[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 62 (Tuesday, March 31, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17886-17888]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-06686]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2020-N-6]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: Members of Federal Home Loan Banks--30-day notice of submission 
of information collection for approval from Office of Management and 
Budget.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking 
public comments concerning an information collection known as ``Members 
of the Banks,'' which has been assigned control number 2590-0003 by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FHFA intends to submit the 
information collection to OMB for review and approval of a three-year 
extension of the control number, which is due to expire on March 31, 
2020.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before April 30, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer 
for the Federal Housing Finance Agency,

[[Page 17887]]

Washington, DC 20503, Fax: (202) 395-3047, Email: 
[email protected]. Please also submit comments to FHFA, 
identified by ``Proposed Collection; Comment Request: `Members of the 
Banks, (No. 2020-N-6)''' by any of the following methods:
     Agency website: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your 
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email 
to FHFA at [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by the agency.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth 
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219, ATTENTION: Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: ``Members of the Banks, (No. 2020-N-6).''
    We will post all public comments we receive without change, 
including any personal information you provide, such as your name and 
address, email address, and telephone number, on the FHFA website at 
http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will 
be available for examination by the public through the electronic 
comment docket for this PRA Notice also located on the FHFA website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan F. Curtis, Financial Analyst, 
Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation, 
[email protected], (202) 649-3321; or Eric Raudenbush, Associate 
General Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3084, (these are 
not toll-free numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh 
Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the 
Deaf is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    The Federal Home Loan Bank System consists of eleven regional 
Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) and the Office of Finance (a joint 
office of the Banks that issues and services the Banks' debt 
securities). The Banks are wholesale financial institutions, organized 
under the authority of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to 
serve the public interest by enhancing the availability of residential 
housing finance and community lending credit through their member 
institutions and, to a limited extent, through certain eligible 
nonmembers. Each Bank is structured as a regional cooperative that is 
owned and controlled by member institutions located within its 
district, which are also its primary customers. The Banks carry out 
their public policy functions primarily by providing low cost loans, 
known as advances, to their members. With limited exceptions, an 
institution may obtain advances and access other products and services 
provided by a Bank only if it is a member of that Bank.
    The Bank Act limits membership in any Bank to specific types of 
financial institutions located within the Bank's district that meet 
specific eligibility requirements. Section 4 of the Bank Act specifies 
the types of institutions that may be eligible for membership and 
establishes eligibility requirements that each type of applicant must 
meet in order to become a Bank member.\1\ That provision also specifies 
that (with limited exceptions) an eligible institution may become a 
member only of the Bank of the district in which the institution's 
``principal place of business'' is located.\2\ With respect to the 
termination of Bank membership, section 6(d) of the Bank Act sets forth 
requirements pursuant to which an institution may voluntarily withdraw 
from membership or a Bank may terminate an institution's membership for 
cause.\3\
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    \1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1424(a).
    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1424(b).
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1426(d).
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B. Need For and Use of the Information Collection

    FHFA's regulation entitled ``Members of the Banks,'' located at 12 
CFR part 1263, implements the statutory provisions on Bank membership 
and otherwise establishes substantive and procedural requirements 
relating to the initiation and termination of membership. Many of the 
provisions in the membership regulation require that an institution 
submit information to a Bank or to FHFA, in most cases to demonstrate 
compliance with statutory or regulatory requirements or to request 
action by the Bank or Agency.
    There are four types of information collections that may occur 
under part 1263. First, the regulation provides that (with limited 
exceptions) no institution may become a member of a Bank unless it has 
submitted to that Bank an application that documents the applicant's 
compliance with the statutory and regulatory membership eligibility 
requirements and that otherwise includes all required information and 
materials.\4\ Second, the regulation provides applicants that have been 
denied membership by a Bank the option of appealing the decision to 
FHFA. To file such an appeal, an applicant must submit to FHFA a copy 
of the Bank's decision resolution denying its membership application 
and a statement of the basis for the appeal containing sufficient 
facts, information, and analysis to support the applicant's 
position.\5\ Third, the regulation provides that, in order to initiate 
a voluntary withdrawal from Bank membership, a member must submit to 
its Bank a written notice of intent to withdraw.\6\ Fourth, under 
certain circumstances, the regulation permits a member of one Bank to 
transfer its membership to a second Bank ``automatically'' without 
either initiating a voluntary withdrawal from the first Bank or 
submitting a membership application to the second Bank. Despite the 
regulatory reference to such a transfer as being ``automatic,'' a 
member meeting the criteria for an automatic transfer must initiate the 
transfer process by filing a request with its current Bank, which will 
then arrange the details of the transfer with the second Bank.\7\
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    \4\ See 12 CFR 1263.2(a), 1263.6-1263.9, 1263.11-1263.18.
    \5\ See 12 CFR 1263.5.
    \6\ See 12 CFR 1263.26.
    \7\ See 12 CFR 1263.4(b), 1263.18(d), (e).
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    The Banks use most of the information collected under part 1263 to 
determine whether an applicant satisfies the statutory and regulatory 
requirements for Bank membership and should be approved as a Bank 
member. The Banks may use some of the information collected under part 
1263 as a means of learning that a member wishes to withdraw or to 
transfer its membership to a different Bank so that the Bank can begin 
to process those requests. In rare cases, FHFA may use the collected 
information to determine whether an institution that has been denied 
membership by a Bank should be permitted to become a member of that 
Bank.
    The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0003, which is due to expire on March 31, 2020. The likely respondents 
are financial institutions that are, or are applying to become, Bank 
members.

C. Burden Estimate

    FHFA has analyzed the time burden imposed on respondents by the 
four collections under this control number and estimates that the 
average annual burden imposed on all respondents by those collections 
over the next three years will be 2,188 hours. This estimate is derived 
from the following calculations:

[[Page 17888]]

1. Membership Applications

    FHFA estimates that the average number of applications for Bank 
membership submitted annually will be 144 and that the average time to 
prepare and submit an application and supporting materials will be 15 
hours. Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour burden associated 
with preparation and submission of applications for Bank membership is 
(144 applications x 15 hours per application) = 2,160 hours.

2. Appeals of Membership Denials

    FHFA estimates that the average number of applicants that have been 
denied membership by a Bank that will appeal such a denial to FHFA will 
be 1 and that the average time to prepare and submit an application for 
appeal will be 10 hours. Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour 
burden associated with the preparation and submission of membership 
appeals is (1 appellants x 10 hours per application) = 10 hours.

3. Notices of Intent to Withdraw from Membership

    FHFA estimates that the average number of Bank members submitting a 
notice of intent to withdraw from membership annually will be 5 and 
that the average time to prepare and submit a notice will be 1.5 hours. 
Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour burden associated with 
preparation and submission of notices of intent to withdraw is (5 
withdrawing members x 1.5 hours per application) = 7.5, rounded to 8 
hours.

4. Requests for Transfer of Membership to Another Bank District

    FHFA estimates that the average number of Bank members submitting a 
request for transfer to another Bank will be 5 and that the average 
time to prepare and submit a request will be 2 hours. Accordingly, the 
estimate for the annual hour burden associated with preparation and 
submission of requests for automatic transfer is (5 transferring 
members x 2 hours per request) = 10 hours.

D. Comment Request

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA 
published an initial notice and request for public comments regarding 
this information collection in the Federal Register on January 22, 
2020.\8\ The 60-day comment period closed on March 23, 2020. FHFA 
received no comments.
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    \8\ See 85 FR 3683 (Jan. 22, 2020).
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    FHFA requests written comments on the following: (1) Whether the 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
FHFA functions, including whether the information has practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of FHFA's estimates of the burdens of the 
collection of information; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 
and clarity of the information collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 
burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

Robert Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2020-06686 Filed 3-30-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P