report would be expanded 
to include additional information for those individual countries for 
which the reporting threshold is triggered. This expansion would 
incorporate much of the new information proposed to be added to the 
FFIEC 009 report--the risk mitigants of collateral, offsetting 
positions for the trading book, and credit derivatives purchased; 
securities HTM and AFS; and claims on nonbank financial institutions--
into the FFIEC 009a report. The proposed revisions to the FFIEC 009a 
report also include adding selected data currently reported on the 
FFIEC 009 report but not on the FFIEC 009a report--trading assets and 
unused commitments and guarantees--to properly inform the new 
information on offsetting positions for the trading book and off-
balance-sheet items. The proposed enhancements to the FFIEC 009a report 
would provide market participants with more detailed aggregate exposure 
data for analytical purposes.

Legal Basis for the Information Collection

    These information collections are mandatory under the following 
statutes: 12 U.S.C. 161 and 1817 (national banks), 12 U.S.C. 1464 
(federal savings associations), 12 U.S.C. 248(a), 1844(c), and 3906 
(state member banks and bank holding companies); 12 U.S.C. 1467a(b)(2) 
and 5412 (savings and loan holding companies); and 12 U.S.C. 1817 and 
1820 (insured state nonmember commercial and savings banks and insured 
state savings associations). The FFIEC 009 information collection is 
given confidential treatment (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and (b)(8)). The FFIEC 
009a information collection is not given confidential treatment.

Request for Comment

    The agencies invite comment on the following topics related to this 
collection of information:
    (a) Whether the information collections are necessary for the 
proper performance of the agencies' functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of the agencies' estimates of the burden of the 
information collections, 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 collections 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.
    All comments will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: January 10, 2013.
Michele Meyer,
Assistant Director, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, 
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 17, 
2013.
Robert deV. Frierson,
Secretary of the Board.

    Dated at Washington, DC, this 15th day of January 2013.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Robert E. Feldman,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-01816 Filed 1-28-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-33-P; 6714-01-P; 6210-01-P