[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 239 (Friday, December 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80100-80101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27345]


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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 
Consolidated Holding Company Report of Equity Investments in 
Nonfinancial Companies (FR Y-12; OMB No. 7100-0300) and the Annual 
Report of Merchant Banking Investments Held for an Extended Period (FR 
Y-12A; OMB No. 7100-0300). The revisions are applicable for the 
December 31, 2020 reporting date.

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. 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 PRA to approve and assign OMB control numbers to 
collections of information conducted or sponsored by the Board. Board-
approved collections of information are incorporated into the official 
OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. The OMB 
inventory, as well as copies of the PRA Submission, supporting 
statements, and approved collection of information instrument(s) are 
available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. These documents 
are also available on the Federal Reserve 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 above.
    Final Approval under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for 
Three Years, With Revision, of the Following Information Collection:
    Report Title: Consolidated Bank Holding Company Report of Equity 
Investments in Nonfinancial Companies, and the Annual Report of 
Merchant Banking Investments Held for an Extended Period.
    Agency form number: FR Y-12 and FR Y-12A, respectively.
    OMB control number: 7100-0300.
    Effective Date: December 31, 2020.
    Frequency: FR Y-12, quarterly and semiannually; and FR Y-12A, 
annually.
    Respondents: Bank holding companies (BHCs), savings and loan 
holding companies (SLHCs), U.S. intermediate holding companies (IHCs), 
and financial holding companies (FHCs) that hold merchant banking 
investments that are approaching the end of the holding periods 
permissible under Regulation Y.\1\
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    \1\ In 2012, the Board indicated that it would require 
supervised securities holding companies (``SHCs'') to file the FR Y-
12 and FR Y-12A reports. 77 FR 32881, 32883 (June 4, 2012). However, 
no such revisions were ever made to include SHCs as respondents on 
either report. Upon reflection, the Board has determined that it 
would not be appropriate at this time to add supervised SHCs to the 
respondent panel for the FR Y-12 or FR Y-12A reports. A supervised 
SHCs would not be subject to the restrictions on nonbanking 
activities that limit the investments of other holding companies. 
Therefore, any information gathered about SHCs' investments on the 
FR Y-12 would be of limited use, and would not be comparable to data 
gathered from other holding companies. Moreover, adding supervised 
SHCs to the FR Y-12 reporting panel would require significant 
revisions to the FR Y-12 instructions in order to account for the 
differences in legal treatment between supervised SHCs and the other 
respondents. Such revisions could lead to confusion among current FR 
Y-12 reporters. With respect to the FR Y-12A, the Board is not 
proposing to add supervised SHCs to the respondent panel because 
supervised SHCs are not restricted in their ability to make 
investments in nonfinancial companies, and their investments are not 
subject to the merchant bank holding periods that apply to FHC 
investments.
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    Number of respondents: FR Y-12 quarterly, 22; FR Y-12 semiannual, 
7; and FR Y-12A, 91.
    Estimated average hours per response: FR Y-12, 16.5; and FR Y-12A, 
7.5.
    Estimated annual reporting hours: FR Y-12 quarterly, 1,452; FR Y-12 
semiannual, 231; and FR Y-12A, 683.
    General description of report: The mandatory FR Y-12 report 
collects information from certain domestic bank

[[Page 80101]]

holding companies (BHCs), savings and loan holding companies (SLHCs), 
and U.S. intermediate holding companies (IHCs) on their equity 
investments in nonfinancial companies. Respondents report the FR Y-12 
either quarterly or semi-annually based on criteria in the report. The 
mandatory FR Y-12A report is filed annually by financial holding 
companies (FHCs) that hold merchant banking investments that are 
approaching the end of the holding periods permissible under the 
Board's Regulation Y.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board is authorized to 
collect information on the FR Y-12 and FR Y-12A reports from BHCs 
(including BHCs that are FHCs) pursuant to section 5(c) of the Bank 
Holding Company Act (BHC Act), 12 U.S.C. 1844(c)(1)(A); from SLHCs 
pursuant to section 10(b)(2) of the Home Owners' Loan Act, 12 U.S.C. 
1467a(b)(2), as amended by sections 369(8) and 604(h)(2) of the Dodd-
Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act); 
and from IHCs pursuant to section 5(c) of the BHC Act, 12 U.S.C. 
1844(c)(1)(A), as well as pursuant to sections 102(a)(1) and 165 of the 
Dodd-Frank Act, 12 U.S.C. 5311(a)(1) and 5365 \2\ and Regulation YY, 12 
CFR 252.153(b)(2).
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    \2\ Section 165(b)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act, 12 U.S.C. 
5365(b)(2), refers to ``foreign-based bank holding company.'' 
Section 102(a)(1) of the Dodd-Frank Act, 12 U.S.C. 5311(a)(1), 
defines ``bank holding company'' for purposes of Title I of the 
Dodd-Frank Act to include foreign banking organizations that are 
treated as bank holding companies under section 8(a) of the 
International Banking Act, 12 U.S.C. 3106(a). The Board has 
required, pursuant to section 165(b)(1)(B)(iv) of the Dodd-Frank 
Act, 12 U.S.C. 5365(b)(1)(B)(iv), certain of the foreign banking 
organizations that are subject to section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act 
to form U.S. intermediate holding companies. Accordingly, the parent 
foreign-based organization of a U.S. IHC is treated as a BHC for 
purposes of the BHC Act and section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act. 
Because section 5(c) of the BHC Act authorizes the Board to require 
reports from subsidiaries of BHCs, section 5(c) provides additional 
authority to require U.S. IHCs to report the information contained 
in the FR Y-12 and FR Y-12A reports.
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    In addition, with respect to the FR Y-12A report, section 
4(k)(7)(A) of the BHC Act, 12 U.S.C. 1843(k)(7)(A), authorizes the 
Board and the Treasury Department to jointly develop implementing 
regulations governing merchant banking activities for purposes of 
section 4(k)(4)(H) of the BHC Act. Section 4(k)(4)(H) of the BHC Act, 
12 U.S.C. 1843(k)(4)(H), and subpart J of the Board's Regulation Y, 12 
CFR 225.170 et seq., authorize a BHC that has made an effective FHC 
election to acquire merchant banking investments that are not otherwise 
permissible for an FHC. Section 10(c)(2)(H) of HOLA, as amended by 
section 606(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act, 12 U.S.C. 1467a(c)(2)(H), and 
section 8(a) of the International Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. 3106(a), extend 
certain authorities and requirements of the BHC Act to SLHCs and to 
foreign banks, respectively.
    The obligation to respond to the FR Y-12 and FR Y-12A reports is 
mandatory. The Board does not consider information collected on the FR 
Y-12 report to be confidential, and the completed version of this 
report generally is made available to the public upon request. However, 
in certain instances, specific information collected on an individual 
institution's FR Y-12 report may be exempt from disclosure pursuant to 
exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which protects 
from public disclosure ``trade secrets and commercial or financial 
information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or 
confidential'' (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). A reporting holding company may 
request confidential treatment for the specific data items the company 
believes should be withheld pursuant to exemption 4 of the FOIA, as 
provided in the Board's Rules Regarding Availability of Information (12 
CFR part 261.15). A request for confidential treatment should be 
submitted in writing concurrently with the submission of the FR Y-12 
report. This written request must identify the specific data for which 
confidential treatment is sought and must provide the legal 
justification for which confidentiality is requested. The Federal 
Reserve will review any such request on a case-by-case basis to 
determine if confidential treatment is appropriate. The Federal Reserve 
may subsequently release information for which confidential treatment 
is requested, if (1) disclosure of such information is required by law 
(other than 5 U.S.C. 552); (2) the reporting holding company requested 
confidential treatment pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and more than 10 
years have passed since the date of the submission unless the reporting 
company has requested and provided justification for a longer 
designation period; or (3) less than 10 years have passed since the 
request, but the Board believes that the information cannot be withheld 
from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), and the reporting holding 
company is provided with written notice of the Board's views and with 
an opportunity to object to the Board's disclosure.
    Current actions: On August 21, 2020, the Board published an initial 
notice in the Federal Register (85 FR 51719) requesting public comment 
for 60 days on the extension, with revision, of the FR Y-12 and the 
extension, without revision, of the FR Y-12A. The Board revised the FR 
Y-12 by (1) adding a new column to Schedules A and C to capture 
unrealized holding gains (losses) on equity securities not held for 
trading recognized as income in accordance with Accounting Standards 
Update (ASU 2016-01, ``Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets 
and Financial Liabilities''); (2) adding guidance to the instructions 
for the reporting of equity securities in accordance with ASU 2016-01; 
and (3) making other minor clarifications and conforming edits to the 
form and instructions. The revisions to the FR Y-12 are applicable as 
of the December 31, 2020, reporting date. The comment period for this 
notice expired on October 20, 2020. The Board did not receive any 
comments. The revisions will be implemented as proposed.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 7, 
2020.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2020-27345 Filed 12-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P