[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47340-47344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19369]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury; 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board); and Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: Joint notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA), the OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (the agencies) may 
not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond 
to, an information collection unless it

[[Page 47341]]

displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
control number. On April 29, 2019, the agencies, under the auspices of 
the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), 
requested public comment for 60 days on a proposal to extend for three 
years, without revision, the Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) and 
the Country Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 009a), which are 
currently approved collections of information. The comment period for 
this notice expired on June 28, 2019. As described in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section, after considering the comments received on the 
proposal, the FFIEC and agencies will proceed with the extension of the 
FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a with modifications in response to comments. In 
addition, the agencies are giving notice that they are sending the 
collections to OMB for review.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by October 9, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to 
any or all of the agencies. All comments, which should refer to the OMB 
control number(s), will be shared among the agencies.
    OCC: You may submit comments, which should refer to ``FFIEC 009 and 
FFIEC 009a,'' by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Mail: Chief Counsel's Office, Office of the Comptroller of 
the Currency, Attention: 1557-0100, 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, 
Washington, DC 20219.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, 
Washington, DC 20219.
    Instructions: You must include ``OCC'' as the agency name and 
``1557-0100'' in your comment. In general, the OCC will publish 
comments on www.reginfo.gov without change, including any business or 
personal information provided, such as name and address information, 
email addresses, or phone numbers. Comments received, including 
attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public 
record and subject to public disclosure. Do not include any information 
in your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential 
or inappropriate for public disclosure.
    You may review comments and other related materials that pertain to 
this information collection beginning on the date of publication of the 
second notice for this collection by any of the following methods:
     Viewing Comments Electronically: Go to www.reginfo.gov. 
Click on the ``Information Collection Review'' tab. Underneath the 
``Currently under Review'' section heading, from the drop-down menu 
select ``Department of Treasury'' and then click ``submit.'' This 
information collection can be located by searching by OMB control 
number ``1557-0100'' or ``FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a.'' Upon finding the 
appropriate information collection, click on the related ``ICR 
Reference Number.'' On the next screen, select ``View Supporting 
Statement and Other Documents'' and then click on the link to any 
comment listed at the bottom of the screen.
     For assistance in navigating www.reginfo.gov, please 
contact the Regulatory Information Service Center at (202) 482-7340.
     Viewing Comments Personally: You may personally inspect 
comments at the OCC, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC. For security 
reasons, the OCC requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect 
comments. You may do so by calling (202) 649-6700 or, for persons who 
are deaf or hearing impaired, TTY, (202) 649-5597. Upon arrival, 
visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo 
identification and submit to security screening in order to inspect 
comments.
    Board: You may submit comments, which should refer to ``FFIEC 009 
and FFIEC 009a,'' by any of the following methods:
     Agency Website: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``FFIEC 
009 and FFIEC 009a'' 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 on the Board's website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as submitted, 
unless modified for technical reasons or to remove personally 
identifiable information at the commenter's request. Accordingly, 
comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact 
information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in 
paper in Room 146, 1709 New York Avenue 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.
    FDIC: You may submit comments, which should refer to ``FFIEC 009 
and FFIEC 009a,'' by any of the following methods:
     Agency website: https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the FDIC's 
website.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 
009a'' in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Manuel E. Cabeza, Counsel, Attn: Comments, Room MB-
3128, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20429.
     Hand Delivery: Comments may be hand delivered to the guard 
station at the rear of the 550 17th Street Building (located on F 
Street) on business days between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
    Public Inspection: All comments received will be posted without 
change to https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/, including any 
personal information provided. Paper copies of public comments may be 
requested from the FDIC Public Information Center, 3501 North Fairfax 
Drive, Arlington, VA 22226, or by telephone at (877) 275-3342 or (703) 
562-2200.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
OMB desk officers for the agencies by mail to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, New 
Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20503; by fax to (202) 395-6974; or by email to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about the 
information collections discussed in this notice, please contact any of 
the agency staff whose names appear below. In addition, copies of the 
FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a reporting forms can be obtained at the FFIEC's 
website (https://www.ffiec.gov/ffiec_report_forms.htm).
    OCC: Kevin Korzeniewski, Counsel, Chief Counsel's Office, (202) 
649-5490, or for persons who are deaf or hearing impaired, TTY, (202) 
649-5597.
    Board: Nuha Elmaghrabi, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer, 
(202) 452-3884, Office of the Chief Data

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Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C 
Streets NW, Washington, DC 20551.
    FDIC: Manuel E. Cabeza, Counsel, (202) 898-3767, Legal Division, 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 29, 2019, the agencies requested 
public comment on a proposal to extend for three years, without 
revision, the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a. The agencies received one 
comment letter.
    The commenter, a banking trade association, raised issues related 
to consistency in certain defined terms and reporting treatments 
between the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a, and other information collections 
undertaken by the FFIEC, its member entities, and Treasury.
    First, the commenter stated that, while the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 
009a instructions define domicile of counterparties on the basis of 
``country of incorporation or charter,'' the definition is not uniform 
across all FFIEC and Board reports. This definition, while consistent 
with that used in some non-FFIEC reports (i.e., Treasury International 
Capital or ``TIC'' reports and the Board's FR Y-15), is inconsistent 
with the terms ``principal business address'' and ``country in which 
the obligor is headquartered'' used in the Call Report \1\ as well as 
the Board's FR Y-9C and FR Y-14Q. The agencies believe the definition 
of domicile using ``country of incorporation or charter'' provides a 
clearer basis for determination of domicile and a more consistent basis 
over time for the purposes of the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a, which is 
designed to provide a more detailed and accurate view of cross-border 
country exposures than the other reports. Accordingly, the agencies 
propose to retain the ``country of incorporation or charter'' 
definition for reporting the domicile of counterparties in the FFIEC 
009 and FFIEC 009a instructions.
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    \1\ The Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income, also 
referred to as the FFIEC 031, FFIEC 041, and FFIEC 051 reports.
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    Second, the commenter stated the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a 
instructions, in defining financial institutions for sector reporting, 
include some different categories of institutions in the non-bank 
financial institutions sector when compared to three Board reports (FR 
Y-15, FR 2510, and FR Y-9C). The FFIEC 009 instructions specifically 
include private equity companies, finance companies, and mortgage 
companies along with other types of institutions in the definition of 
non-bank financial institutions, while the instructions for the Board's 
FR Y-15 specifically exclude finance companies and do not mention 
private equity companies or mortgage companies in the definition of 
``financial institutions'' used in specifying interconnectedness 
indicators (Schedule B). The agencies note that the definition of non-
bank financial institutions in the Board's FR 2510 corresponds to the 
definition used in the FFIEC 009, and the definition of ``non-
depository financial institutions'' used in the Board's FR Y-9C 
(Schedule HC-C) includes finance companies, mortgage companies, and 
mortgage finance companies among other types of institutions. The 
agencies believe that private equity companies, finance companies, and 
mortgage companies are meaningful components of the non-bank financial 
sector for purposes of the FFIEC 009 and that collected data on 
exposures to these types of companies would be less useful if included 
together with the corporate sector. The agencies also note that it is 
important for data collected in the FFIEC 009 to be comparable to data 
gathered for the same purpose by other jurisdictions, so that these 
data can be combined by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) 
into meaningful global aggregate statistical data that are issued as 
the BIS Consolidated Banking Statistics (CBS); these aggregate data are 
relied upon by FFIEC member entities (including the agencies) and many 
others to monitor and analyze global banking and financial conditions. 
The definition in the FFIEC 009 instructions of these types of 
companies as non-bank financial companies conforms with the definition 
under the CBS. Therefore, the agencies propose to retain the definition 
of non-bank financial sector that includes these types of companies.
    Third, the commenter stated that, as a result of a recent change in 
U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the FFIEC 009 and 
FFIEC 009a would collect operating lease liabilities without capturing 
corresponding operating lease assets. The commenter considered this 
treatment to be inappropriately asymmetric and recommended that 
operating lease liabilities be excluded from reporting on Schedule L of 
the FFIEC 009. The agencies agree that operating lease right-of-use 
assets should properly be excluded from reporting on the FFIEC 009, 
like other fixed assets, but believes that operating lease liabilities 
are now reportable as liabilities under GAAP, and thus should be 
included in foreign liabilities for purposes of the FFIEC 009. Unlike 
financial-statement collections such as the Call Report or the Board's 
FR Y-9C, the FFIEC 009 is designed to collect additional detail for 
specific types of claims and liabilities and not to reflect a 
comprehensive and symmetric balance sheet. Therefore, the agencies 
propose to not exclude operating lease liabilities from Schedule L of 
the FFIEC 009.
    Fourth, the commenter noted that Schedule L of the FFIEC 009 
requires reporting of short sales by country of the counterparty to 
which the foreign office owes delivery until the settlement date. The 
commenter believed this treatment to be inconsistent with the 
corresponding treatment in the Board's FR 2510, which provides that the 
immediate counterparty country and sector for short sale contracts are 
those of the issuer of the financial instrument that has been sold 
short. The commenter recommended that the reporting of short sales in 
Schedule L of the FFIEC 009 should be revised to conform with the 
treatment provided in the Board's FR 2510. The agencies also note that 
the reporting of short sales in the Board's FR 2510 is consistent with 
the BIS guidelines for reporting CBS data (``CBS Guidelines'').\2\ 
Therefore, the agencies agree with the commenter and propose to revise 
the instructions for Schedule L so that reporting of short sales is 
based on the immediate counterparty and sector of the issuer rather 
than that of the counterparty to the short-sale transaction.
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    \2\ BIS, Monetary and Economic Department, Reporting guidelines 
for the BIS international banking statistics (July 2019) available 
at https://www.bis.org/statistics/bankstatsguide.pdf.
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    Fifth, the commenter noted a difference in treatment between the 
FFIEC 009 and U.S. GAAP for netting trading assets against trading 
liabilities in the same security (i.e., Committee on Uniform Security 
Identification Procedures (CUSIP) netting) and stated that changing the 
FFIEC 009 instructions to align with netting under U.S. GAAP would 
reduce the burden on banking organizations required to report the FFIEC 
009. To address this concern, the commenter recommended that CUSIP 
netting for purposes of the FFIEC 009 be aligned with netting permitted 
under U.S. GAAP to simplify the currently required operational and 
reconciliation processes. The agencies believe that aligning CUSIP 
netting with U.S. GAAP for country exposure reporting would potentially 
distort such reporting in cases in which the office holding the 
position, the issuer of the underlying security, and the counterparty 
to the short position are not the same. The agencies also note

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that it is important for data collected in the FFIEC 009 to be 
comparable to data gathered for the same purpose by other 
jurisdictions, so that these data can be combined by the BIS into 
meaningful global aggregate statistical data as the CBS. Aligning CUSIP 
netting with U.S. GAAP for country exposure reporting by U.S. banking 
organizations in the FFIEC 009 would create a key inconsistency between 
U.S. data and data provided by other jurisdictions which adhere to 
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) because IFRS does 
not allow for CUSIP netting. Therefore, the agencies propose to retain 
the current, more limited use of CUSIP netting described in the FFIEC 
009 instructions.
    Finally, the commenter suggested that items to be excluded under 
Schedule C and Schedule L of the FFIEC 009 should be more specifically 
identified and the list of exclusions should be expanded. The commenter 
recommended that certain cross-border claims (i.e., bank-owned or 
company-owned life insurance, deferred tax assets, physical commodities 
held in inventory, initial margin, pension assets, and cash in vault) 
should be excluded from Schedule C of the FFIEC 009 and that deferred 
tax liabilities should be excluded from Schedule L.
    As a general matter, the agencies believe that the decision to 
include or exclude items as in Schedule C of the FFIEC 009 should be 
based on whether the items represent financial claims (or, for Schedule 
L, foreign office financial liabilities) in order to provide a proper 
and meaningful basis for the agencies to analyze country exposure, and 
should be consistent with the CBS Guidelines in order that data 
collected in the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a would be comparable with data 
being provided to CBS by other jurisdictions.
    In this context, the agencies agree with the commenter that bank-
owned and company-owned life insurance, physical commodities held in 
inventory, and pension assets should not be considered financial claims 
for purposes of the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a. Therefore, the agencies 
propose to revise the instructions to exclude these items from 
reporting in the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a by adding them to the list of 
``Exclude'' items in section II.A of the instructions to the FFIEC 009.
    The agencies do not agree with the commenter with regard to initial 
margin because the agencies believe that initial margin represents a 
financial claim like others related to derivatives. The agencies 
therefore propose that initial margin should continue to be reported as 
part of derivative claims in Schedule D.
    The agencies believe that cash in vault represents a financial 
claim and, moreover, that this claim is subject to transfer risk, an 
important element of the risks that may be associated with cross-border 
financial claims. As a result, the agencies do not agree with the 
commenter and propose that cash in vault should continue to be reported 
in the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a.
    Finally, the agencies do not agree with the commenter that deferred 
tax assets and liabilities are not financial claims. In addition, the 
agencies note that deferred tax assets and liabilities are specifically 
identified in the CBS Guidelines as reportable claims (liabilities). 
Therefore, the agencies propose to retain the current inclusion of 
deferred tax assets and liabilities among reportable items in the FFIEC 
009 and FFIEC 009a.
    To provide sufficient time for respondents to make any changes to 
their reporting systems that may be needed to reflect the agencies' 
proposed instructional revisions discussed above, the agencies will 
permit respondents to file the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a for the periods 
ending September 30, 2019, and December 31, 2019, using either the 
existing definitions or the revised definitions for the items discussed 
above.
    Report Titles: Country Exposure Report and Country Exposure 
Information Report.
    Form Numbers: FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
    Affected Public: Business or other for profit.

OCC

    OMB Number: 1557-0100.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 11 (FFIEC 009), 5 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 131 hours (FFIEC 009), 6 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 5,764 hours (FFIEC 009), 120 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).

Board

    OMB Number: 7100-0035.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 (FFIEC 009), 35 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 131 hours (FFIEC 009), 6 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 25,676 hours (FFIEC 009), 840 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).

FDIC

    OMB Number: 3064-0017.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 15 (FFIEC 009), 12 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 131 hours (FFIEC 009), 6 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 7,860 hours (FFIEC 009), 288 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).

General Description of Reports

    The Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) is filed quarterly with the 
agencies and provides information on international claims of U.S. 
banks, savings associations, bank holding companies, savings and loan 
holding companies, and intermediate holding companies (U.S. banking 
organizations) that is used for supervisory and analytical purposes. 
The information is used to monitor the foreign country exposures of 
reporting institutions to determine the degree of risk in their 
portfolios and assess the potential risk of loss. Information reported 
in the FFIEC 009 also serves as the source for country risk exposure 
data for U.S. banking organizations that the BIS combines with 
comparable data from other jurisdictions into global aggregate 
statistical data on country risk exposure as the BIS CBS. The Country 
Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 009a) is a supplement to the FFIEC 
009 and provides publicly available information on material foreign 
country exposures (all exposures to a country in excess of 1 percent of 
total assets or 20 percent of capital, whichever is less) of U.S. 
banking organizations that file the FFIEC 009 report. As part of the 
Country Exposure Information Report, reporting institutions also must 
furnish a list of countries in which they have lending exposures above 
0.75 percent of total assets or 15 percent of total capital, whichever 
is less.

Statutory Basis and Confidential Treatment

    These information collections are mandatory under the following 
statutes: 12 U.S.C. 161 and 1817 (national banks), 12 U.S.C. 1464 
(federal savings associations), 12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1) and (2), 1844(c), 
and 3906 (state member banks and bank holding companies); 12 U.S.C. 
1467a(b)(2)(A) (savings and loan holding companies); 12 U.S.C. 5365(a) 
(intermediate holding companies); and 12 U.S.C. 1817 and 1820 (insured 
state nonmember commercial and savings banks and insured state savings 
associations). The FFIEC 009 information collection is given 
confidential treatment (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and (b)(8)). The FFIEC 009a 
information collection is not given confidential treatment.

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Request for Comment

    The agencies invite comment on the following topics related to 
these collections of information:
    (a) Whether the information collections are necessary for the 
proper performance of the agencies' functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of the agencies' estimates of the burden of the 
information collections, 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 collections on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    (e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    Comments submitted in response to this joint notice will be shared 
among the agencies. All comments will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: August 30, 2019
Theodore J. Dowd,
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, September 3, 
2019.
Ann Misback,
Secretary of the Board.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

    Dated at Washington, DC, on September 3, 2019.
Valerie J. Best,
Assistant Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-19369 Filed 9-6-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-33-6210-01-6714-01-P