[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 25, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28194-28195]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11042]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request; Treasury International Capital

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury will submit the following 
information collection requests to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this 
notice. The public is invited to submit comments on this request.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 24, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the submissions may be 
obtained from Molly Stasko by emailing [email protected], calling (202) 
622-8922, or viewing the entire information collection request at 
www.reginfo.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Treasury International Capital Form SLT, ``Aggregate 
Holdings, Purchases and Sales, and Fair Value Changes of Long-Term 
Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents.''
    OMB Control Number: 1505-0235.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Description: Form SLT is part of the Treasury International Capital 
(TIC) reporting system, which is required by law (22 U.S.C. 286f; 22 
U.S.C. 3103; E.O. 10033; 31 CFR 128), and is designed to collect timely 
information on international portfolio capital movements. Form SLT is a 
monthly report on cross-border portfolio investment in long-term 
marketable securities by U.S. and foreign residents. This information 
is used by the U.S. Government in the formulation of international 
financial and monetary policies and for the preparation of the U.S. 
balance of payments accounts and the U.S. international investment 
position.
    Current Actions: (1) Justification: One important aim of this 
revision of the

[[Page 28195]]

SLT data collection is to create, for the first time, a data collection 
of ``changes in fair value'' for the TIC securities data. Users of TIC 
data often compare the change in the holdings of long-term securities 
reported on the Form SLT, with the net purchases (purchases less sales) 
of long-term securities reported on the Form S. There is general 
agreement that the difference between the change in holding and the net 
purchases is due largely to the change in fair value of the securities, 
with less important factors making up the remainder of the difference. 
In mathematical terms, ``Change in holdings'' equals ``purchases less 
sales'' plus ``change in fair value'' plus ``other factors''. Different 
assessments between TIC data users often arise because each one has to 
create their own estimates of the ``change in fair value'' despite 
lacking detailed information on the holdings of, and transactions in, 
the many securities in the TIC system. Another aim of this revision of 
the SLT data collection is to obtain the three main data types 
(holdings, purchases and sales, and change in fair value) from the same 
source. The result should greatly improve the connections between the 
holdings data and the purchases and sales data and the ``change in fair 
value'' data. Lastly, while there is an increase in the reporting 
burden on custodians from the revision of the SLT, after 2022 it is 
expected that this increase in burden will be significantly offset by 
the decrease in burden when the Form S is discontinued. (2) No changes 
are made in the collection of holdings data; i.e., no changes are made 
in the columns and rows of the Form SLT or in the instructions 
regarding the holdings of long-term securities. In both the current and 
revised Form SLT there are eleven such columns covering three types of 
foreign securities and four types of U.S. securities, where for each 
type of U.S. security there is a column for foreign-official-held and a 
separate column for other-foreign-held. (3) To accomplish the aims in 
(1) above, both the Form SLT and the instructions are expanded to add 
the collection of data on the total change in the fair (market) value 
over the month for all securities held at the end of the month for each 
type of long-term security. In the Form SLT, one column is added for 
each of the 11 columns of holdings mentioned in (2) above; in the 
instructions, sections II.F.4 and III.G are added. (4) To accomplish 
the aims in (1) above, both the Form SLT and the instructions are 
expanded to add the collection of data on U.S. purchases and U.S. sales 
of long-term securities by U.S.-residents with foreign-residents; in 
the Form SLT, two columns are added for each of the 11 columns of 
holdings mentioned in (2) above; in the instructions, sections II.F.3, 
II.F.5, III.E and III.F are added. (5) Note that while purchases and 
sales in the revised SLT data collection appear to be generally the 
same as in the Form S data collection, there are three important 
differences: (i) Purchases and sales in the Form SLT are reported by 
the custodian or issuer or end-investor that is also reporting the 
holdings, while in the Form S purchases and sales are reported by a 
trader (e.g., broker-dealer, prime broker, principal trading firm); 
(ii) the Form SLT data are recorded from the U.S. point of view, while 
the Form S data are recorded from the foreign point-of-view (e.g., Form 
SLT ``purchases'' are made by U.S. residents from foreign-residents, 
whereas Form S ``purchases'' are made by foreign-residents from U.S.-
residents); and (iii) purchases and sales of foreign securities in Form 
SLT are recorded opposite the foreign country that issued the security, 
whereas the Form S data are recorded opposite the country that 
purchased or sold the security. The Form SLT data are much more 
informative about U.S. claims on individual foreign countries. (6) The 
revised Form SLT no longer has Parts A and B, where previously a 
custodian reported data in part A and an issuer and/or end-investor 
reported data in part B. In the revised Form SLT the reporting firm 
must check one or both of the two boxes in the top-center section of 
the cover page to specify whether the data is from a custodian or from 
an issuer and/or end- investor or from both; see II.A in the 
instructions. So a firm that reports data for both a custodian and an 
issuer/end-user can combine both types of data into one report, and no 
longer needs to report them separately in part A and part B. (7) To 
allow time for respondents to revise their reporting systems, the 
revised form and instructions are scheduled to become effective for 
reports as of February 2022. (8) Until the revised form becomes 
effective in 2022, the currently-approved Form SLT and instructions 
will continue to be in effect. (9) The name of the revised Form SLT on 
the cover page and elsewhere is expanded to ``Aggregate Holdings, 
Purchases and Sales, and Fair Value Changes of Long-Term Securities by 
U.S. and Foreign Residents.'' Added on the cover page under the name, 
is the phrase ``Effective for reports beginning as of February 2022''. 
(10) After the revised Form SLT becomes effective in February 2022, 
there will be a duplication of the Purchase and Sales data with the 
Form S for roughly six months. This period of overlap for comparison of 
the two sources of data will allow the agencies to make any necessary 
adjustments to the revised Form SLT and/or instructions. After the six 
month overlap period ends, and if the purchases and sales data from the 
revised Form SLT are acceptable, then the Form S will be discontinued. 
(11) Some other clarifications and format changes may be made to 
improve the instructions.
    Form: Treasury Form SLT.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 438.
    Frequency of Response: Monthly.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 5,256.
    Estimated Time per Response: Average 11.7 hours per respondent per 
filing. The estimated average burden per respondent varies, from about 
21.6 hours per filing for a U.S.-resident custodian to about 9.3 hours 
for a U.S.-resident issuer or U.S.-resident end-investor.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 61,722 hours.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

    Dated: May 20, 2021.
Molly Stasko,
Treasury PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-11042 Filed 5-24-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AK-P