[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 211 (Friday, October 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64767-64783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-25923]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2014-N-12]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 30-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 Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking public comments 
concerning the information collection known as ``Federal Home Loan Bank 
Directors,'' which has been assigned control number 2590-0006 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, 
2014.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before December 1, 
2014.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer 
for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 202-
395-6974, Email: [email protected]. Please also submit 
comments to FHFA using any one of the following methods:
     Agency Web site: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your 
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email 
to FHFA at [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by the agency.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth 
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20024, Attention: Public 
Comments/Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ``Federal Home Loan Bank 
Directors (No. 2014-N-12).''
    We will post all public comments we receive without change, 
including any personal information you provide, such as your name and 
address, email address, 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 the Federal Housing Finance Agency, 
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., 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: Patricia Sweeney, Management Analyst, 
Division of Bank Regulation, by email at [email protected] or 
by telephone at (202) 649-3311; or Eric Raudenbush, Assistant General 
Counsel, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at (202) 
649-3084 (not toll-free numbers); or by regular mail at Federal Housing 
Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20024. The telephone number for the Telecommunications Device for the 
Hearing Impaired is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection

    Section 7 of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) vests the 
management of each Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) in its board of 
directors.\1\ As required by section 7, each Bank's board comprises two 
types of directors: (1) Member directors, who are drawn from the 
officers and directors of member institutions located in the Bank's 
district and who are elected every four years to represent members in a 
particular state in that district; and (2) independent directors, who 
are unaffiliated with any of the Bank's member institutions, but who 
reside in the Bank's district and are elected every four years on an 
at-large basis.\2\ Section 7 and FHFA's implementing regulation, 
codified at 12 CFR part 1261, establish the eligibility requirements 
for both types of Bank directors and the required professional 
qualifications for independent directors, and set forth the procedures 
for their election.
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    \1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(1).
    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(b) and (d).
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    Part 1261 of the regulations requires each Bank, as part of its 
responsibility to administer its annual director election process, to 
determine the

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eligibility of candidates to serve as member and independent directors 
on its board. Specifically, each Bank must require each candidate for 
either type of directorship, including any incumbent that may be a 
candidate for reelection, to complete and return to the Bank a form 
that solicits information about the candidate's statutory eligibility 
to serve and, in the case of independent director candidates, about his 
or her professional qualifications for the directorship being 
sought.\3\ Member director candidates are required to complete the 
Federal Home Loan Bank Member Director Eligibility Certification Form 
(Member Director Eligibility Certification Form), while independent 
director candidates must complete the Federal Home Loan Bank 
Independent Director Application Form (Independent Director Application 
Form).
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    \3\ See 12 CFR 1261.7(c) and (f); 12 CFR 1261.14(b).
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    Under part 1261, each Bank must also require each of its incumbent 
directors to certify annually that he or she continues to meet all of 
the applicable statutory eligibility requirements.\4\ Member directors 
do this by completing the Member Director Eligibility Certification 
Form again every year, while independent directors complete the 
abbreviated Federal Home Loan Bank Independent Director Annual 
Certification Form (Independent Director Annual Certification Form) to 
certify their ongoing eligibility.
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    \4\ See 12 CFR 1261.12.
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    The OMB control number for the information collection is 2590-0006, 
which is due to expire on October 31, 2014. The likely respondents are 
individuals who are prospective and incumbent Bank directors. Copies of 
each of the forms appear at the end of this notice.

B. Burden Estimate

    FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden imposed upon 
respondents by this information collection is 145 hours. This estimate 
is based on the following calculations:

1. Member Director Eligibility Certification Form

    FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden on all member director 
candidates and incumbent member directors associated with review and 
completion of the Member Director Eligibility Certification Form is 37 
hours. This includes a total annual average of 68 member director 
candidates, with 1 response per individual taking an average of 15 
minutes (.25 hours) (68 respondents x .25 hours = 17 hours). It also 
includes a total annual average of 80 incumbent member directors, with 
1 response per individual taking an average of 15 minutes (.25 hours) 
(80 individuals x .25 hours = 20 hours).

2. Independent Director Application Form

    FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden on all independent 
director candidates associated with review and completion of the 
Independent Director Application Form is 75 hours. This includes a 
total annual average of 25 independent director candidates, with 1 
response per individual taking an average of 3 hours (25 individuals x 
3 hours = 75 hours).

3. Independent Director Annual Certification Form

    FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden on all incumbent 
independent directors associated with review and completion of the 
Independent Director Annual Certification Form is 33 hours. This 
includes a total annual average of 66 incumbent independent directors, 
with 1 response per individual taking an average of 30 minutes (.5 
hours) (66 individuals x .5 hours = 33 hours).

C. Comment Request

1. Comment Received in Response to the Initial Notice

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA 
published a request for public comments regarding this information 
collection in the Federal Register on August 11, 2014. See 79 FR 46801 
(Aug. 11, 2014). The 60-day comment period closed on October 10, 2014. 
FHFA received one comment letter, signed jointly by two Members of 
Congress, that suggested several revisions to the forms and questioned 
the accuracy of FHFA's burden estimate pertaining to completion of the 
Independent Director Application Form. For the reasons stated below, 
the agency has decided against making any of the suggested revisions or 
changing the burden estimate.
    Citing the importance of diversity among Bank directors, the 
commenters suggested that FHFA revise the forms to include questions 
regarding the gender, race, ethnicity, and geographic location of the 
respondent. With respect to a respondent's geographic location, the 
application forms already address that issue by requiring respondents 
to provide their home and business addresses. With respect to the other 
three elements, FHFA anticipates obtaining that information through a 
separate rulemaking. In June 2014 FHFA issued a proposed rule to amend 
its regulations on Minority and Women Inclusion (MWI), located at 12 
CFR part 1207. That proposal would require each Bank annually to 
request that each member of its board of directors voluntarily provide 
the Bank with information about his or her minority and gender 
classification. The Banks would then provide that information, on an 
aggregate basis and without including personally identifiable 
information, to FHFA as part of their annual MWI reports to the 
agency.\5\ The comment period for that rulemaking ended on August 25, 
2014, and FHFA is in the process of reviewing the comments received and 
developing a final rule. Because FHFA anticipates having in place 
another avenue for receiving information about the diversity of Bank 
boards of directors, it does not believe that it is necessary to 
collect that same information through the director application forms.
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    \5\ See 79 FR 35960 (June 25, 2014). The proposed rule would 
also apply to the Bank System's Office of Finance.
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    The Bank Act requires that at least two of each Bank's independent 
directors qualify as ``public interest'' directors--i.e., that they 
have more than four years of experience representing consumer or 
community interests on banking services, credit needs, housing, or 
consumer financial protections.\6\ The commenters' second suggested 
revision relates to question 3 in the ``Statutory Eligibility 
Requirements'' section of the Independent Director Application Form, 
which asks respondents who are interested in serving as a ``public 
interest'' director to ``provide information on how you have 
represented such consumer or community interests for more than four 
years.'' The commenters suggest that FHFA revise this question to 
require that each such respondent also be required to specify the 
``leadership role'' that the individual has held in a ``mission-driven 
organization.''
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    \6\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3)(B)(ii).
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    The agency has declined to make this revision for several reasons. 
First, the principal purpose of the form is to determine whether the 
respondent satisfies the statutory and regulatory eligibility 
requirements for being a public interest director. While it has been 
FHFA's experience that most, if not all, of the Banks' ``public 
interest'' director candidates have in fact served in a leadership 
position with a ``mission-driven'' organization, the Bank Act does not 
require that an individual fulfill the ``public interest'' requirement 
in this particular manner in order to be

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eligible. If the question were to be revised as suggested, it would 
then imply that serving in such a position is a necessary means of 
fulfilling the eligibility requirements and would likely cause 
confusion among potential applicants about the actual eligibility 
requirements. Second, FHFA, which reviews the completed form for every 
individual a Bank proposes to nominate for an independent directorship, 
is unaware of any instance in recent years in which an applicant 
responding to question 3 has failed to specify the position or 
positions he or she held with any organization mentioned therein. In 
most cases, respondents have provided additional detail as to the 
duties undertaken while holding those positions. Both the Banks and 
FHFA review the information provided in order to confirm that the 
persons actually satisfy the statutory eligibility requirements for the 
public interest directorships. If an applicant for a ``public 
interest'' independent directorship did not include such information, 
it is likely that the Bank, or FHFA, would require the respondent to 
provide such information before he or she could be considered for the 
directorship. Finally, question 1 in the ``Selection Criteria'' section 
of the Independent Director Application Form already requests that 
applicants provide detailed information about their leadership 
experience, and their responses to that question should provide the 
Banks and FHFA with information about the leadership roles they have 
had with any consumer- or community interest-focused organizations.
    The commenters' third suggested revision relates to question 2(G) 
in the ``Selection Criteria'' section of the Independent Director 
Application Form, which is intended to elicit information on experience 
that the respondent may have that is related to ``the mission of the 
Banks.'' The question characterizes the Banks' mission as being ``to 
support the housing finance activities of their members, which includes 
residential mortgage finance and community and economic development 
lending activities.'' Noting that ``Congress has consistently defined 
the [Banks'] mission as serving both housing and community economic 
development needs of people and their communities,'' the commenters 
suggest that FHFA revise question 2(G) so that it instead describes the 
mission of the Banks as being to support the ``housing and community 
economic development activities of its members.'' There is no specific 
definition of the Banks' mission. Nonetheless, since its inception in 
1932, the principal activity of the Banks has been to support their 
members' residential housing finance business by providing loans to 
their members (known as ``advances'') that are secured by the members' 
assets, most typically other residential mortgage loans. In 1989, 
Congress further required the Banks to establish Affordable Housing 
Programs, through which members can support access to housing for 
persons with lower or moderate incomes, and to support their members' 
community and economic development activities. Thereafter, the Federal 
Housing Finance Board, FHFA's predecessor agency as regulator of the 
Banks, construed the ``housing finance mission'' of the Banks broadly, 
and to include two elements: Providing support for their members' 
residential mortgage lending, and providing support for their members' 
community and economic development activities. FHFA has embraced the 
view that support for the members' community and economic development 
activities is a core aspect of the Banks' housing finance mission and 
believes that the existing language of the form, which explicitly 
refers to ``community and economic development activities,'' is 
consistent with that view and need not be changed.
    Finally, the commenters assert that FHFA's estimate that it will 
take a respondent an average of 3 hours to complete the Independent 
Director Application Form is too high and suggest that an estimate of 
one hour would be more accurate. The commenters argue that the types of 
individuals being considered for a Bank directorship would be likely to 
have already prepared similar information for other purposes, which 
could be drawn upon to reduce the time needed to complete the form. In 
deciding upon a burden estimate of 3 hours per form, FHFA considered 
the amount of time it would take an individual completing the form for 
the first time to: (1) Read through the questions and background 
information to understand the statutory requirements and the reasoning 
behind the questions; (2) gather the information requested on the form 
and any additional materials he or she wishes to provide; (3) prepare 
narrative answers of sufficient detail to demonstrate his or her 
eligibility and qualifications to serve; and (4) sign the form and 
transmit it to the Bank. Undoubtedly, many respondents will have 
materials at hand containing relevant information that can be readily 
incorporated into the electronic version of the form, which may reduce 
the amount of time it will take them to complete the form. It may also 
be true that an incumbent seeking reelection may require less time to 
update a previously completed version of the form. Those situations 
will not necessarily be the case for all respondents, however, because 
FHFA has observed that a number of applicants still complete the 
eligibility forms by hand, which takes longer to do. Moreover, in 
developing its burden estimates for collections of information, it has 
been the agency's practice to err on the high side and not to assume 
that all respondents will use the most efficient methods for completing 
the forms. Because there is no way of knowing what time-saving 
resources a respondent may be able to draw upon in completing the form, 
the agency has decided to retain the existing estimate of 3 hours.

2. Further Comments Requested in Response to This Notice

    In response to this notice, 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 FHFA's 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 on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Date: October 27, 2014.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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[FR Doc. 2014-25923 Filed 10-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C