[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 41 (Monday, March 2, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12298-12300]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04195]


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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 Survey of Small Business and Farm Lending (SSBFL) (FR 2028; OMB No. 
7100-0061).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 1, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 2028, by any of 
the following methods:
     Agency website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     Email: [email protected]. Include the 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 
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.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
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,

[[Page 12299]]

725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA) OMB submission, including the 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 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1984, OMB delegated to the Board 
authority under the PRA to approve and assign OMB control numbers to 
collections of information 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: Survey of Small Business and Farm Lending.
    Agency form number: FR 2028.
    OMB control number: 7100-0061.
    Frequency: Quarterly.
    Respondents: Domestically chartered commercial banks.
    Estimated number of respondents: FR 2028B--250, FR 2028S--250, FR 
2028D--398.
    Estimated average hours per response: FR 2028B--1.4, FR 2028S--0.1, 
FR 2028D--3.0.
    Estimated annual burden hours: FR 2028B--1,400, FR 2028S--100, FR 
2028D--4,776.
    General description of report: The SSBFL (previously the Survey of 
Terms of Lending) collects unique information concerning price and 
certain nonprice terms of loans made to businesses and farmers each 
quarter (February, May, August, and November). The FR 2028B collects 
detailed data on individual loans funded during the first full business 
week of the mid-month of each quarter and the FR 2028S collects the 
prime interest rate for each day of the survey week from FR 2028B 
respondents. The FR 2028D provides focused and enhanced information on 
small business lending including rates, terms, credit availability, and 
reasons for their changes. The FR 2028D collects quarterly average 
quantitative data on terms of small business loans and qualitative 
information on changes and the reasons for changes in the terms of 
lending. From these sample SSBFL data, estimates of the terms of 
business loans and farm loans extended are constructed. The aggregate 
estimates for business loans are published in the Federal Reserve Bank 
of Kansas City's quarterly release, Small Business Lending Survey, and 
aggregate estimates for farm loans are published in the statistical 
release, Agricultural Finance Databook.
    Proposed revisions: The Federal Reserve proposes to implement 
revisions to the FR 2028D reporting requirements, forms and 
instructions, to be effective with the reports as of August 1, 2020. 
Most of the revisions are proposed to minimize burden on respondents. 
These changes include removing items related to base lending rates, 
secured loans and loan guarantees. Additionally, questions related to 
low and moderate income (LMI) tracts have been removed from the survey 
as have two qualitative questions ranking the relative weight of 
certain survey responses. A question related to credit card loans has 
been added to the survey for those respondents with an asset size of 
greater than $10 billion. Changes to the instructions are clarifying in 
nature or address changes to the form. One change broadens the 
definition of small business lending to allow institutions that do not 
track borrowers' organization revenue to participate in the survey. 
Additionally, revisions have been made to the Frequently Asked 
Questions section to increase clarity of form definitions.

Small Business Lending Survey Form Deletions

    Questions determined to provide lower value, in comparison to the 
burden imposed on respondents required to track and respond, would be 
removed from the survey. Survey questions related to weighted average 
base rates and the number and dollar amount of secured loans would be 
removed, eliminating 12 questions each for fixed rate and variable rate 
small business commercial and industrial (C&I) loans. Questions related 
to loan guarantees, including those referencing Small Business 
Administration loans, would also be removed, a reduction of 22 
questions for fixed rate loans and 16 questions for variable rate 
loans. Four questions each were removed for fixed rate and variable 
rate loans regarding number of loans at the interest rate floor, and 
five questions related to LMI tracts for Community Reinvestment Act 
purposes would be removed. Finally, two questions ranking the relative 
weight of certain survey responses would be eliminated.

Small Business Lending Survey Form Additions

    For institutions with an asset size greater than $10 billion, 
questions related to credit card lending would be added to the survey. 
Six questions, each for fixed and variable rate lending, would be added 
for the purpose of improving clarity in small business C&I lending and 
to identify situations where interest rates on credit card loans may 
skew data on weighted average interest rates. Additionally, an option 
to choose the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) as an 
institution's base rate for C&I small business lending would be added 
to questions 1 and 2 of the survey.

Survey Period

    The Federal Reserve proposes a change to begin the transmission 
period two weeks earlier to extend the

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transmission time for respondents to 28 calendar days, allowing 
additional time for reporters to prepare and transmit data.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2028 is authorized 
by section 11(a)(2) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(a)(2)), 
which authorizes the Board to require any depository institution to 
make such reports of its assets and liabilities as the Board may 
determine to be necessary or desirable to enable the Board to discharge 
its responsibilities to monitor and control monetary and credit 
aggregates. The FR 2028 survey submissions are voluntary.
    Individual respondents may request that information submitted to 
the Board through a survey under FR 2028 be kept confidential. If a 
respondent requests confidential treatment, the Board will determine 
whether the information is entitled to confidential treatment on a 
case-by-case basis. The Board will consider whether information 
collected through these surveys may be kept confidential under 
exemption 4 for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which protects 
privileged or confidential commercial or financial information (5 
U.S.C. 552(b)(4)), or any other applicable FOIA exemption.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 25, 
2020.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Assistant Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2020-04195 Filed 2-28-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P