[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 116 (Monday, June 17, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28051-28052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12692]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board 
Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
is adopting a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the 
Uniform Application for Municipal Securities Principal or Municipal 
Securities Representative Associated with a Bank Municipal Securities 
Dealer (Form MSD-4; OMB No. 7100-0100) and the Uniform Termination 
Notice for Municipal Securities Principal or Municipal Securities 
Representative Associated with a Bank Municipal Securities Dealer (Form 
MSD-5; OMB No. 7100-0101).

DATES: The revisions are applicable as of June 1, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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.
    Office of Management and Budget (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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1984, 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. Board-approved 
collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB 
inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies of 
the PRA Submission, supporting statements and approved collection of 
information instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. 
The Board may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not 
required to respond to, an information collection that has been 
extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless 
it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for Three 
Years, With Revision, of the Following Information Collections

    Report title: The Uniform Application for Municipal Securities 
Principal or Municipal Securities Representative Associated with a Bank 
Municipal Securities Dealer.
    Agency form number: Form MSD-4.
    OMB control number: 7100-0100.
    Effective Date: June 1, 2019.
    Frequency: On occasion; a municipal securities dealer (MSD) that is 
regulated by the Board is required to file Form MSD-4 within ten days 
of a municipal securities principal's or representative's association 
with that MSD.
    Respondents: MSDs regulated by the Board that are, or are the 
subsidiary of, a state member bank (SMB), a bank holding company (BHC), 
a savings and loan holding company (SLHC), or a foreign dealer bank.
    Estimated number of respondents: 18.
    Estimated average hours per response: 1.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 18.
    General description of report: The Municipal Securities Rulemaking 
Board (MSRB) rule G-7, Information Concerning Associated Persons, 
requires persons who are or seek to be associated with an MSD as a 
municipal securities principal (a person performing supervisory 
functions) or representative (a person engaged in underwriting, 
trading, or sales of municipal securities or furnishing financial 
advice to issuers in connection with the issuance of municipal 
securities) to provide certain background information to the MSD. The 
rule also requires MSDs to obtain and report this information to the 
appropriate regulatory agency (ARA). Board-regulated MSDs must report 
to the Board information required by MSRB rule G-7 using Form MSD-4. 
Generally, the information required by Form MSD-4 relates to employment 
history and professional background, including any disciplinary 
sanctions, as well as any claimed basis for exemption from MSRB 
examination requirements.
    MSDs must retain copies of Form MSD-4 for each associated principal 
or representative during the entire term of employment and three years 
from the date of termination of employment. Completed reporting forms 
are sent as a Portable Document Format (PDF) directly to the Board via 
email.

    Report title: The Uniform Termination Notice for Municipal 
Securities Principal or Municipal Securities Representative Associated 
with a Bank Municipal Securities Dealer.
    Agency form number: Form MSD-5.
    OMB control number: 7100-0101.
    Effective Date: June 1, 2019.
    Frequency: On occasion; an MSD that is regulated by the Board is 
required to file Form MSD-5 within 30 calendar days after a principal 
or representative terminates association with that MSD.
    Respondents: MSDs regulated by the Board that are, or are the 
subsidiary of, an SMB, a BHC, an SLHC, or a foreign dealer bank.
    Estimated number of respondents: 19.
    Estimated average hours per response: 0.25.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 5.
    General description of report: Form MSD-5 is filed by a Board-
regulated MSD when any employee previously registered as a municipal 
securities principal or representative is terminated for any reason. 
Form MSD-5 requires information such as the reason for termination and 
whether any investigations or actions by agencies or self-regulatory 
organizations (SROs) involving the associated person occurred during 
the period of employment.
    Any SMB, BHC, SLHC, or foreign dealer bank registered as an MSD 
will continue to be required to file this event-generated report form 
for any employees that are terminated. MSDs must retain copies of the 
Form MSD-5 reports for three years from the date of termination of 
employment. Completed reporting forms are sent as a PDF directly to the 
Board via email.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: Sections 15B(a)-(b) and 17 
of the Securities Exchange Act (the Act) authorize the SEC and MSRB to 
promulgate rules requiring MSDs to file reports about associated 
persons with the SEC and the ARA (15 U.S.C. 78o-4(a)-(b) and (q)). In 
addition, section 15B(c) of the Act provides that ARAs may enforce 
compliance with the SEC's and MSRB's rules (15 U.S.C. 78o-4(c)). 
Section 23(a) of the Act also authorizes the SEC, the Board, and the 
other ARAs to make rules and regulations in order to implement the 
provisions of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78w(a)). Under the Act, the Board is 
the ARA for an MSD that is, or is the subsidiary of, an SLHC, SMB 
(including its divisions or departments), or BHC (including a 
subsidiary bank of

[[Page 28052]]

the BHC if the subsidiary does not already report to another ARA or to 
the SEC, and any divisions, departments, or subsidiaries of that 
subsidiary) (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(34)(A)(ii)). Although the Act does not 
specify the ARA for MSD activities of foreign banks, uninsured state 
branches or state agencies of foreign banks, commercial lending 
companies owned or controlled by a foreign bank, or Edge Act 
corporations (collectively referred to as ``foreign dealer banks''), 
the Division of Market Regulation of the SEC has agreed that the 
Federal Reserve should examine the MSD activities of foreign dealer 
banks.\1\ Accordingly, the Board's collection of Form MSD-4 and Form 
MSD-5 for these institutions is authorized pursuant to the Act.\2\
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    \1\ See Letter from Catherine McGuire, Chief Counsel, SEC's 
Division of Market Regulation, to Laura M. Homer, Assistant Director 
of Board S&R, June 14, 1994.
    \2\ 15 U.S.C. 78o-4, 78q, and 78w.
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    In addition, the Board is authorized to require that SMBs and their 
departments file reports with the Board pursuant to section 11(a)(1) of 
the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1)). Branches and agencies of 
foreign banks are subject to the reporting requirements of section 
11(a)(1) of the Federal Reserve Act pursuant to Section 7(c)(2) of the 
International Banking Act (12 U.S.C. 3105(c)(2)). BHCs and their 
subsidiaries are required to submit reports to the Board to ensure 
compliance with ``federal laws that the Board has specific jurisdiction 
to enforce'' (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)(1)(ii)(II)). Section 10(b)(2) of the 
Home Owners' Loan Act authorizes the Board to require SLHCs to file 
``such reports as may be required by the Board'' and instructs that 
such reports ``shall contain such information concerning the operations 
of such savings and loan holding company and its subsidiaries as the 
Board may require'' (12 U.S.C. 1467a(b)(2)).
    The obligation to file the forms with the Board is mandatory for 
those financial institutions for which the Board serves as the ARA, and 
the filing of both forms is event generated.
    Generally, information provided on Form MSD-4 and Form MSD-5 may be 
kept confidential from the public under exemption 6 of the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA), which protects information in ``personnel and 
medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would 
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy'' (5 
U.S.C. 552(b)(6)). In addition, other information on Form MSD-4 and 
Form MSD-5, such as the name of the MSD that filed the form, may be 
withheld under exemption 4 of the FOIA, if disclosure is reasonably 
likely to result in substantial competitive harm to the MSD (e.g., if a 
MSD recently hired or terminated a number of municipal securities 
employees, disclosing these forms could reveal competitively sensitive 
commercial information about that dealer) (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)).
    The information collected on Form MSD-4 and Form MSD-5 is 
maintained in a ``system of records'' within the meaning of the Privacy 
Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(5)). As required under the Privacy Act, the Board 
formally designated a system of records notice (SORN) for this 
information collection, which is the ``BGFRS-17, FRB--Municipal or 
Government Securities Principals and Representatives,'' located here: 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-17-municipal-or-government-securities-principals-and-representatives.pdf. Pursuant to the Privacy 
Act, disclosure of information that must be released under the FOIA 
does not violate the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(2)). However, 
disclosure of any confidential information that is considered exempt 
under the FOIA must be made in accordance with the Privacy Act (5 
U.S.C. 552a(b)). Thus, the Board may make disclosures of information 
collected on Form MSD-4 and Form MSD-5 in accordance with the Privacy 
Act's ``routine use'' disclosure provision, which permits the 
disclosure of a record for a purpose that is compatible with the 
purpose for which the record was collected (5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(7) and 
(b)(3)). The routine uses that apply to this information collection are 
listed in the SORN, which is available on the Board's website at the 
above hyperlink. Both Form MSD-4 and Form MSD-5 are being revised to 
include updated Privacy Act notices.
    Current actions: On March 5, 2019 the Board published a notice in 
the Federal Register (84 FR 7902) requesting public comment for 60 days 
on the extension, with revision, of the Uniform Application for 
Municipal Securities Principal or Municipal Securities Representative 
Associated with a Bank Municipal Securities Dealer and the Uniform 
Termination Notice for Municipal Securities Principal or Municipal 
Securities Representative Associated with a Bank Municipal Securities 
Dealer. The Board proposes to revise Form MSD-4 and Form MSD-5 to (1) 
remove the date of birth and place of birth items from the `Personal 
History of Applicant' section on Form MSD-4 and instructions; (2) make 
minor revisions to the Privacy Act statements on Form MSD-4 and Form 
MSD-5; and (3) remove the Privacy Act notice from the respective 
instructions for Form MSD-4 and Form MSD-5 (but leave the Privacy Act 
notice on the forms). The proposed revisions are effective as of June 
1, 2019. The comment period for this notice expired on May 6, 2019. The 
Board did not receive any comments. The revisions will be implemented 
as proposed.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, June 12, 2019.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Assistant Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2019-12692 Filed 6-14-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P