[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 26 (Thursday, February 7, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2506-2508]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01438]


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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, 
a voluntary survey of the foreign exchange and derivatives markets, the 
Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity 
(FR 3036; OMB 7100-0285).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 3036, 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

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contact information. 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, if approved. These documents will also be made available 
on the 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 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 Board's functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Board'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 Board 
should modify the proposal.

Proposal Under OMB Delegated Authority To Extend for Three Years, With 
Revision, the Following Information Collection

    Report title: The Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and 
Derivatives Market Activity.
    Agency form number: FR 3036.
    OMB control number: 7100-0285.
    Frequency: Triennially.
    Respondents: Financial institutions that serve as intermediaries in 
the wholesale foreign exchange and derivatives market and dealers.
    Estimated number of respondents: 21.
    Estimated average hours per response: 55.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 1,155.
    General description of report: The survey is a comprehensive source 
of global information on the volume of foreign exchange and derivatives 
trading and, as such, is useful to the Federal Reserve System and other 
government agencies in understanding market developments and trends. 
The data also provide the Manager of the System Open Market Account 
with information for analyzing market developments and conducting 
Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury foreign exchange operations. Survey 
data are also used by market participants to gain a perspective on the 
market that is not available from data at the firm level. Academics and 
the general public also use the survey's data for research and 
analysis.
    Proposed revisions: The Board is proposing changes to the report 
form and instructions for the Turnover survey to align with some of the 
changes being adopted in the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) 
survey. The Board proposes to revise the FR 3036 by modifying the 
Execution Method schedule for foreign exchange contracts (Table C.2) to 
merge ``Dark Pools'' \1\ with ``Other Electronic Communication 
Networks'' and renaming it under Electronic-Indirect Trading as 
``Disclosed Venues.'' ``Reuters Matching/EBS'' would be renamed under 
Electronic Indirect Trading as ``Anonymous Venues.'' These changes 
would provide better information on the evolution of electronic trading 
methods, which have accounted for a large part of the growth in foreign 
exchange turnover in recent years.
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    \1\ Dark pools are private platforms for trading securities 
especially for large trade sizes, where access is restricted and 
quotes are not revealed.
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    The Board also proposes to merge the separate reporting of bought 
options and sold options to ``Sum of Bought and Sold Options,'' to 
align with new BIS reporting guidelines on Tables A.4, A.5, and A.6. 
Additionally, the Board also proposes modifying and expanding the 
maturity breakdown for foreign exchange forwards and swaps to align 
with both broader market standards and practices as well as with the 
BIS reporting guidelines. Additionally, for single-currency interest 
rate turnover, interest rate swaps would be deleted and replaced by two 
separate categories, (1) ``overnight indexed swaps'', and (2) ``other 
swaps''. In addition, Table C.1, ``Complementary Information for 
Foreign Exchange Contracts'' would be deleted. The Board proposes to 
make several clarifications to the reporting instructions to provide 
additional guidance to the definitions used for the Execution Method 
schedule as well as to reflect the changes and deleted items from the 
report form.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division 
has determined that the FR 3036 is authorized pursuant to sections 2A 
and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (``FRA''). Section 2A of the FRA 
requires that the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) 
maintain long-run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates 
commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase 
production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum 
employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates (12 
U.S.C. 225a). Under section 12A of the FRA, the FOMC is required to

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implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted 
by Federal Reserve Banks. Those transactions must be governed with a 
view to accommodating commerce and business and with regard to their 
bearing upon the general credit situation of the country (12 U.S.C. 
263). The Board and the FOMC use the information obtained from the FR 
3036 to help fulfill these obligations.
    The FR 3036 is a voluntary survey. Because the release of this 
information would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of 
the entity from whom the information was obtained, the information 
collected on the FR 3036 may be granted confidential treatment under 
exemption (b)(4) of the Freedom of Information Act, (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)(4)), which protects from disclosure ``trade secrets and 
commercial or financial information obtained from a person and 
privileged or confidential.''
    Consultation outside the agency: This survey is being coordinated 
by the BIS with other participating central banks.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 4, 
2019.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Assistant Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2019-01438 Filed 2-6-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P