[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 235 (Friday, December 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70496-70497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26732]


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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 Requirements of Regulation H and Regulation 
K Associated with the Procedures for Monitoring Bank Secrecy Act 
Compliance (FR K; OMB No. 7100-0310).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 8, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR K, by any of the 
following methods:
     Agency website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     Email: [email protected]. Include the OMB 
number or FR 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 confidential 
business information, identifying information, 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 for the Federal 
Reserve Board, 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 Paperwork Reduction Act (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.
    During the comment period for this proposal, a copy of the proposed 
PRA OMB submission, including the draft

[[Page 70497]]

reporting form and instructions, supporting statement, and other 
documentation, will 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. 
Final versions of these documents will be made available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, if approved.

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 Board's functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Board'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 Board 
should modify the proposal.

Proposal Under OMB Delegated Authority To Extend for Three Years, 
Without Revision, the Following Information Collection

    Report title: Recordkeeping Requirements of Regulation H and 
Regulation K Associated with the Procedures for Monitoring Bank Secrecy 
Act Compliance.
    Agency form number: FR K.
    OMB control number: 7100-0310.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Respondents: State member banks; Edge Act and agreement 
corporations; and U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices 
of foreign banks supervised by the Board, except for a federal branch 
or a federal agency or a state branch that is insured by the Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
    Estimated number of respondents: Establish compliance program--1; 
Maintenance of compliance program--906.
    Estimated average hours per response: Establish compliance 
program--16; Maintenance of compliance program--4.
    Estimated annual burden hours: Establish compliance program--16; 
Maintenance of compliance program--3,624.
    General description of report: Section 208.63 of the Board's 
Regulation H--Membership of State Banking Institutions in the Federal 
Reserve System (12 CFR part 208) requires state member banks to 
establish and maintain in writing procedures reasonably designed to 
ensure and monitor compliance with the provisions of the Bank Secrecy 
Act (BSA) \1\ and its implementing regulations. Sections 211.5(m)(1) 
and 211.24(j)(1) of the Board's Regulation K--International Banking 
Operations (12 CFR part 211) impose those same requirements on Edge Act 
and agreement corporations and, except for a federal branch or a 
federal agency \2\ or a state branch that is insured by the FDIC, the 
U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks 
supervised by the Board.
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    \1\ See 31 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.
    \2\ The terms ``federal agency'' and ``federal branch'' have the 
same meanings as in section 1 of the International Banking Act of 
1978 (12 U.S.C. 3101). See 12 CFR 211.21.
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    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR K is authorized 
pursuant to section 8(s) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA), 
which requires the federal banking agencies, including the Board, to 
(1) prescribe regulations requiring the institutions they regulate to 
establish and maintain procedures reasonably designed to assure and 
monitor compliance with the BSA and (2) to review such procedures 
during the course of their examinations (12 U.S.C. 1818(s)).\3\ The FR 
K is mandatory.
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    \3\ Section 8(s) of the FDIA authorizes the Board to prescribe 
regulations covering the entities required to comply with section 
208.63 of the Board's Regulation H (12 CFR 208.63) and sections 
211.5(m)(1) and 211.24(j)(1) of the Board's Regulation K (12 CFR 
211.5(m)(1) and 12 CFR 211.24(j)(1)). See 12 U.S.C. 1813(c)(3), 
1818(b)(3), and 1818(b)(4).
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    Because the records required by the FR K will be retained at 
banking organizations, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) would only 
be implicated if the Board's examiners obtained a copy of the records 
as part of the examination or supervision of a banking institution. In 
that case, the records may be exempt from disclosure under exemption 8 
of the FOIA, which protects examination materials from disclosure (5 
U.S.C. 552(b)(8)). To the extent that information retained in response 
to the FR K constitutes nonpublic commercial or financial information, 
which is both customarily and actually treated as private by the 
respondent, it may also be kept confidential under exemption 4 of the 
FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Exemption 4 protects ``trade secrets and 
commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] 
privileged or confidential.''

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 6, 
2021.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2021-26732 Filed 12-9-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P