[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 13 (Thursday, January 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3170-3173]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-01013]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury; 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board); and Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: Joint notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA), the OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (the agencies) may 
not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond 
to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The Federal 
Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the 
agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication for public 
comment of a proposal to revise and extend the Country Exposure Report 
(FFIEC 009) and the Country Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 009a), 
which are currently approved collections of information. The revisions 
to the FFIEC 009 and the FFIEC 009a are proposed to take effect as of 
the December 31, 2022, report date. At the end of the comment period 
for this notice, the FFIEC and the agencies will review any comments 
received to determine whether to modify the proposal in response to 
comments. As required by the PRA, the agencies will then publish a 
second Federal Register notice for a 30-day comment period and submit 
the final FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a to OMB for review and approval.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 21, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to 
any or all of the agencies. All comments, which should refer to the OMB 
control number(s), will be shared among the agencies.
    OCC: You may submit comments, which should refer to ``FFIEC 009 and 
FFIEC 009a,'' by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Mail: Chief Counsel's Office, Office of the Comptroller of 
the Currency, Attention: 1557-0100, 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, 
Washington, DC 20219.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, 
Washington, DC 20219.
    Instructions: You must include ``OCC'' as the agency name and 
``1557-0100'' in your comment. In general, the OCC will publish 
comments on www.reginfo.gov without change, including any business or 
personal information provided, such as name and address information, 
email addresses, or phone numbers. Comments received, including 
attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public 
record and subject to public disclosure. Do not include any information 
in your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential 
or inappropriate for public disclosure.
    You may review comments and other related materials that pertain to 
this information collection beginning on the date of publication of the 
second notice for this collection by any of the following methods:
     Viewing Comments Electronically: Go to www.reginfo.gov. 
Click on the ``Information Collection Review'' tab. Underneath the 
``Currently under Review'' section heading, from the drop-down menu 
select ``Department of Treasury'' and then click ``submit''. This 
information collection can be located by searching by OMB control 
number ``1557-0100'' or ``FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a''. Upon finding the 
appropriate information collection, click on the related ``ICR 
Reference Number.'' On the next screen, select ``View Supporting 
Statement and Other Documents'' and then click on the link to any 
comment listed at the bottom of the screen.

[[Page 3171]]

     For assistance in navigating www.reginfo.gov, please 
contact the Regulatory Information Service Center at (202) 482-7340.
    Board: You may submit comments, which should refer to ``FFIEC 009 
and FFIEC 009a,'' by any of the following methods:
     Agency Website: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``FFIEC 
009 and FFIEC 009a'' 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 on the Board's website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as submitted, 
unless modified for technical reasons. Accordingly, your comments will 
not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information.
    FDIC: You may submit comments, which should refer to ``FFIEC 009 
and FFIEC 009a,'' by any of the following methods:
     Agency Website: https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the FDIC's 
website.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 
009a'' in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Manuel E. Cabeza, Counsel, Attn: Comments, Room MB-
3007, 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 550 17th Street Building (located on F 
Street) on business days between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
    Public Inspection: All comments received will be posted without 
change to https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/ including any 
personal information provided. Paper copies of public comments may be 
requested from the FDIC Public Information Center by telephone at (877) 
275-3342 or (703) 562-2200.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
OMB desk officers for the agencies by mail to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, New 
Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20503; by fax to (202) 395-6974; or by email to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about the 
information collections discussed in this notice, please contact any of 
the agency staff whose names appear below. In addition, copies of the 
FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a reporting forms can be obtained at the FFIEC's 
website (https://www.ffiec.gov/ffiec_report_forms.htm).
    OCC: Kevin Korzeniewski, Counsel, Chief Counsel's Office, (202) 
649-5490, or for persons who are hearing impaired, TTY, (202) 649-5597.
    Board: Nuha Elmaghrabi, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer, 
(202) 452-3884, Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C Streets NW, Washington, DC 
20551. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may call 
(202) 263-4869.
    FDIC: Manuel E. Cabeza, Counsel, (202) 898-3767, Legal Division, 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The agencies are proposing to extend for 
three years, with revision, the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a, which are 
currently approved collections of information for each agency.
    Report Titles: Country Exposure Report and Country Exposure 
Information Report.
    Form Numbers: FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
    Affected Public: Business or other for profit.

OCC

    OMB Number: 1557-0100.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 10 (FFIEC 009), 4 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 135 hours (FFIEC 009), 6.5 
hours (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 5,400 hours (FFIEC 009), 104 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).

Board

    OMB Number: 7100-0035.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 (FFIEC 009), 36 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 135 hours (FFIEC 009), 6.5 
hours (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 26,460 hours (FFIEC 009), 936 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).

FDIC

    OMB Number: 3064-0017.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 13 (FFIEC 009), 8 (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 135 hours (FFIEC 009), 6.5 
hours (FFIEC 009a).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 7,020 hours (FFIEC 009), 208 hours 
(FFIEC 009a).

I. General Description of Reports

    The Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) is filed quarterly with the 
agencies and provides information on international claims of U.S. 
banks, savings associations, Edge and/or Agreement corporations, bank 
holding companies, savings and loan holding companies, and U.S. 
intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations 
(collectively, U.S. banking organizations) that is used for supervisory 
and analytical purposes. The information is used to monitor the foreign 
country exposures of reporting institutions to determine the degree of 
risk in their portfolios and assess the potential risk of loss. The 
Country Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 009a) is a supplement to the 
FFIEC 009 and provides publicly available information on material 
foreign country exposures (i.e., all exposures to a foreign country in 
excess of 1 percent of total assets or 20 percent of total capital, 
whichever is less) of U.S. banking organizations that file the FFIEC 
009 report. As part of the FFIEC 009a, reporting institutions also must 
furnish a list of countries in which they have lending exposures above 
0.75 percent of total assets or 15 percent of total capital, whichever 
is less.

Legal Basis and Need for Collection

    These information collections are mandatory under the following 
statutes: 12 U.S.C. 161 and 1817 (national banks), 12 U.S.C. 1464 
(federal savings associations), 12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1) and (2), 1844(c), 
and 3906 (state member banks and bank holding companies); 12 U.S.C. 
1467a(b)(2)(A) (savings and loan holding companies); 12 U.S.C. 5365(a) 
(intermediate holding companies); and 12 U.S.C. 1817 and 1820 (insured 
state nonmember commercial and savings banks and insured state savings 
associations). The FFIEC 009 information collection is given 
confidential treatment (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and (b)(8)). The FFIEC 009a 
information collection is not given confidential treatment.

II. Current Actions

    The FFIEC has approved issuing for public comment a proposal to 
revise and extend for three years the FFIEC 009 and 009a. The agencies 
propose the

[[Page 3172]]

following revisions to the FFIEC 009 and 009a:

A. Change From Ultimate Risk to Guarantor Basis in the FFIEC 009

    The FFIEC 009 requires respondents to report their international 
claims based on the country of residence of the counterparty and, 
additionally, to redistribute these immediate-counterparty claims to 
provide the country of residence of the guarantors or collateral of the 
claims. This redistribution is termed ``Ultimate Risk Basis;'' however, 
the redistribution specified in the current FFIEC 009 instructions does 
not always identify the ultimate bearer of risk but does identify the 
country of a guarantor. The term ``Guarantor Basis'' more accurately 
describes what is being collected. Therefore, the agencies propose to 
rename the ``Ultimate Risk Basis'' columns on the FFIEC 009 to 
``Guarantor Basis'' and make corresponding changes to the instructions. 
The agencies do not consider this modification to be substantive. 
However, the agencies have included the modification in this notice to 
ensure institutions are aware that the data currently collected in 
these columns are not impacted by the change in the names of the 
columns.

B. Addition of Two New Collateral Columns to the FFIEC 009

    The 2013 revision of the FFIEC 009 report introduced memorandum 
items on collateral pledged against claims that is not eligible for 
risk transfer treatment as defined in the report instructions. The 
items were introduced to help ``users to better assess net risks based 
on their own assumptions about the benefits of the collateral,'' and 
were also intended to ``produce greater insight into reporting 
institutions' own internal calculations of foreign country exposure, 
which typically take collateral into account.'' \1\ This information is 
especially useful for certain claims such as reverse repurchase 
agreements and other securities financing transactions reported on a 
direct counterparty basis. However, while the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a 
collect information regarding the amount of collateral that originates 
in the same country as the direct counterparty, the reports do not 
record the source of collateral if it has other origins, be it the 
United States (U.S.) or any other countries. This limits the ability of 
users to assess the extent to which collateral mitigates risk because 
the mitigation could be greater (e.g., if the collateral originates in 
the U.S.), or less (if the collateral originates in a lower-rated third 
country) than the risk mitigation provided by collateral from the same 
country as the direct counterparty. This could also affect the ability 
of the FFIEC agencies to monitor U.S. bank exposures to high-risk 
countries.\2\
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    \1\ 78 FR 6176, 6179 (January 29, 2013).
    \2\ For example, in 1979, the OCC, FDIC and Board established 
the Interagency Country Exposure Review Committee to ensure 
consistent treatment of the transfer risk associated with banks' 
foreign exposures to both public- and private-sector entities. See 
https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/safety/guide/icerc.pdf.
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    As of September 30, 2021, the FFIEC 009 reports included $1.039 
trillion in collateral supporting claims not eligible for risk 
transfer. Some $607 billion of this collateral originated outside of 
the country of the direct counterparty, equivalent to 13.2 percent of 
all U.S. banking organizations' direct outstanding claims. Furthermore, 
$152 billion of the $607 billion of collateral involved claims against 
counterparties domiciled in the Cayman Islands, representing 29 percent 
of direct outstanding claims to that jurisdiction. Other countries 
where collateral against claims not eligible for risk transfer and not 
originating in the same country exceeded $25 billion, or 15 percent of 
direct outstanding claims, included, but not limited to, France, Japan, 
Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Ireland 
and Luxembourg.
    The agencies propose adding two new columns to the FFIEC 009, 
Schedule C, Part II, Claims on an Ultimate Risk Basis and Memorandum 
Items, under ``Collateral Held Against Claims With No Risk Transfer.'' 
The title of the first additional column would be: ``Of Which U.S.,'' 
which would be inserted after the column titled ``Of Which, Same 
Country.'' This new column would show the amount of collateral that 
consists of U.S. Treasury securities or other securities issued by the 
U.S. The title of the second new column would be: ``Of Which Resale and 
Reverse Repurchase Agreements and Securities Lending (Collateral).'' 
This column would duplicate the existing column that reports collateral 
for financing and securities lending based on the country of the 
counterparty (currently column 16) but would reallocate amounts based 
on the country in which the collateral was issued. Together, these two 
new columns, along with column 16, would help provide a more complete 
view of the origin of collateral and its value as a risk mitigant. This 
proposed change to the FFIEC 009 would improve information on the 
origin of the underlying securities acting as collateral for claims 
with no risk transfer.

C. Adjustment of Reporting Thresholds on the FFIEC 009a

    The current FFIEC 009a form consists of two parts, Part A and Part 
B. Part A requires detailed information on total exposures to any 
foreign country in excess of 1 percent of the institution's total 
assets or 20 percent of the institution's total capital, whichever is 
less. Part B requires only the country name for exposures to any 
foreign country in excess of 0.75 percent of the institution's total 
assets or 15 percent of the institution's total capital, whichever is 
less, and is not listed in Part A.
    The current format of Part B of the FFIEC 009a (i.e., a list of 
country names) and the difference in level of detail between Part A and 
Part B reporting requirements have caused confusion and errors for 
reporting institutions. In addition, the more limited detail available 
in Part B reporting makes this portion of the report much less useful 
than the more granular reporting in Part A. Therefore, the agencies 
propose to eliminate Part B of the FFIEC 009a and expand the scope for 
reporting the more granular information currently in Part A. Under the 
proposed scope, reporting institutions would have to report more 
granular exposure information for each foreign country that exceeds the 
lesser of 0.75 percent of total assets or 15 percent of total capital, 
which is the current Part B threshold. Revising the scope to provide 
additional reporting granularity to the public should result in 
negligible additional burden for reporting institutions because similar 
granularity is already being reported in the FFIEC 009.
    Based on recent reporting, the proposed change is expected to 
provide more granular disclosure for over $200 billion in additional 
foreign claims, mostly by global systemically important banking 
organizations.\3\ Additionally, the agencies expect a limited impact to 
reporting institutions, as approximately one-third of reporting 
institutions will have no additional countries to report, about one-
third of reporting institutions will provide more detail for one 
additional country, and the remaining reporting institutions will 
provide more detail for an average of an additional two countries each.
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    \3\ As defined in 12 CFR 252.2.
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D. Addition of Immediate-Counterparty Claims Columns to FFIEC 009a

    The FFIEC 009a data provide important market transparency and 
comparability data regarding banking

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organizations' foreign claims. The agencies propose to enhance its 
effectiveness by adding key information on an immediate-counterparty 
basis. The current format of the FFIEC 009a concentrates primarily on 
guarantor basis (currently labelled Ultimate Risk Basis) claims. 
Guarantor basis information can be somewhat opaque to the public and 
generally reflects an implicit assumption of full substitutability 
between claims exposure and offsets such as credit derivatives or 
collateral.
    The agencies propose to add six columns of information that report 
immediate-counterparty claims:

--One new column for Amount of Cross-Border Claims Outstanding 
(Excluding Derivative Products)
--One new column for Amount of Foreign Office Claims on Local Residents 
(Excluding Derivative Products)
--Four new columns for Distribution of Amount of Cross-Border Claims 
across counterparty sector, that is, Banks, Public, Non-Bank Financial 
Institutions (NBFIs) and Other.

    These new columns would parallel the existing Part A, columns (1), 
(2) and (6)-(9) except they would be reported on an immediate-
counterparty basis rather than a guarantor basis. The agencies would 
retain the existing Guarantor Basis columns.

E. Change in Burden

    Collectively, the agencies expect the proposed changes would result 
in an increase in burden per submission of the FFIEC 009 of 4 hours, 
from 131 hours to 135 hours. This change in burden is primarily due to 
the proposed changes to add two new collateral columns. Since the 
proposed revisions to the FFIEC 009a reflect disclosures of data 
already collected, but not currently disclosed, on the FFIEC 009, the 
agencies expect that the burden per submission of the FFIEC 009a would 
increase by 0.5 hours, from 6 hours to 6.5 hours.

III. Request for Comment

    Public comment is requested on all aspects of this notice. Comment 
is also specifically invited on:
    (a) Whether the information collections are necessary for the 
proper performance of the agencies' functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of the agencies' estimates of the burden of the 
information collections, 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 collections on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    (e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    Comments submitted in response to this joint notice will be shared 
among the agencies. All comments will become a matter of public record.

Patrick T. Tierney,
Assistant Director, Bank Advisory, Office of the Comptroller of the 
Currency.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board. Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System.
    Dated at Washington, DC, on January 13, 2022.
James P. Sheesley,
Assistant Executive Secretary, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2022-01013 Filed 1-19-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-33-P; 6210-01-P, 6714-01-P