Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 160 / Friday, August 18, 2006 / Notices 47867 

increase in the current reporting burden 

imposed by the TFR. The following 

burden estimates include the effect of 

the proposed revisions. 

Title: Thrift Financial Report. 

OMB Number: 1550–0023. 

Form Number: OTS 1313. 

Statutory Requirement: 12 U.S.C. 

1464(v) imposes reporting requirements 

for savings associations. Except for 

selected items, these information 

collections are not given confidential 

treatment. 

Type of Review: Revision of currently 

approved collections. 

Affected Public: Savings associations. 

Estimated Number of Respondents 

and Recordkeepers: 854. 

Estimated Burden Hours per 

Respondent: 36.5 burden hours. 

Estimated Frequency of Response: 

Quarterly. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 

124,684 burden hours. 

Abstract: All OTS-regulated savings 

associations must comply with the 

information collections described in this 

notice. OTS collects this information 

each calendar quarter, or less frequently 

if so stated. OTS uses this information 

to monitor the condition, performance, 

and risk profile of individual 

institutions and systemic risk among 

groups of institutions and the industry 

as a whole. Except for selected items, 

these information collections are not 

given confidential treatment. 

I. Background 

On March 14, 2006, the FDIC Board 

of Directors approved interim final rules 

pursuant to the Reform Act that will 

raise the deposit insurance coverage on 

certain retirement accounts at a bank or 

savings institution to $250,000 from 

$100,000. The increase, which became 

effective on April 1, 2006, is the result 

of a new law increasing Federal deposit 

insurance coverage for the first time in 

more than 25 years. The basic insurance 

coverage for other deposit accounts for 

individuals, joint accountholders, 

businesses, government entities, and 

trusts—remains at $100,000. 

Under the FDIC’s new rules, up to 

$250,000 in deposit insurance will be 

provided to a depositor with money in 

a variety of retirement accounts, 

primarily traditional and Roth IRAs 

(Individual Retirement Accounts), at 

one insured institution. Other types of 

accounts included under the new 

deposit insurance limit are self-directed 

Keogh accounts, ‘‘457 Plan’’ accounts 

for state government employees, and 

employer-sponsored ‘‘defined 

contribution plan’’ accounts that are 

self-directed, which are primarily 401(k) 

accounts. In general, self-directed means 

the consumer chooses how and where 

the money is deposited. 

In addition, the IRAs and other 

retirement accounts that will be 

protected under the new rules to 

$250,000 are insured separately from 

other accounts at the same institution 

that will continue to be insured up to at 

least $100,000. Additional information 

about deposit insurance is available at 

the FDIC’s Web site, http:// 

www.fdic.gov. 

The new law also established a 

method by which the FDIC would 

consider an increase in the insurance 

limits on all deposit accounts (including 

retirement accounts) in the future, but 

only every five years starting in 2011. 

Any such increase would be based, in 

part, on inflation. Otherwise, accounts 

will continue to be insured as described 

above. 

The new law also merged the Bank 

Insurance Fund and the Savings 

Association Insurance Fund into a new 

Deposit Insurance Fund. 

As a result of these changes in deposit 

insurance for retirement accounts held 

at FDIC-insured depository institutions, 

OTS considered a range of potential 

information needs and identified those 

additions to the TFR that are believed to 

be most critical and relevant to OTS as 

it seeks to fulfill its supervisory 

responsibilities. At the same time, OTS 

identified certain existing TFR data that 

are no longer relevant or useful to 

warrant their continued collection. OTS 

believes that the reporting burden that 

would result from the new TFR items 

discussed in this proposal would 

increase only slightly due to the 

proposed elimination of a limited 

number of other TFR items. After 

savings associations make any necessary 

changes to their systems and records, 

OTS estimated that these deposit-related 

reporting changes would produce an 

average net increase of 0.4 hours per 

institution per year in the ongoing 

reporting burden of the TFR. 

Nevertheless, when viewing these 

proposed revisions to the TFR within a 

larger context, they are intended to 

maintain the effectiveness of the on- and 

off-site supervision activities of the 

OTS, which should help to control the 

overall regulatory burden on 

institutions. 

II. Current Actions 

OTS received comments on the April 

2006 proposal from the American 

Bankers Association (ABA), a trade 

group whose members include savings 

associations. OTS also received a 

request from the Board of Governors of 

the Federal Reserve System to maintain 

line DI200, IRA/Keogh Accounts, for 

their use in monetary analysis. 

OTS has considered these comments 

and has decided to proceed with the 

proposed changes to Schedule DI, but 

will not eliminate line DI200, IRA/ 

Keogh Accounts. These changes will 

become effective on December 31, 2006. 

This decision is discussed below. 

ABA expressed concern about the 

short amount of time for savings 

associations to implement the revisions. 

ABA urged OTS to delay the reporting 

revisions until the FDIC finalizes its 

interim rule on retirement deposit 

account insurance and savings 

associations have had time to make 

necessary systems changes. The ABA 

noted that the amount of time that 

institutions have to prepare for these 

reporting revisions is shorter than usual 

and indicated that thrift deposit records 

and systems do not clearly distinguish 

the types of retirement deposit accounts 

eligible for the higher insurance 

coverage from other accounts. It also 

asserted that there is uncertainty in the 

thrift industry as to which retirement 

deposit accounts are eligible for the 

higher insurance coverage. To address 

these concerns, OTS will set the 

effective date of these changes at 

December 31, 2006. 

For the December 31, 2006, TFR, 

thrifts would be expected to have made 

appropriate systems changes to enable 

them to report reasonably accurate data 

on all types of retirement deposit 

accounts eligible for the $250,000 

insurance coverage. Thrifts’ deposit 

records and systems should enable them 

to report information on all retirement 

deposit accounts in these TFR items in 

accordance with the applicable 

instructions. 

Dated: August 14, 2006. 

Deborah Dakin, 

Senior Deputy Chief Counsel, Regulations and 

Legislation Division. 

[FR Doc. E6–13668 Filed 8–17–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6720–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Veterans’ Disability Benefits 

Commission; Notice of Meeting 

The Department of Veterans Affairs 

(VA) gives notice under Public Law 92–

463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) 

that the Veterans’ Disability Benefits 

Commission has scheduled a southern 

regional town hall meeting on Tuesday, 

September 5, 2006, from 7 p.m. until 9 

p.m., at the Marriott Atlanta Century 

Center, 2000 Century Boulevard, NE., 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
47868 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 160 / Friday, August 18, 2006 / Notices 

Atlanta, GA. The meeting is open to the 

public. 

The purpose of the Commission is to 

carry out a study of the benefits under 

the laws of the United States that are 

provided to compensate and assist 

veterans and their survivors for 

disabilities and deaths attributable to 

military service. 

The Commission is conducting the 

final of eight fact-finding, data-gathering 

site visits throughout the United States. 

The Atlanta area was selected based on 

criteria that included the concentration 

of veterans, active-duty service members 

and National Guard and Reserves, and 

the location of Veterans Benefits 

Administration, Veterans Health 

Administration, and Department of 

Defense (DoD) facilities, with particular 

interest in transition activities. The goal 

of this visit is to allow the 

commissioners the opportunity to tour 

local VA and DoD facilities; examine the 

processes in place which assist disabled 

veterans and service members, and 

survivors in their efforts to obtain 

benefits and to present these individuals 

and the general public with an 

opportunity to learn about the work of 

the Commission and to offer comments 

in face-to-face forums. 

Interested person may attend and 

present oral statements to the 

Commission. Time for each oral 

presentation will be limited to five 

minutes or less, depending on the 

number of participants. Interested 

parties may provide written comments 

for review by the Commission prior the 

meeting, by e-mail to: 

veterans@vetscommission.intranets.com 

or by mail to: Mr. Ray Wilburn, 

Executive Director, Veterans’ Disability 

Benefits Commission, 1101 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 5th Floor, 

Washington, DC 20004. 

Dated: August 11, 2006. 

By Direction of the Secretary. 

E. Philip Riggin, 

Committee Management Officer. 

[FR Doc. 06–6991 Filed 8–17–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–M 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Advisory Committee on the 

Readjustment of Veterans; Notice of 

Meeting 

The Department of Veterans Affairs 

(VA) gives notice under Public Law 92–

463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) 

that a meeting of the Advisory 

Committee on the Readjustment of 

Veterans will be held on September 7–

8, 2006, at The American Legion, 

Washington Office, at 1608 K Street, 

NW., Washington, DC from 8 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m. each day. The meeting will be 

open to the public. 

The purpose of the Committee is to 

review the post-war readjustment needs 

of veterans and to evaluate the 

availability and effectiveness of VA 

programs to meet these needs. 

The agenda for September 7 will 

review the coordination of services 

between VA and the Department of 

Defense as this relates to ensuring a 

seamless transition for returning war 

veterans. The topics covered will 

include deployment-related problems 

faced by service members and their 

families, and Battlemind Training as 

developed by the Walter Reed Army 

Institute for Research. 

On September 8 the Committee will 

be provided with an update on the 

current activities of the Readjustment 

Counseling Service Vet Center program 

to serve the veterans from Operation 

Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi 

Freedom. The agenda will also include 

a review of the partnership between VA 

and DOD in implementing the PostDeployment Health Reassessment 

Program; strategic planning activities, 

and drafting recommendations for the 

Committee’s next report to Congress. 

No time will be allocated at this 

meeting for receiving oral presentations 

from the public. However, members of 

the public may direct written questions 

or submit prepared statements for 

review by the Committee in advance to 

Mr. Charles M. Flora, M.S.W., 

Designated Federal Officer, 

Readjustment Counseling Service, 

Department of Veterans Affairs (15), 810 

Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 

20420. Those who plan to attend or 

have questions concerning the meeting 

may contact Mr. Flora at (202) 273–8969 

or charles.flora@va.gov. 

Dated: August 9, 2006. 

By Direction of the Secretary. 

E. Philip Riggin, 

Committee Management Officer. 

[FR Doc. 06–6994 Filed 8–17–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–M 


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