[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 97 (Friday, May 18, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23276-23278]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-10669]


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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, with revision, 
the Report of Selected Money Market Rates (FR 2420; OMB No. 7100-0357).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 17, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 2420, 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 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as 
submitted, unless modified for technical reasons or to remove sensitive 
PII (personal identifiable information) at the commenter's request. 
Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper form in 
Room 3515, 1801 K Street NW (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: https://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, With Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: Report of Selected Money Market Rates.
    Agency form number: FR 2420.
    OMB control number: 7100-0357.
    Frequency: Daily.
    Respondents: Commercial banks, savings associations, U.S. branches 
and agencies of foreign banks, International Banking Facilities, and 
significant banking organizations representing entities actively 
participating in the federal funds and/or other money markets.
    Estimated number of respondents: 99 commercial banks and savings 
associations, 84 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, 82

[[Page 23277]]

International Banking Facilities, and 1 significant banking 
organization.
    Estimated average hours per response: 1.8 commercial banks and 
savings associations, 1.8 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, 
1.0 International Banking Facilities, and 1.8 significant banking 
organization.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 44,550 commercial banks and savings 
associations, 37,800 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, 
20,500 International Banking Facilities, and 450 significant banking 
organization.
    General description of report: The FR 2420 is a transaction-based 
report that collects daily liability data on federal funds purchased, 
selected borrowings from non-exempt entities, Eurodollar transactions, 
and time deposits and certificates of deposits (CDs) from (1) 
domestically chartered commercial banks and savings associations that 
have $18 billion or more in total assets as well as those that have 
total assets above $5 billion but less than $18 billion and meet the 
activity threshold, (2) U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks 
with total third-party assets of $2.5 billion or more, and (3) 
significant banking organizations that are active participants in money 
markets. The FR 2420 also collects daily data on Eurodollar 
transactions from International Banking Facilities (IBFs) of the above-
referenced institutions.\1\ The FR 2420 data are used in the 
publication of the effective federal funds rate (EFFR) and overnight 
bank funding rate (OBFR) and in analysis of current money market 
conditions.
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    \1\ A selected borrowing from a non-exempt entity is an 
unsecured borrowing (an unsecured primary obligation undertaken by 
the reporting institution as a means of obtaining funds) in U.S. 
dollars from a counterparty that is a non-exempt entity as derived 
from Regulation D, Section 204.2(a)(vii).
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    Proposed revisions: The Board proposes to revise the FR 2420 by 
adding Selected Deposits (Part D) and removing Selected Borrowings from 
Non-Exempt Entities (Part AA). Other minor edits in the reporting 
instructions are proposed to improve clarity. The first report for the 
proposed revisions to FR 2420 would be as of October 1, 2018.

Summary of Revisions

1. Addition of Selected Deposits (Part D)

    The Board proposes adding a new section, Part D, to the FR 2420, 
intended to capture short-term wholesale unsecured deposits that are 
economically equivalent to federal funds purchased in Part A or 
Eurodollars in Part B. The primary target for this collection would be 
reporting institutions that, in recent years, shifted deposits from 
branches in the Caribbean Islands \2\ to the U.S., which has caused 
this borrowing to fall outside the scope of the current FR 2420. The 
proposed Part D would also collect data from institutions that have 
historically booked all or a portion of such deposits in their U.S. 
offices.
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    \2\ Caribbean islands includes the Cayman Islands and Nassau, 
Bahamas or any other location within the Caribbean if the majority 
of the responsibility for business decisions for that FBO branch 
reside at the U.S. branch of the foreign bank that reports on the FR 
2420.
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    Since June 2016, some Eurodollar activity from Cayman and Nassau 
branches of foreign banks has shifted to U.S. branches of those banks, 
causing Eurodollar volume reported on the FR 2420 to decline 
significantly, obscuring vision into the wholesale funding market and 
reducing the robustness of the data used in calculating the OBFR. 
Federal Reserve staff are aware of at least roughly $35 billion in 
overnight Eurodollar transactions that have moved from the Cayman 
Islands to New York. The motivation has been described as the 
simplification of corporate structure for the drafting of living wills. 
Accordingly, the Board proposes to add Part D to the FR 2420 to capture 
these short-term, wholesale, domestic deposits.
    To capture the intended data, a selected deposit is defined as a 
deposit denominated in U.S. dollars, in an amount of $1 million or 
more, that is issued in a U.S. office of the reporting institution on 
the report date. A selected deposit is a deposit issued with an 
original specified term to maturity of six or less days such that the 
dollar amount of the deposit is payable as follows:
    (a) On a certain calendar date that is six or less days after the 
settlement date of the deposit, or
    (b) At the end of a specified period of time that is six or less 
days after the settlement date of the deposit.
    Selected deposits include deposits issued for which the terms were 
negotiated at arm's length on the report date, which have interest 
rates specified as part of the terms that were negotiated, with an 
original maturity of six or less days and are issued to either a 
personal or a non-personal counterparty.
    Selected deposits exclude deposits that do not have a specified 
term to maturity and are payable immediately on demand and deposits 
that are issued as collateral for another transaction (e.g., a deposit 
issued as collateral for a loan).
    The data elements collected for Selected Deposits are identical to 
the elements collected for Federal Funds Purchased (Part A) and 
Eurodollars (Part B), with the exception of `office identifier.' The 
reporting deadline is the same as the deadline for Parts A and B.

2. Removal of Selected Borrowings From Non-Exempt Entities (Part AA)

    The Board proposes deleting Selected Borrowings from Non-Exempt 
Entities, Part AA, from the FR 2420 to offset additional reporting 
burden resulting from the proposal to add Part D. There are two 
additional reasons for the Board's proposed deletion. First, Part AA 
does not capture data currently used or expected to be used in the 
calculation of reference rates. Second, Part AA currently collects very 
little data and the Part AA instructions sometimes cause confusion 
among FR 2420 respondents. Currently, respondents are instructed to 
include borrowings from non-exempt entities in Part AA, and are also 
instructed to exclude deposits as defined in Regulation D (Section 
204.2(a)(1)) from Part AA. However, borrowings from non-exempt entities 
are typically defined as deposits under Regulation D, which has caused 
confusion for respondents reporting data on Part AA and limited the 
amount of useful data captured on this part of the report form.

3. Data Elements and Reporting Requirements Applicable to All Parts of 
the FR 2420

    The Board proposes some wording changes throughout the FR 2420 
instructions to help clarify reporting expectations for respondents. As 
an example, the Board proposes to amend the definition of federal funds 
purchased applicable to the FR 2420 to explicitly exclude borrowings 
from a Federal Reserve Bank. While borrowings from Federal Reserve 
Banks were never meant to be included in the definition of federal 
funds purchased for the purpose of the FR 2420, respondents frequently 
reported such borrowings in Part A of the report form. Adding explicit 
instructions to exclude borrowings from Federal Reserve Banks from Part 
A of the FR 2420 should help to clarify the type of data to be 
reported. There are several other instances of these types of 
clarifications in the proposed FR 2420 instructions.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2420 is authorized 
by section 11(a)(2) of the Federal Reserve Act, which authorizes the 
Board to require depository institutions to make such reports of their 
liabilities and assets as the Board may determine to be necessary or 
desirable to enable the Board to discharge its responsibility to 
monitor and control monetary and credit aggregates (12 U.S.C. 
248(a)(2)). The FR

[[Page 23278]]

2420 is also authorized pursuant to section 7(c)(2) of the 
International Banking Act (IBA), which provides that Federal branches 
and agencies of foreign banks are subject to section 11(a) of the 
Federal Reserve Act as if they were a state member bank (12 U.S.C. 
3105(c)(2)). Section 7(c)(2) of the IBA also provides that state-
licensed branches and agencies of foreign banks are subject to the 
requirement in section 9 of the Federal Reserve Act that they file 
reports of condition with the appropriate Federal Reserve Bank (12 
U.S.C. 324). The obligation to comply with the reporting requirements 
of FR 2420 is mandatory.
    The individual financial institution information provided by each 
respondent would not be otherwise available to the public. The proposed 
revisions, as well as information currently collected, would be 
accorded confidential treatment under the authority of exemption 4 of 
the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Exemption 4 
protects from disclosure trade secrets and privileged or confidential 
commercial or financial information.
    Consultation outside the agency: A representative group of large FR 
2420 respondents was consulted in December 2016 to better understand 
the reasons banks were shifting Eurodollar deposits from Caribbean 
Islands to deposits at their U.S. branches. Additionally, large 
commercial banks were also consulted in late 2017 about the proposed 
changes to the FR 2420. The comments from the large FR 2420 respondents 
and the representative group were considered and incorporated into this 
proposal. Outreach was also done to the major federal funds and 
Eurodollar deposit brokers to better understand the extent to which new 
institutions would be required to report in the FR 2420. These brokers 
reported that there may be a few additional institutions, but that 
institutions actively negotiating deposits in their U.S. offices are 
the same institutions actively funding through Eurodollar deposits, or 
those that formerly were actively funding through Eurodollars. The 
banks consulted confirmed that the deposits intended to be captured in 
the new Part D could be an important wholesale funding source for 
reporting institutions. To ensure that the instructions have captured 
the key potential elements of transactions in this wholesale funding 
source, the characteristics listed for deposits reportable in the new 
Part D will be available for public comment.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 15, 2018.
Ann Misback,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2018-10669 Filed 5-17-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P