[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 72 (Friday, April 13, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16098-16099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07668]


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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 Recordkeeping and Disclosure Requirements Associated with 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Regulation B (Equal 
Credit Opportunity Act) (FR B; OMB No. 7100-0201).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before June 12, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR B, by any of the 
following methods:
     Agency Website: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     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 website 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 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. For security 
reasons, the Board requires that visitors make an appointment to 
inspect comments. You may do so by calling (202) 452-3684. Upon 
arrival, visitors will be required to present valid government-issued 
photo identification and to submit to security screening in order to 
inspect and photocopy comments.
    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 website 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: 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.

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    The Board invites public comment on the following information 
collection, which is 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 proposal 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: Recordkeeping and Disclosure Requirements Associated 
with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Regulation B (Equal 
Credit Opportunity Act).
    Agency form number: FR B.
    OMB control number: 7100-0201.
    Frequency: Monthly; annually.
    Respondents: State member banks; subsidiaries of state member 
banks; subsidiaries of bank holding companies; U.S. branches and 
agencies of foreign banks (other than federal branches, federal 
agencies, and insured state branches of foreign banks); commercial 
lending companies owned or controlled by foreign banks; and 
organizations operating under section 25 or 25A of the Federal Reserve 
Act (12 U.S.C. 601-604a; 611-631).
    Estimated number of respondents: Notifications, furnishing of 
credit information, record retention (applications, actions, and 
prescreened solicitations), information for monitoring purposes, and 
rules on providing appraisal reports (providing appraisal report), 958 
respondents; Self-testing: Record retention--incentives, 92 
respondents; Self-testing: Record retention--self-correction, 23 
respondents, and Self-testing: Record retention--rules concerning 
requests for information (disclosure for optional self-test), 92 
respondents.
    Estimated average hours per response: Notifications, 6 hours; 
Furnishing of credit information, 2.5 hours; Record retention 
(Applications, actions, and prescreened solicitations), 8 hours; 
Information for monitoring purposes, 0.25 hours; Rules on providing 
appraisal reports (Providing appraisal report), 3 hours; Self-testing: 
Record retention--incentives, 2 hours; Self-testing: Record retention--
self-correction, 8 hours; and

[[Page 16099]]

Self-testing: Record retention--rules concerning requests for 
information (disclosure for optional self-test), 3.5 hours.
    Estimated annual burden hours: Notifications, 68,976 hours; 
Furnishing of credit information, 28,740 hours; Record retention 
(Applications, actions, and prescreened solicitations), 7,664 hours; 
Information for monitoring purposes, 2,874 hours; Rules on providing 
appraisal reports (Providing appraisal report), 34,488 hours; Self-
testing: Record retention--incentives, 184 hours; Self-testing: Record 
retention--self-correction, 184 hours; and Self-testing: Record 
retention--rules concerning requests for information (disclosure for 
optional self-test), 3,864 hours.
    General description of report: ECOA was enacted in 1974 and is 
implemented by the CFPB's Regulation B for institutions the Board 
supervises.\1\ The ECOA prohibits discrimination in any aspect of a 
credit transaction because of race, color, religion, national origin, 
sex, marital status, age (provided the applicant has the capacity to 
contract), or other specified bases (receipt of public assistance, or 
the fact that the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under 
the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.)). To aid in 
implementation of this prohibition, the statute and regulation subject 
creditors to various mandatory disclosure requirements, notification 
provisions informing applicants of action taken on the credit 
application, provision of appraisal reports in connection with 
mortgages, credit history reporting, monitoring rules, and 
recordkeeping requirements. These requirements are triggered by 
specific events and disclosures must be provided within the time 
periods established by the statute and regulation.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 1691. The CFPB's Regulation B is located at 12 CFR 
part 1002.
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    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division 
has determined that the CFPB is authorized to issue its Regulation B 
pursuant to its authority to prescribe regulations to carry out the 
purposes of ECOA (15 U.S.C. 1691b). The obligation to comply with the 
recordkeeping and disclosure requirements of CFPB's Regulation B is 
mandatory. Because the recordkeeping and disclosure requirements of the 
CFPB's Regulation B require creditors to retain their own records and 
to make certain disclosures to customers, the Freedom of Information 
Act (FOIA) would only be implicated if the Board's examiners retained a 
copy of this information as part of an examination a bank. Records 
obtained as a part of an examination or supervision of a bank are 
exempt from disclosure under FOIA exemption (b)(8), for examination 
material (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)). In addition, the records may also be 
exempt under (b)(4) or (b)(6). Records would be exempt under (b)(4) if 
the records contained ``trade secrets and commercial or financial 
information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential'' and 
the disclosure of the information would cause substantial harm to the 
competitive position of the respondents (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Records 
would be exempt under (b)(6) if the records contained personal 
information, the disclosure of which would ``constitute a clearly 
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy'' (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6)).

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, April 9, 2018.
Ann Misback,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2018-07668 Filed 4-12-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P