[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 149 (Friday, August 2, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46850-46851]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18299]


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NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION

12 CFR Parts 741 and 748

RIN 3313-AE25


Filing Financial and Other Reports

AGENCY: National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The NCUA Board (Board) proposes to amend its regulations 
regarding filing financial, statistical, and other reports and credit 
union profiles by requiring all federally-insured credit unions (FICU) 
to file this information electronically using NCUA's information 
management system or other electronic means specified by NCUA. Under 
the current rule, FICUs are required to file this information online 
only if they have the capacity to do so.

DATES: NCUA is issuing this proposal with a 30-day comment period 
instead of its typical 60-day time frame. NCUA believes the proposal is 
simple, and 30 days is sufficient for the public to digest and comment 
on the proposal. Comments must be received on or before September 3, 
2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(Please send comments by one method only):
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     NCUA Web site: http://www.ncua.gov/RegulationsOpinionsLaws/proposed_regs/proposed_regs.html. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: Address to [email protected]. Include ``[Your 
name] Comments on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Parts 741 and 748, 
Filing financial and other reports'' in the email subject line.
     Fax: (703) 518-6319. Use the subject line described above 
for email.
     Mail: Address to Mary F. Rupp, Secretary of the Board, 
National Credit Union Administration, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, 
Virginia 22314-3428.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: Same as mail address.
    Public Inspection: You may view all public comments on NCUA's Web 
site at http://www.ncua.gov/Legal/Regs/Pages/PropRegs.aspx as 
submitted, except for those we cannot post for technical reasons. NCUA 
will not edit or remove any identifying or contact information from the 
public comments submitted. You may inspect paper copies of comments in 
NCUA's law library at 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, by 
appointment weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. To make an appointment, 
call (703) 518-6546 or send an email to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Kressman, Associate General 
Counsel or Sarah Chung, Staff Attorney, Office of General Counsel, at 
the above address or telephone (703) 518-1178 or Mark Vaughan, 
Director, Division of Analytics and Surveillance, Office of Examination 
and Insurance, at the above address or telephone (703) 518-6360.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
I. Background
II. Summary of the Proposed Rule
III. Regulatory Procedures

I. Background

A. What are the current requirements for filing reports?

    The Federal Credit Union Act (Act) provides NCUA with broad 
authority to require FICUs, including corporate credit unions, to 
submit financial data and other information as required by the 
Board.\1\ The Act directs each FICU to make reports of condition to the 
Board on dates selected by the Board.\2\ The Board has broad discretion 
to set the conditions and information requirements for such reports.\3\ 
More specifically, NCUA requires FICUs to submit financial reports, 
reports of officials, credit union profiles, and other reports.\4\
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    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 1756, 1766, 1781, and 1782.
    \2\ Id.
    \3\ Id.
    \4\ 12 CFR 741.6 and 748.1.
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    Section 741.6(a) of NCUA's regulations requires FICUs to file 
financial, statistical, and other reports, including call reports. 
Section 748.1 of NCUA's regulations requires the president or managing 
official of each FICU to certify compliance with a variety of 
requirements in its credit union profile.
    Under NCUA's current regulations, a FICU must use NCUA's 
information management system, or other electronic means specified by 
NCUA, to submit its reportable data online, unless it is unable to do 
so.\5\ In this case, a FICU must file written reports in accordance 
with NCUA instructions.
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    \5\ Id. Currently, corporate credit unions use an electronic 
system for submitting data online different from the system used by 
natural person FICUs.
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B. How many FICUs file manually?

    As of March 31, 2013, 59 of 6,753 FICUs filed manually. The largest 
of these credit unions had $21 million in assets, and 45 of them had 
fewer than $2 million in assets. The overwhelming majority of these 
manual filers are federal credit unions. Approximately one quarter of 
manual filers report having email and internet access and appear to 
have the capacity to file reports and profiles electronically. NCUA 
recently completed an initiative to provide free laptops and technical 
assistance to manual filers. This initiative helped some FICUs 
transition to online filing.

II. Summary of the Proposed Rule

A. Why is NCUA proposing this rule?

    Executive Order 13579 provides that independent agencies, including 
NCUA, should consider if they can modify, streamline, expand, or repeal 
existing rules to make their programs more effective and less 
burdensome. NCUA seeks to reduce operating costs and promote 
environmentally responsible practices. NCUA estimates it costs the 
agency $125 per filer per quarter to process manual filings of call 
reports alone. NCUA proposes to require all FICUs to submit call 
reports and other data and to update their credit union profiles online 
to reduce the expense of printing and mailing paper forms and other 
processing costs. Filing manually will no longer be an option.
    Additionally, NCUA intends to increase efficiency, enhance accuracy 
of data, and provide a secure access portal that is the sole means for 
FICUs to submit, edit, and view data NCUA collects. Online reporting is 
more efficient and cost effective and enhances the accuracy of credit 
union data. In addition, it permits FICUs to submit data securely to 
NCUA from any computer with internet access. This system eliminates 
mailing and printing delays and missing information, and provides real-
time warnings throughout the input process to ensure data integrity.

[[Page 46851]]

B. Does the proposed rule create any new burdens for FICUs?

    NCUA believes that once manual filers embrace online filing, they 
will find it is quicker and easier than their current practices, and it 
will reduce their administrative burden. The proposal does not create 
any new regulatory burdens for FICUs, and NCUA expects that electronic 
filing of reports and profiles will improve a FICU's efficiency and 
reduce delays.
    To assist FICUs making this transition, NCUA already provides 
instructions on how to report online and has posted a ``frequently 
asked questions'' section on NCUA's Web site.

III. Regulatory Procedures

A. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires NCUA to prepare an analysis 
to describe any significant economic impact a regulation may have on a 
substantial number of small entities.\6\ For purposes of this analysis, 
NCUA considers small credit unions to be those having under $50 million 
in assets.\7\ This rule would affect relatively few FICUs and the 
associated cost is minimal. Accordingly, NCUA certifies the rule will 
not have a significant economic impact on small entities.
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    \6\ 5 U.S.C. 603(a).
    \7\ Interpretive Ruling and Policy Statement 03-2, 68 FR 31949 
(May 29, 2003), as amended by Interpretative Ruling and Policy 
Statement 13-1, 78 FR 4032 (Jan. 18, 2013).
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B. Paperwork Reduction Act

    The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) applies to rulemakings in 
which an agency by rule creates a new paperwork burden on regulated 
entities or modifies an existing burden.\8\ For purposes of the PRA, a 
paperwork burden may take the form of either a reporting or a 
recordkeeping requirement, both referred to as information collections. 
This proposed rule requires the same information previously required in 
a different format, which NCUA believes should require the same or less 
amount of time to produce. This proposed rule will not create new 
paperwork burdens or modify any existing paperwork burdens.
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    \8\ 44 U.S.C. 3507(d); 5 CFR part 1320.
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C. Executive Order 13132

    Executive Order 13132 encourages independent regulatory agencies to 
consider the impact of their actions on state and local interests. In 
adherence to fundamental federalism principles, NCUA, an independent 
regulatory agency as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(5), voluntarily complies 
with the executive order. This rule will not have a substantial direct 
effect on the states, on the connection between the national government 
and the states, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities 
among the various levels of government. NCUA has determined this rule 
does not constitute a policy that has federalism implications for 
purposes of the executive order.

D. Assessment of Federal Regulations and Policies on Families

    NCUA has determined that this proposed rule will not affect family 
well-being within the meaning of Section 654 of the Treasury and 
General Government Appropriations Act, 1999, Public Law 105-277, 112 
Stat. 2681 (1998).

List of Subjects

12 CFR Part 741

    Credit, Credit unions, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Share insurance.

12 CFR Part 748

    Credit unions, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Security 
measures.

    By the National Credit Union Administration Board on July 25, 
2013.
Mary F. Rupp,
Secretary of the Board.

    For the reasons stated above, NCUA proposes to amend 12 CFR parts 
741 and 748 as follows:

PART 741--REQUIREMENTS FOR INSURANCE

0
1. The authority for part 741 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 12 U.S.C. 1757, 1766(a), 1781-1790, and 1790d; 31 
U.S.C. 3717.

0
2. In Sec.  741.6, revise paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec.  741.6  Financial and statistical and other reports.

    (a) Upon written notice from the Board, Regional Director, Director 
of the Office of Examination and Insurance, or Director of the Office 
of National Examinations and Supervision, insured credit unions must 
file financial and other reports in accordance with the instructions in 
the notice. Insured credit unions must use NCUA's information 
management system, or other electronic means specified by NCUA, to 
submit their data online.
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PART 748--SECURITY PROGRAM, REPORT OF SUSPECTED CRIMES, SUSPICIOUS 
TRANSACTIONS, CATASTROPHIC ACTS AND BANK SECRECY ACT COMPLIANCE

0
3. The authority for part 748 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 12 U.S.C. 1766(a), 1786(q); 15 U.S.C. 6801-6809; 31 
U.S.C. 5311 and 5318.
0
4. In Sec.  748.1, revise paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec.  748.1  Filing of reports.

    (a) The president or managing official of each federally-insured 
credit union must certify compliance with the requirements of this part 
in its Credit Union Profile annually through NCUA's online information 
management system.
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[FR Doc. 2013-18299 Filed 8-1-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7535-01-P