[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 22, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11399-11400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03396]



[[Page 11399]]

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

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Proposed Collections; Comment Requests

AGENCY: Departmental Offices; Department of the Treasury.

SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork burdens, invites the general public and 
other Federal agencies to comment on the revision of an information 
collection that is to be proposed for approval by the Office of 
Management and Budget. The Office of International Affairs of the 
Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning Treasury 
International Capital Form S, Purchases and Sales of Long-Term 
Securities by Foreign Residents.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before April 24, 2017 
to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Dwight Wolkow, International 
Portfolio Investment Data Systems, Department of the Treasury, Room 
5422, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20220. In view of 
possible delays in mail delivery, please also notify Mr. Wolkow by 
email ([email protected]), FAX (202-622-2009) or telephone 
(202-622-1276).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the proposed forms and 
instructions are available on the Treasury's TIC Forms Web page, 
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/index.aspx. Requests for additional information should be directed to 
Mr. Wolkow.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Treasury International Capital Form S, Purchases and Sales 
of Long-term Securities by Foreign-Residents.
    OMB Control Number: 1505-0001.
    Abstract: Form S is part of the Treasury International Capital 
(TIC) reporting system, which is required by law (22 U.S.C. 286f; 22 
U.S.C. 3103; E.O. 10033; 31 CFR 128), and is designed to collect timely 
information on international portfolio capital movements. Form S is a 
monthly report used to cover transactions in long-term marketable 
securities undertaken directly with foreigners by banks, other 
depository institutions, brokers, dealers, underwriting groups, funds 
and other individuals and institutions. This information is used by the 
U.S. Government in the formulation of international financial and 
monetary policies and for the analysis of the U.S. balance of payments 
accounts.
    Current Actions: (1) The section II.A ``Who Must Report'' and the 
section II.E.1.e ``What Must Be Reported'' of the instructions are 
updated to list out separately ``certain private funds'', which are a 
subgroup of the class of financial entities defined by the Securities 
and Exchange Commission as private funds on Form PF: ``any issuer that 
would be an investment company as defined in section 3 of the 
Investment Company Act of 1940 but for section 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of . 
. . [that] Act.''. In cooperation with the Bureau of Economic Analysis 
(BEA) effective for TIC reports beginning as of January 2017 and 
afterwards, reporters of investments in private funds that meet the 
definition of direct investment (that is, ownership by one person of 10 
percent or more of the voting interest of a business enterprise) but 
display characteristics of portfolio investment (specifically, 
investors who do not intend to control or influence the management of 
an operating company) are required to report through the Treasury 
International Capital (TIC) reporting system, where other related 
portfolio investments are already being reported, and not to report on 
BEA's direct investment surveys. Specifically, cross-border investments 
by or into private funds are included in TIC reports regardless of 
ownership share if they meet BOTH of the following two criteria: (i) 
The private fund does not own, directly or indirectly through another 
business enterprise, an ``operating company''--i.e., a business 
enterprise that is not a private fund or a holding company--in which 
the U.S. or foreign parent owns at least 10 percent of the voting 
interest, and (ii) If the private fund is owned indirectly (through one 
or more other business enterprises), there are no ``operating 
companies'' between the U.S. or foreign parent and the indirectly-owned 
private fund. Direct investment in operating companies, including 
investment by and through private funds, will continue to be reported 
to BEA. This change aligns the U.S. direct investment and portfolio 
investment data more closely with the intent of the investment with 
respect to management control. In addition, it reduces burden for 
respondents, many of whom previously reported both to the TIC reporting 
system and to BEA's direct investment reporting system. Note: This 
change applies also to these other TIC forms if the reporting 
requirements of the form are met: BC, BL-1, BL-2, BQ-1, BQ-2, BQ-3, D, 
SLT, SHC(A) and SHL(A). (2) The section II.A ``Who Must Report'' of the 
instructions is updated to list out separately ``principal trading 
firms'' and ''fund administrators'', (3) The section II.A ``Who Must 
Report'' and section II.B ``Consolidation Rules'' of the instructions 
are updated to list out separately Intermediate Holding Companies 
(IHCs), as defined by Regulation YY, 12 CFR 252, and to clarify that 
IHCs should follow the same consolidation rules that are applicable to 
Bank Holding Companies (BHCs), Financial Holding Companies (FHCs), and 
Savings and Loan Holding Companies. The Regulation YY was effective by 
January 1, 2015, and IHCs are filing TIC reports; this update will 
formalize their reporting requirements. (4) The section II.E.2.f ``What 
Must Be Reported'' of the instructions is updated to clarify that, 
regarding securities involved in security lending agreements and 
repurchase/resale (reverse repurchase) agreements, sales of the 
underlying security collateral to other parties and the purchases of 
such securities from other parties, undertaken in order to return the 
security collateral to the lenders, must be reported. (5) The section 
III.A.columns 1 & 2 ``Column by Column Instructions'' of the 
instructions is updated to clarify that the stripped securities `teddy 
bears' (TBRs), `tigers' (TIGRs), `cats' (CATS) and `cougars' (COUGRs) 
should also be classified as U.S. Treasury securities. (6) The section 
II.E. ``What Must Be Reported'' clarifies that long-term Treasury 
securities are Bonds, Notes, TIPS, FRNs and Savings Bonds. (7) Some 
other clarifications and format changes may be made to improve the 
instructions.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Form: S (1505-0001).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 188.
    Estimated Average Time per Respondent: Six and three tenth hours 
per respondent per filing. This estimate includes the Current Actions 
proposed above. The estimated average time per respondent varies from 
10.8 hours for the approximately 30 major reporters to 5.4 hours for 
the other reporters.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 14,130 hours, based on 12 
reporting periods per year.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of 
Management and Budget approval. All comments will become a matter of 
public record. The public is invited to submit written comments 
concerning: (a) Whether Form S is necessary for the proper performance 
of the functions of the

[[Page 11400]]

Office, including whether the information will have practical uses; (b) 
the accuracy of the above estimate of the burdens; (c) ways to enhance 
the quality, usefulness and clarity of the information to be collected; 
(d) ways to minimize the reporting and/or record keeping burdens on 
respondents, including the use of information technologies to automate 
the collection of the data; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up 
costs of operation, maintenance and purchase of services to provide 
information.

Dwight Wolkow,
Administrator, International Portfolio Investment Data Systems.
[FR Doc. 2017-03396 Filed 2-21-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4810-25-P