[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 95592-95593]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31389]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2016-N-14]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 30-Day notice of submission of information collection for 
approval from Office of Management and Budget.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA or the Agency) is 
seeking public comments concerning the information collection known as 
``Federal Home Loan Bank Capital Stock,'' which has been assigned 
control number 2590-0002 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
(the collection was previously known as ``Capital Requirements for the 
Federal Home Loan Banks''). 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 December 31, 2016.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before January 27, 
2017.

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) 395-3047, Email: [email protected]. Please also submit 
comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed Collection; Comment Request: 
`Federal Home Loan Bank Capital Stock (No. 2016-N-14)' '' by any 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 20219, ATTENTION: 
Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ``Federal Home Loan Bank Capital 
Stock (No. 2016-N-14).''
     U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or 
Other Mail Service: The mailing address for comments is: Alfred M. 
Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/2016-N-14, Federal 
Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Eighth Floor, 
Washington, DC 20219.
    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 20219. To make an 
appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of General 
Counsel at (202) 649-3804.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan F. Curtis, Financial Analyst, 
Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at (202) 649-3321; or Eric 
Raudenbush, Associate General Counsel, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at (202) 649-3084 (these are 
not toll-free numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the 
Hearing Impaired is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection

    The Federal Home Loan Bank System consists of eleven regional 
Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) and the Office of Finance (a joint 
office that issues and services the Banks' debt securities). The Banks 
are wholesale financial institutions, organized under authority of the 
Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to serve the public interest by 
enhancing the availability of residential housing finance and community 
lending credit through their member institutions and, to a limited 
extent, through certain eligible nonmembers. Each Bank is structured as 
a regional cooperative that is owned and controlled by member 
institutions located within its district, which are also its primary 
customers. An institution that is eligible for membership in a 
particular Bank must purchase and hold a prescribed minimum amount of 
the Bank's capital stock in order to become and remain a member of that 
Bank. With limited exceptions, only an institution that is a member of 
a Bank may obtain access to low cost secured loans, known as

[[Page 95593]]

advances, or other products provided by that Bank.
    Section 6 of the Bank Act establishes capital requirements for the 
Banks and requires FHFA to issue regulations prescribing uniform 
capital standards applicable to all of the Banks.\1\ Section 6 also 
establishes parameters relating to the Banks' capital structures and 
requires that each Bank adopt a ``capital structure plan'' (capital 
plan) to establish, within those statutory parameters, its own capital 
structure and to establish requirements for, and govern transactions 
in, the Bank's capital stock.\2\ FHFA has designated 12 CFR part 1277 
as the location for its regulations on Bank Capital Requirements, 
Capital Stock, and Capital Plans. Part 1277 currently includes 
regulations establishing requirements for the Banks' capital stock 
(Subpart C; Sec. Sec.  1277.20-1277.27) and for the Banks' capital 
plans (Subpart D; Sec. Sec.  1277.28-1277.29). Regulations governing 
the Banks' capital requirements are currently located at 12 CFR parts 
930 and 932 (in the regulations of the former Federal Housing Finance 
Board), but will be moved into part 1277 in the near future.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1426(a).
    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1426(b), (c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Both the Bank Act and FHFA's regulations state that a Bank's 
capital plan must require its members to maintain a minimum investment 
in the Bank's capital stock, but both permit each Bank to determine for 
itself what that minimum investment is and how each member's required 
minimum investment is to be calculated.\3\ Although each Bank's capital 
plan establishes a slightly different method for calculating the 
required minimum stock investment for its members, each Bank's method 
is tied to some degree to both the level of assets held by the member 
institution (typically referred to as a ``membership stock purchase 
requirement'') and the amount of advances or other business engaged in 
between the member and the Bank (typically referred to as an 
``activity-based stock purchase requirement'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1426(c)(1); 12 CFR 1277.22, 1277.28(a).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A Bank must collect information from its members to determine the 
minimum capital stock investment each member is required to maintain at 
any point in time. Although the information needed to calculate a 
member's required minimum investment and the precise method through 
which it is collected differ somewhat from Bank to Bank, the Banks 
typically collect two types of information. First, in order to 
calculate and monitor compliance with its membership stock purchase 
requirement, a Bank typically requires each member to provide and/or 
confirm an annual report on the amount and types of assets held by that 
institution. Second, each time a Bank engages in a business transaction 
with a member, the Bank typically confirms with the member the amount 
of additional Bank capital stock, if any, the member must acquire in 
order to satisfy the Bank's activity-based stock purchase requirement 
and the method through which the member will acquire that stock.
    The OMB number for the information collection is 2590-0002, which 
is due to expire on December 31, 2016. The likely respondents include 
current and former Bank members and institutions applying for Bank 
membership.

B. Burden Estimate

    FHFA has analyzed the time burden imposed on respondents by the two 
collections under this control number and estimates that the average 
total annual hour burden imposed on all respondents over the next three 
years will be 15,230 hours. The estimate for each collection was 
calculated as follows:

I. Membership Stock Purchase Requirement Submissions

    FHFA estimates that the average annual number of current and former 
members and applicants for membership required to report information 
needed to calculate a membership stock purchase requirement will be 
7,320, and that each institution will submit one report per year, 
resulting in an estimated total of 7,320 submissions annually. The 
estimate for the average time required to prepare, review, and submit 
each report is 0.5 hours. Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour 
burden associated with membership stock purchase requirement 
submissions is (7,320 reports x 0.5 hours per report) = 3,660 hours.

II. Activity-Based Stock Purchase Requirement Submissions

    FHFA estimates that the average number of daily transactions 
between Banks and members that will require the exchange of information 
to confirm the member's activity-based stock purchase requirement will 
be 341, and that there will be an average of 261 working days per year, 
resulting in an estimated 89,001 submissions annually. The estimate for 
the average preparation time per submission is 0.13 hours. Accordingly, 
the estimate for the annual hour burden associated with activity-based 
stock purchase requirement submissions is (89,001 submissions x 0.13 
hours per submission) = 11,570 hours.

C. Comment Request

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA 
published an initial notice requesting comments regarding this 
information collection in the Federal Register on October 7, 2016.\4\ 
The 60 day comment period closed on December 6, 2016. No comments were 
received. However, during the pendency of the comment period, FHFA 
consulted with several of the Banks regarding the burden estimates for 
this information collection. As a result of the Banks' input, FHFA has 
made some revisions to the burden estimates, so that those appearing 
above differ from those that appeared in the 60-day notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ See 81 FR 69819 (Oct. 7, 2016).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.10(a), FHFA is 
publishing this second notice to request comments regarding 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 members 
and project sponsors, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments should be 
submitted in writing to both OMB and FHFA as instructed above in the 
Comments section.

    Dated: December 22, 2016.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2016-31389 Filed 12-27-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-P