[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 128 (Thursday, July 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31327-31329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14140]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Notice, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, without 
revision, the Government Securities Dealers Reports (FR 2004; OMB No. 
7100-0003) and a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the 
voluntary Weekly Report of Selected Assets and Liabilities of 
Domestically Chartered Commercial Banks and U.S. Branches and Agencies 
of Foreign Banks (FR 2644; OMB No. 7100-0075).
    On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
delegated to the Board authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA) to approve of and assign OMB control numbers to collection of 
information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the 
Board. In exercising this delegated authority, the Board is directed to 
take every reasonable step to solicit comment. In determining whether 
to approve a collection of information, the Board will consider all 
comments received from the public and other agencies.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 5, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 2004 or FR 2644, 
by any of the following methods:
     Agency Web site: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include OMB 
number in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.
     Mail: Ann E. Misback, 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/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as submitted, unless 
modified for technical reasons. Accordingly, your comments will not be 
edited to remove any identifying or

[[Page 31328]]

contact information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically 
or in paper form in Room 3515, 1801 K Street (between 18th and 19th 
Streets NW.), Washington, DC 20006 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on 
weekdays.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, 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: A copy of the PRA OMB submission, 
including the proposed reporting form and instructions, supporting 
statement, and other documentation will be placed into OMB's public 
docket files, once approved. These documents will also be made 
available on the Federal Reserve Board's public Web site at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested 
from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears below.
    Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer--Nuha Elmaghrabi--Office of 
the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, Washington, DC 20551 (202) 452-3829. Telecommunications Device 
for the Deaf (TDD) users may contact (202) 263-4869, Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposals

    The Board invites public comment on the following information 
collections, which are being reviewed under authority delegated by the 
OMB under the PRA. Comments are invited on the following:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Federal Reserve's functions; including 
whether the information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Federal Reserve's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed information collection, 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 collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    e. Estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations 
received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the Federal 
Reserve should modify the proposed revisions prior to giving final 
approval.

Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for 
Three Years, Without Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: The Government Securities Dealers Reports: Weekly 
Report of Dealer Positions (FR 2004A), Weekly Report of Cumulative 
Dealer Transactions (FR 2004B), Weekly Report of Dealer Financing and 
Fails (FR 2004C), Weekly Report of Specific Issues (FR 2004SI), Daily 
Report of Specific Issues (FR 2004SD), Supplement to the Daily Report 
of Specific Issues (FR 2004SD ad hoc), Daily Report of Dealer Activity 
in Treasury Financing (FR 2004WI), Settlement Cycle Report of Dealer 
Fails and Transaction Volumes: Class A (FR 2004FA), Settlement Cycle 
Report of Dealer Fails and Transaction Volumes: Class B (FR 2004FB), 
Settlement Cycle Report of Dealer Fails and Transaction Volumes: Class 
C (FR 2004FC), and Settlement Cycle Report of Dealer Fails and 
Transaction Volumes (FR 2004FM).
    Agency form number: FR 2004.
    OMB control number: 7100-0003.
    Frequency: Weekly, daily, monthly.
    Respondents: Dealers in the U.S. government securities market.
    Estimated number of respondents: 23.
    Estimated average hours per response: FR 2004A, 3.0 hours; FR 
2004B, 3.7 hours; FR 2004C, 3.1 hours; FR 2004SI, 2.2 hours; FR 2004SD, 
2.2 hours; FR 2004SD ad hoc, 2.0 hours; FR 2004WI, 1.0 hour; FR 2004FA, 
1.0 hour; FR 2004FB, 1.0 hour; FR 2004FC, 1.0 hour; FR 2004FM, 1.5 
hours.
    Estimated annual burden hours: FR 2004A, 3,588 hours; FR 2004B, 
4,425 hours; FR 2004C, 3,708 hours; FR 2004SI, 2,631 hours; FR 2004SD, 
1,265 hours; FR 2004SD ad hoc, 1,196 hours; FR 2004WI, 3,680 hours; FR 
2004FA, 276 hours; FR 2004FB, 276 hours; FR 2004FC, 276 hours; FR 
2004FM, 414 hours.
    General Description of Report: The Federal Reserve Bank of New 
York, on behalf of the Federal Reserve System, collects data from 
primary dealers in the U.S. government securities market. Filing of 
these data is required to obtain the benefit of primary dealer status. 
The Federal Reserve uses these data to (1) monitor the condition of the 
U.S. government securities market in its Treasury market surveillance 
and analysis of the market and to (2) assist and support the U.S. 
Department of the Treasury in its role as fiscal agent for Treasury 
financing operations. In addition, these data are helpful in the 
analysis of broad financial conditions and a range of financial 
stability issues.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: This information 
collection is authorized by sections 2A, 12A(c), 14, and 15 of the 
Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 225a, 263c, 353-359, and 391) and is 
required to obtain or retain the benefit of dealer status. Individual 
respondent data are regarded as confidential under the Freedom of 
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and (b)(8)).

Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for 
Three Years, With Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: Weekly Report of Selected Assets and Liabilities of 
Domestically Chartered Commercial Banks and U.S. Branches and Agencies 
of Foreign Banks.
    Agency form number: FR 2644.
    OMB control number: 7100-0075.
    Effective Date: January 3, 2018.
    Frequency: Weekly.
    Respondents: Domestically chartered commercial banks and U.S. 
branches and agencies of foreign banks.
    Estimated number of respondents: 875.
    Estimated average hours per response: 2.35 hours.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 106,925 hours.
    General Description of Report: The FR 2644 is a balance sheet 
report that is collected as of each Wednesday from an authorized 
stratified sample of 875 domestically chartered commercial banks and 
U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks. The FR 2644 is the only 
source of high-frequency data used in the analysis of current banking 
developments. The FR 2644 collects sample data that are used to 
estimate universe levels using data from the quarterly commercial bank 
Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (FFIEC 031, FFIEC 041, and 
FFIEC 051; OMB No. 7100-0036) and the Report of Assets and Liabilities 
of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002; OMB No. 
7100-0032) (Call Reports). Data from the FR 2644, together with data 
from other sources, are used to construct weekly estimates of bank 
credit, balance sheet data for the U.S. banking industry, sources and 
uses of banks' funds, and to analyze current banking and monetary 
developments. The Board publishes the data in aggregate form in the 
weekly H.8 statistical release, Assets and Liabilities of Commercial 
Banks in the United

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States, which is followed closely by other government agencies, the 
banking industry, the financial press, and other users. The H.8 release 
provides a balance sheet for the banking industry as a whole and data 
disaggregated by its large domestic, small domestic, and foreign-
related bank components.
    Proposed revisions: The Board proposes several revisions to 
simplify and reduce the overall reporting burden associated with the FR 
2644 report. The proposed FR 2644 reporting form would consist of 29 
balance-sheet items and 2 memoranda items, an overall reduction of six 
data items.

Combine Asset Items 3.a and 3.b Into One Data Item, and Liability Items 
9.a and 9.b Into One Data Item

    The Board proposes to combine (1) Federal funds sold and securities 
purchased under agreements to resell with commercial banks in the U.S. 
(including U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks) (item 3.a) and 
(2) Federal funds sold and securities purchased under agreements to 
resell with others (including nonbank brokers and dealers in securities 
and FHLB) (item 3.b) into one new item: Federal funds sold and 
securities purchased under agreements to resell (item 3) and to combine 
(1) Borrowings (including federal funds purchased and securities sold 
under agreements to repurchase and other borrowed money) from 
commercial banks in the U.S. (including U.S. branches and agencies of 
foreign banks) (item 9.a) and (2) Borrowings (including federal funds 
purchased and securities sold under agreements to repurchase and other 
borrowed money) from others (including FRB and FHLB) (item 9.b) into 
one new item: Borrowings (including federal funds purchased and 
securities sold under agreements to repurchase and other borrowed 
money) (item 9).
    Counterparty-level detail on federal funds sold and securities 
purchased under agreements to resell (federal funds) has been collected 
from large banks since mid-1969 and from small banks since July 2009. 
Similar information for borrowings has been reported by both large and 
small banks since October 1996. In the H.8 release, federal funds sold 
to commercial banks have been included in interbank loans and federal 
funds sold to others have been included in non-core loans as part of 
other loans and leases.
    These asset/liability breakdowns have provided useful information 
on counterparties, especially during the financial crisis. However, 
this information may now be obtained from the Report of Selected Money 
Market Rates (FR 2420; OMB No. 7100-0357), which collects transaction-
level data, including counterparty information, for both federal funds 
purchased and other borrowings. Therefore, the Board recommends 
dropping the counterparty detail from the FR 2644 report.

Replace Item 8 With New Item 8.b

    The Board proposes to replace Total deposits (item 8) with All 
other deposits (item 8.b). This new item will consist of all deposits 
other than time deposits of $100,000 or more. The Board assesses that 
reporting accuracy will be higher if banks report the two pieces of 
total deposits separately, rather than reporting total deposits and 
time deposits of $100,000 or more, a subset of the former. The Board 
believes that this small change will reduce the incidence of 
misreporting, leading to fewer edit failures and less need for 
explanatory contact with respondents.

Proposed Elimination of Data Items

    The Board proposes to stop separately collecting two data items 
related to banks' derivative and other trading activities: (1) Trading 
assets, other than securities and loans included above (item 5) and (2) 
Trading liabilities (item 10). Data item 5 would be included in All 
other assets (item 6.b), while data item 10 would be rolled into All 
other liabilities (including subordinated notes and debentures) (item 
11.b). Successive data items would be renumbered as appropriate.
    During the 2015 renewal of the FR 2644, derivatives with positive 
and negative fair values, items 5.a and 10.a, the major components of 
trading assets and trading liabilities respectively, were dropped from 
the reporting form. Weekly changes in the total items could reasonably 
be attributed to movements in derivatives, since they accounted for the 
preponderance of the trading items. However, in the intervening period, 
the Board has assessed that the benefits of collecting the two trading 
assets and liabilities items separately, in terms of analytical 
usefulness, do not exceed the costs of collection.
    The Board also proposes to stop collecting two memoranda items: (1) 
Loans to small businesses amount currently outstanding of ``Loans 
secured by nonfarm nonresidential properties'' with original amounts of 
$1,000,000 or less (included in item 4.a.(5) above) (item M.2 a) and 
(2) Loans to small businesses amount currently outstanding of 
``Commercial and industrial loans to U.S. addressees'' with original 
amounts of $1,000,000 or less (included in item 4.c above) (item M.2. 
b).
    These memoranda items were added to the FR 2644 reporting form as 
of January 7, 2015, due to increasing interest in the health of small 
business lending and the lack of other timely sources of information. 
The recommendation to discontinue the collection of these data items is 
based on three factors:
    (1) The new FFIEC 051 Call Report for eligible small banks with 
assets less than $1 billion will require only semiannual reporting 
(June and December) for the related Call Report data items. This new 
Call Report was implemented as of March 31, 2017. Semiannual, rather 
than quarterly, reporting by three-fourths of the domestic banks in the 
universe would severely limit the Board's ability to estimate universe 
data from the weekly sample FR 2644 data and to sufficiently benchmark 
those estimates, leading to deterioration in the universe estimates.
    (2) During the development of the FFIEC 051, both in-person 
conversations with bankers and their comments in response to the 
associated Federal Register notices identified these items as among the 
most burdensome for banks to provide, in some cases requiring manual 
intervention to do so.
    (3) Many of the panel respondents, including most of the largest 
banks, repeat their latest quarterly Call Report figures for these data 
items. This practice does not provide the Board with the more up-to-
date information that it had been seeking.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2644 is authorized 
by section 2A and 11(a)(2) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 225(a) 
and 248(a)(2)) and by section 7(c)(2) of the International Banking Act 
(12 U.S.C. 3105(c)(2)) and is voluntary. Individual respondent data are 
regarded as confidential under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)(4)).

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, June 29, 2017.
Ann E. Misback,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2017-14140 Filed 7-5-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P