[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 97 (Friday, May 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27604-27622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10771]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2021-N-6]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: Federal Home Loan Bank Directors--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 or the 
Agency) is seeking public comments concerning an information collection 
known as ``Federal Home Loan Bank Directors,'' which has been assigned 
control number 2590-0006 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 expired 
on February 28, 2021.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before June 21, 
2021.

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, Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 
(202) 395-3047, Email: [email protected]. Please also submit 
comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed Collection; Comment Request: 
`Federal Home Loan Bank Directors, (No. 2021-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: ``Federal Home Loan Bank Directors, (No. 
2021-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: Vickie Olafson, Assistant General 
Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3025; or Angela 
Supervielle, Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3973 
(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. Need for and Use of the Information Collection

    Section 7 of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) vests the 
management of each Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) in its board of 
directors.\1\ As required by section 7, each Bank's board comprises two 
types of directors: (1) Member directors, who are drawn from the 
officers and directors of member institutions located in the Bank's 
district and who are elected to represent members in a particular state 
in that district; and (2) independent directors, who are unaffiliated 
with any

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of the Bank's member institutions, but who reside in the Bank's 
district and are elected on an at-large basis.\2\ Both types of 
directors serve four-year terms, which are staggered so that 
approximately one-quarter of a Bank's total directorships are up for 
election every year.\3\ Section 7 and FHFA's implementing regulation, 
codified at 12 CFR part 1261, establish the eligibility requirements 
for both types of Bank directors and the professional qualifications 
for independent directors, and set forth the procedures for their 
election.
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    \1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(1).
    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(4), (b), and (d).
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(d).
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    Part 1261 requires that each Bank administer its own annual 
director election process. As part of this process, a Bank must require 
each nominee for both types of directorship, including any incumbent 
that may be a candidate for re-election, to complete and return to the 
Bank a form that solicits information about the candidate's statutory 
eligibility to serve and, in the case of independent director 
candidates, about his or her professional qualifications for the 
directorship being sought.\4\ Specifically, member director candidates 
are required to complete the Federal Home Loan Bank Member Director 
Eligibility Certification Form (Member Director Eligibility 
Certification Form), while independent director candidates must 
complete the Federal Home Loan Bank Independent Director Application 
Form (Independent Director Application Form). Each Bank must also 
require all of its incumbent directors to certify annually that they 
continue to meet all eligibility requirements.\5\ Member directors do 
this by completing the Member Director Eligibility Certification Form 
again every year, while independent directors complete the abbreviated 
Federal Home Loan Bank Independent Director Annual Certification Form 
(Independent Director Annual Certification Form) to certify their 
ongoing eligibility.
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    \4\ See 12 CFR 1261.7(c) and (f); 12 CFR 1261.14(b).
    \5\ See 12 CFR 1261.12.
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    The Banks use the information collection contained in the 
Independent Director Application Form and part 1261 to determine 
whether individuals who wish to stand for election or re-election as 
independent directors satisfy the statutory eligibility requirements 
and possess the professional qualifications required under the statute 
and regulations. Only individuals meeting those requirements and 
qualifications may serve as an independent director.\6\ On an annual 
basis, the Banks use the information collection contained in the 
Independent Director Annual Certification Form and part 1261 to 
determine whether their incumbent independent directors continue to 
meet the statutory eligibility requirements. The Banks use the 
information collection contained in the Member Director Eligibility 
Certification Form and part 1261 to determine whether individuals who 
wish to stand for election or re-election as member directors satisfy 
the statutory eligibility requirements. Only individuals meeting these 
requirements may serve as a member director.\7\ On an annual basis, the 
Banks also use the information collection contained in the Member 
Director Eligibility Certification Form and part 1261 to determine 
whether their incumbent member directors continue to meet the statutory 
eligibility requirements.
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    \6\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3).
    \7\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3) and (b)(1).
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    The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0006. The current clearance for the information collection expired on 
February 28, 2021. The likely respondents are individuals who are 
prospective and incumbent Bank directors.

B. Revisions to the Bank Director Forms

    In advance of the 2021 Bank director election cycle, FHFA has 
revised each of the three Bank Director Application and Certification 
forms, all of which have existed in substantially their current form 
since the current statutory requirements for Bank directors were 
adopted in 2008.
    The Independent Director Application Form, by far the longest of 
the three forms and requiring a number of essay-type answers, is 
completed by all independent directorship nominees, including 
incumbents seeking re-nomination. The information requested on the form 
is designed to confirm that the nominee is legally eligible to serve as 
an independent director, has the required professional qualifications 
for the type of independent directorship being sought, and is of high 
personal integrity and to identify any potential conflicts of interest 
of which the Bank should be aware. The revisions tie the questions more 
closely to statutory and regulatory requirements, provide more 
structured answer choices so as to ensure responses are relevant, 
solicit more comprehensive information on issues about which the Bank 
must weigh facts to make a legal judgment about the nominee's 
eligibility, and generally streamline the questions. The revisions 
should allow nominees to complete the form more quickly by providing 
preset answer choices for many questions, permitting attachments in 
answer to certain questions, and eliminating some superfluous 
questions. FHFA estimates that, in addition to encouraging more 
accurate and complete answers, the revisions will reduce the amount of 
time it takes a nominee to complete the form from three to two hours.
    The Independent Director Annual Certification Form is completed by 
incumbent independent directors annually to certify that they remain 
legally eligible to serve. The prior form provided independent 
directors with the option merely to check a box stating that ``no 
changes have occurred'' with respect to the director's compliance with 
the statutory eligibility requirements. In the Agency's view, providing 
this option resulted in some independent directors overlooking changes 
in residence or employment that might have rendered them ineligible to 
continue to serve. The revised form requires independent directors to 
provide current information on residence and employment to allow the 
Bank to determine whether there may be new information leading to 
eligibility concerns.
    The Member Director Eligibility Certification Form is completed 
both by nominees running for a member directorship and annually by 
incumbent member directors to certify their continuing eligibility. The 
form is intended to confirm that member directors and member 
directorship nominees are legally eligible to serve in the directorship 
positions they occupy or are seeking. Although some questions on the 
form have been revised to provide preset answers, the substance of the 
questions on the revised form remain essentially the same as those on 
the prior form. The Member Director Eligibility Certification Form was 
most recently revised in August 2020 to remove a notarization 
requirement (neither of the other two Bank director forms had such a 
requirement).
    The revised questions, including preset answer selections, and 
instructions for each of the Bank director forms appear at the end of 
this notice. The final formatting of the revised forms is currently in 
process.

C. Burden Estimate

    FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden imposed upon 
respondents by the three Bank director forms comprising this 
information collection to be 119 hours (39 hours + 50 hours + 30 hours 
= 119 hours, as detailed below).

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    The Agency estimates the total annual hour burden on all member 
director candidates and incumbent member directors associated with 
review and completion of the Member Director Eligibility Certification 
Form to be 39 hours. This includes a total annual average of 72 member 
director nominees (24 open seats per year with three nominees for each) 
completing the form as an application, with 1 response per nominee 
taking an average of 15 minutes (.25 hours) (72 respondents x .25 hours 
= 18 hours). It also includes a total annual average of 84 incumbent 
member directors not up for election completing the form as an annual 
certification, with 1 response per individual taking an average of 15 
minutes (.25 hours) (84 individuals x .25 hours = 21 hours).
    The Agency estimates the total annual hour burden on all 
independent director candidates associated with review and completion 
of the Independent Director Application Form to be 50 hours. This 
includes a total annual average of 25 independent director candidates 
(22 open seats per year, plus three vacancies, with one nominee for 
each), with 1 response per individual taking an average of 2.0 hours 
(25 individuals x 2.0 hours = 50 hours).
    The Agency estimates the total annual hour burden on all incumbent 
independent directors associated with review and completion of the 
Independent Director Annual Certification Form to be 30 hours. This 
includes a total annual average of 60 incumbent independent directors 
not up for election, with 1 response per individual taking an average 
of 30 minutes (.5 hours) (60 individuals x .5 hours = 30 hours).

D. Comments 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 March 3, 
2021.\8\ The 60-day comment period closed on May 3, 2021. FHFA received 
two comment letters--one from the eleven Banks jointly and one from a 
trade association.
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    \8\ See 86 FR 12448 (Mar. 3, 2021).
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    In their joint letter, the Banks made a number of suggestions 
regarding the rephrasing of questions and instructions on each of the 
forms for greater clarity and to better elicit pertinent information. 
FHFA has further revised the forms to incorporate most of those 
suggestions, some verbatim and others in essence. The Banks also 
requested that FHFA add more detail to the Independent Director 
Application Form questions and instructions regarding the Agency's 
interpretations of the statutory and regulatory independence 
requirements applying to independent directors and the qualifications 
requirements for public interest independent directors. FHFA has 
declined to make those revisions (although it has slightly modified the 
material on public interest director qualifications for greater 
clarity). Agency interpretations of statutory and regulatory 
requirements pertaining to Bank director eligibility are discussed in 
the forms only to the extent necessary to clarify the purpose of 
particular questions so as to better ensure the provision of accurate 
and relevant responses. The Bank director forms are not intended to 
serve as guidance documents.
    The trade association's comment letter focused on FHFA's 
interpretations of the statutory qualifications requirements for public 
interest independent directors. Neither comment letter questioned the 
need for the information collection or addressed the Agency's burden 
estimates.
    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.

Kevin Smith,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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[FR Doc. 2021-10771 Filed 5-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C