[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 217 (Monday, November 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63026-63029]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24814]


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FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request (3064-0200)

AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will submit 
the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed information 
collection was previously published in the Federal Register on August 
10, 2021, allowing for a 60-day comment period.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for an additional 
30 days until December 15, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to 
the FDIC by any of the following methods:

[[Page 63027]]

     https://www.FDIC.gov/regulations/laws/federal.
     Email: [email protected]. Include the name and number of 
the collection in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Manny Cabeza (202-898-3767), Regulatory Counsel, MB-
3128, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20429.
     Hand Delivery: Comments may be hand-delivered to the guard 
station at the rear of the 17th Street Building (located on F Street), 
on business days between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
    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: Manny Cabeza, Regulatory Counsel, 202-
898-3767, [email protected], MB-3128, Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposal to renew the following currently 
approved collection of information:
    1. Title: Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity Policies and 
Practices.
    OMB Number: 3064-00200.
    Form Number: 2710/05--Diversity Self-Assessment (paper form), 2710/
06--Diversity Self-Assessment (electronic form).
    Affected Public: Insured state nonmember banks, and insured state 
savings associations.
    Burden Estimate: FDIC is revising the burden estimates associated 
with this information collection as a result of the update of the 
electronic version of the reporting form. The update will allow 
respondents who have previously completed a diversity self-assessment 
(DSA) to copy and clone their previous submission. This copy/clone 
capability reduces the reporting burden for returning respondents. 
However, it does not change the burden for respondents who fill out the 
electronic form for the first time or respondents who choose an 
alternative method of assessing their diversity policies and practices. 
As such, this ICR revises the IC line items to distinguish between the 
implementation burden incurred by first time respondents from the 
ongoing burden incurred by returning respondents. This ICR also updates 
the respondent count estimates for the other line items in this IC. 
Finally, this ICR adds a line to cover the burdens of non-material (not 
responsive) submissions.
    In October 2020, the FDIC implemented a copy/clone feature in FID-
SA for submissions covering the 2020 reporting period and beyond. This 
feature allows the respondent to pre-populate a new diversity self-
assessment with the information that was previously completed and 
submitted. In addition, the FDIC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion 
(OMWI) have identified several submissions that complete the pro forma 
form but do not provide the FDIC with any material self-assessments. 
With the addition of these two submission types, there are now five 
distinct submission types for this IC:
    1. Paper Form Submissions, which are DSA submissions that use the 
``Diversity Self-Assessment of Financial Institutions Regulated by the 
FDIC'' form and submit the form as an email attachment or via the 
United States Postal Service;
    2. Electronic Form (Implementation) Submissions, which are DSA 
submissions that utilize the online FID-SA application, and the 
financial institution has not previously submitted a DSA;
    3. Electronic Form (Ongoing) Submissions, which are DSA submissions 
that utilize the online FID-SA application and are able to use the 
copy/clone feature in FID-SA;
    4. Free-Form Submissions, which are submissions that do not use the 
``Diversity Self-Assessment of Financial Institutions Regulated by the 
FDIC'' form; and
    5. Non-material Submissions, which are pro forma submissions that 
do not provide any material self-assessments.

Estimated Number of Respondents and Responses

    Responses to this information collection are voluntary and may be 
submitted by any FDIC-regulated financial institution. As such, 
potential respondents to this IC are all FDIC-regulated financial 
institutions. As of December 31, 2020, the FDIC regulates 3,227 insured 
depository institutions (IDIs). Of these institutions, 2,380 are 
considered small for the purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(RFA).
    Respondents submit a single response per year. To estimate the 
number of respondents for this ICR, FDIC reviewed and summarized data 
from historical submissions by FDIC-regulated IDIs covering diversity 
activities in the reporting periods 2016-2019. Submissions were 
categorized as a first-time submission if no prior submission was made 
by the same IDI. Otherwise, the submission was categorized as a repeat 
submission. FDIC did not categorize 2016 submissions since 2016 was the 
first year for which the agency has submission data. A summary of these 
results is provided in Table 1 below:

                    Table 1--OMWI Submission Counts, by Submission Type and Reporting Period
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                 Submission type                       2016            2017            2018            2019
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All submissions*................................              95             137             133             152
All submissions, small IDIs**...................              17              26              26              33
First-time submissions..........................  ..............              81              42              38
First-time submissions, small IDIs**............  ..............              18              13              16
Repeat submissions..............................  ..............              56              91             113
Repeat submissions, small IDIs**................  ..............               8              13              17
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Source: FDIC OMWI.
* These counts include two financial institutions (CERTs 20399 in 2016 and 29845 in 2019) that were later found
  to not be regulated by the FDIC during their respective reporting periods. We include them here to align the
  table with other OMWI published analyses (available at https://www.fdic.gov/about/diversity/analysisdsa.html).
** IDIs are counted as small if they meet the SBA's definition of ``small'' for purposes of RFA as of December
  31st in each reporting period.

    As Table 1 shows, there were 152 total submissions in 2019, the 
most recent reporting year. This is an increase of approximately 20 
submissions from the previous year. This increase is due to the 
introduction of the online FID-SA application and an expanded outreach 
effort by the FDIC to educate and increase awareness about the DSA. The

[[Page 63028]]

FDIC expects that submission counts will continue to climb upwards due 
to continued expanded outreach efforts as well as the introduction of 
the copy/clone feature to facilitate responses. Based on the historical 
submission counts and the expected rise in submissions, the FDIC 
expects it will receive 195 submissions per year with the majority of 
these submissions using the online FID-SA application. Based on the 
historical trends of first-time and repeating submissions future 
expectations, the FDIC anticipates annual respondent counts of 45 
Electronic Form (Implementation) and 130 Electronic Form (Ongoing) 
submissions.\1\ In addition, the FDIC anticipates annual counts of five 
Free-Form Submissions and ten Non-material Submissions.\2\ Finally, 
FDIC recognizes that some IDIs may prefer to continue providing Paper 
Submissions and anticipate five such submissions per year.
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    \1\ Steady state averages of 25 percent for Electronic Form 
(Implementation) and 75 percent for Electronic Form (Ongoing) 
submissions were estimated from historical submissions by FDIC-
regulated IDIs covering diversity activities in 2019, the first 
reporting period for which the online submission was available, and 
multiplied by 175, the anticipated number of annual Electronic Form 
submissions, to arrive at estimates of 45 Electronic Form 
(Implementation) and 130 Electronic Form (Ongoing) submissions. For 
the purposes of annualizing the estimated number of respondents, it 
is assumed that the estimated annual count of respondents for 
Electronic Form (Ongoing) Submissions includes returning Electronic 
Form (Implementation) Submissions from the previous year.
    \2\ The FDIC found 0, 0, and 4 Free-Form submissions and 3, 3, 
and 12 Non-material submissions in 2017, 2018, and 2019, 
respectively. Based on these historical numbers and their 
supervisory experience, the FDIC anticipates approximately 5 Free-
Form and 10 Non-material Submissions going forward.
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Estimated Hourly Burden

    The FDIC estimates that Electronic Form (Implementation) 
Submissions will take seven hours, the same burden that was recorded in 
the Electronic Form line item in the 2020 ICR. For Electronic Form 
(Ongoing) Submissions, the FDIC estimates that the copy/clone feature 
will save respondents an average of four hours per submission, for a 
net burden of three hours per response. For Non-material Submissions, 
the FDIC estimates that the pro forma completion of the submission 
application will take six minutes, or 0.1 hours. The FDIC has reviewed 
the hourly burden estimates for Paper Submissions and for Free-Form 
Submissions and found that the estimates from the 2020 ICR remain 
reasonable and appropriate. Finally, the FDIC estimates that each 
respondent will incur one hour of burden per year, on average, to 
disclose a portion of its submission to the public, in a manner 
reflective of the entity's size and other characteristics.
    The estimated annual burden for each submission type, in hours, is 
the product of the estimated number of respondents, number of responses 
per respondent per year, and time per response, as summarized in Table 
2 below. The total estimated annual burden for this information 
collection is 100, 106 hours, a reduction of 559 hours from the 
previously approved ICR. \3\
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    \3\ The average burden hour estimate across all submission types 
is 4 hours and 8 minutes per response.

                                             Table 2--Summary of Estimated Annual Burden (OMB No. 3064-0006)
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                                                                                                                       Number of                 Annual
  Information collection description--   Type of burden (obligation      Frequency of response         Number of     responses per  Hours per    burden
            submission type                     to  respond)                                          respondents     respondent     response   (hours)
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Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity  Reporting (Voluntary).....  Annual.......................               5               1          8         40
 Policies and Practices--Paper Form.
Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity  Reporting (Voluntary).....  Annual.......................              45               1          7        315
 Policies and Practices--Electronic
 Form (Implementation).
Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity  Reporting (Voluntary).....  Annual.......................             130               1          3        390
 Policies and Practices--Electronic
 Form.
(Ongoing)..............................
Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity  Reporting (Voluntary).....  Annual.......................               5               1         12         60
 Policies and Practices--Free-Form.
Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity  Reporting (Voluntary).....  Annual.......................              10               1        0.1          1
 Policies and Practices--
Non-material...........................
Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity  Disclosure (Voluntary)....  Annual.......................             195               1          1        195
 Policies and Practices--
Public Disclosure......................
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    Total Annual Burden (Hours)........  ..........................  .............................  ..............  ..............  .........      1,001
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Source: FDIC.

General Description of Collection

    Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 
Protection Act of 2010 (the Act) required the Office of the Comptroller 
of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
(Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Bureau of 
Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), National Credit Union 
Administration (NCUA), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 
(together, Agencies and separately, Agency) each to establish an Office 
of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) to be responsible for all 
matters of the Agency relating to diversity in management, employment, 
and business activities. The Act also instructed each OMWI Director to 
develop standards for assessing the diversity policies and practices of 
entities regulated by the Agency. The Agencies worked together to 
develop joint standards and, on June 10, 2015, they jointly published 
in the Federal Register \4\ the ``Final Interagency Policy Statement 
Establishing Joint Standards for Assessing the Diversity Policies and 
Practices of Entities Regulated by the Agencies'' (Policy Statement).
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    \4\ 80 FR 33016.

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[[Page 63029]]

    The Policy Statement contains a ``collection of information'' 
within the meaning of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The 
Policy Statement includes Joint Standards that cover ``Practices to 
Promote Transparency of Organizational Diversity and Inclusion.'' These 
Joint Standards contemplate that a regulated entity is transparent 
about its diversity and inclusion activities by making certain 
information available to the public annually on its website or through 
other appropriate communications methods, in a manner reflective of the 
entity's size and other characteristics. The specific information 
referenced in these standards is: (a) Leadership commitment to 
diversity and inclusion; (b) workforce diversity and employment 
practices; (c) progress toward achieving diversity and inclusion in its 
procurement activities; and (d) opportunities available at the entity 
that promote diversity.
    In addition, the Policy Statement includes Joint Standards that 
address ``Entities' Self-Assessment.'' The Joint Standards for 
Entities' Self-Assessment envision that a regulated entity, in a manner 
reflective of its size and other characteristics, (a) conducts annually 
a voluntary self-assessment of its diversity policies and practices; 
(b) monitors and evaluates its performance under its diversity policies 
and practices on an ongoing basis; (c) provides information pertaining 
to its self-assessment to the OMWI Director of its primary federal 
financial regulator; and (d) publishes information pertaining to its 
efforts with respect to the Joint Standards.
    The collection of information described above is reported to the 
FDIC via the form entitled ``Diversity Self-Assessment of Financial 
Institutions Regulated by the FDIC,'' which can be submitted in paper 
\5\ or electronic format.\6\ To facilitate DSA submissions, the FDIC 
has developed the automated Financial Institution Diversity Self-
Assessment (FID-SA) application. FID-SA provides FDIC-regulated 
financial institutions an easy and efficient way to electronically 
complete the diversity self-assessment; work with multiple users; view 
previous submissions; attach supporting material; and print and save in 
pdf format.\7\
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    \5\ The paper version of the ``Diversity Self-Assessment of 
Financial Institutions Regulated by the FDIC'' form (form number 
2710/05) can be viewed at the following location: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/regulations/federal-register-publications/2021/2021-form-2710-05-diversity-self-assessment-paper-form.pdf.
    \6\ The electronic version of the ``Diversity Self-Assessment of 
Financial Institutions Regulated by the FDIC'' form (form number 
2710/06) can be viewed at the following location: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/regulations/federal-register-publications/2021/2021-form-2710-06-diversity-self-assessment-screen-shots.docx.
    \7\ As described in the FID-SA portal, available at https://www.fdic.gov/about/diversity/fidsaportal.html (accessed May 1, 
2021).
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Request for Comment

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information 
is necessary for the proper performance of the FDIC's functions, 
including whether the information has practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of the estimates of the burden of the 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; and (d) 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. All 
comments will become a matter of public record.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

    Dated at Washington, DC, on November 9, 2021.
James P. Sheesley,
Assistant Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-24814 Filed 11-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6714-01-P