[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 43 (Monday, March 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13378-13379]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04762]


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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, without 
revision, the Recordkeeping Provisions Associated with Stress Testing 
Guidance (FR 4202; OMB No. 7100-0348). The Board is seeking an 
extension without revision of the FR 4202 to ensure compliance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). However, whether and how any changes 
should be made to the guidance in light of recent amendments made by 
the Board to its stress testing rules \1\ is under consideration. The 
Board will publish any proposed changes to the FR 4202 via a separate 
notice for comment.
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    \1\ See, e.g., Prudential Standards for Large Bank Holding 
Companies, Savings and Loan Holding Companies, and Foreign Banking 
Organizations, 84 FR 59032 (Nov. 1, 2019).

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DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 7, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 4202 by any of the 
following methods:
     Agency website: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx .
     Email: [email protected]. Include 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, 725 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

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.

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.
    A copy of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) OMB submission, 
including the reporting form and instructions, supporting statement, 
and other documentation will be available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, 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 above.

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 Federal Reserve's functions; including 
whether the information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Federal Reserve'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 Federal 
Reserve should modify the proposal.
    Proposal under OMB Delegated Authority to Extend for Three Years, 
Without Revision, the Following Information Collection:
    Report title: Recordkeeping Provisions Associated with Stress 
Testing Guidance.
    Agency form number: FR 4202.
    OMB control number: 7100-0348.
    Frequency: As needed.
    Respondents: Banking organizations.
    Estimated number of respondents: 100.

[[Page 13379]]

    Estimated average hours per response: 180.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 18,000.
    General description of report: On May 17, 2012, the Board published 
the Supervisory Guidance on Stress Testing for Banking Organizations 
With More Than $10 Billion in Total Consolidated Assets (Stress Testing 
Guidance) in the Federal Register.\2\ The Stress Testing Guidance 
outlines high-level principles for stress testing practices applicable 
to all Board-supervised banking organizations with more than $10 
billion in total consolidated assets.\3\
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    \2\ 77 FR 29458. The Stress Testing Guidance was issued jointly 
by the Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the 
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
    \3\ Board-supervised banking organizations include state member 
banks, bank holding companies, savings and loan holding companies, 
and all other institutions for which the Board is the primary 
federal supervisor.
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    The Stress Testing Guidance recommends that banking organizations 
(i) have a stress testing framework that includes clearly defined 
objectives, well-designed scenarios tailored to the banking 
organization's business and risks, well-documented assumptions, 
conceptually sound methodologies to assess potential impact on the 
banking organization's financial condition, informative management 
reports, and recommended actions based on stress test results; and (ii) 
have policies and procedures for a stress testing framework. These 
recordkeeping activities are collections of information under the PRA.
    An organization should have written policies, approved and annually 
reviewed by the board, that direct and govern the implementation of the 
stress testing framework in a comprehensive manner. Policies, along 
with procedures to implement them, should
     describe the overall purpose of stress testing activities;
     articulate consistent and sufficiently rigorous stress 
testing practices across the entire organization;
     indicate stress testing roles and responsibilities, 
including controls over external resources used for any part of stress 
testing (such as vendors and data providers);
     describe the frequency and priority with which stress 
testing activities should be conducted;
     indicate how stress test results are used and by whom, and
     be reviewed and updated as necessary to ensure that stress 
testing practices remain appropriate and keep up to date with changes 
in market conditions, organization products and strategies, 
organization exposures and activities, the organization's established 
risk appetite, and industry stress testing practices.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: This voluntary information 
collection is authorized pursuant to section 11 of the Federal Reserve 
Act, 12 U.S.C. 248 (state member banks); sections 25 and 25A of the 
Federal Reserve Act, 12 U.S.C. 602 and 625 (Edge and Agreement 
corporations); section 5 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, 12 
U.S.C. 1844 (bank holding companies) and, in conjunction with section 8 
of the International Banking Act, 12 U.S.C. 3106 (foreign banking 
organizations); section 7(c) of the International Banking Act of 1978, 
12 U.S.C. 3105(c) (branches and agencies of foreign banks); section 10 
of the Home Owners' Loan Act, 12 U.S.C. 1467a, (savings and loan 
holding companies), and section 165(i) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 
Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. 5365 (nonbank financial 
companies supervised by the Board).
    Because the collections of information associated with the FR 4202 
do not involve the submission of information to the Board, no issues of 
confidentiality would normally arise. To the extent that the Board 
collects such information during an examination of the banking 
organization, confidential treatment may be afforded to that 
information under exemption 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 
(5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)), which protects information collected as part of 
the Board's supervisory process. Additionally, individual respondents 
may request confidential treatment of information pursuant to exemption 
4 of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)), which protects ``trade secrets and 
commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] 
privileged or confidential.'' The Board will treat such information as 
confidential to the extent permitted by law, including the FOIA.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, March 3, 2021.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2021-04762 Filed 3-5-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P