Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 3 / Friday, January 5, 2007 / Notices 547 

SUMMARY: The Export-Import Bank, as a 

part of its continuing effort to reduce 

paperwork and respondent burden, 

invites the general public and other 

Federal Agencies to comment on the 

proposed information collection as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice is soliciting comments from the 

public concerning the proposed 

collection of information to (1) evaluate 

whether the proposed collection is 

necessary for the paper performance of 

the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (2) evaluate the 

accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the 

burden of the proposed information 

collection of information; (3) enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and 

minimize the burden of collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriated automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology, e.g., permitting electronic 

submission of responses. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received on or before February 5, 2007 

to be assured of consideration. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to 

David Rostker, Office of Management 

and Budget, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, NEOB, Room 10202, 

Washington, DC 20503 (202) 395–3897. 

Titles and Form Numbers: ExportImport Bank of the United States 

Application for Long-Term Loan or 

Guarantee, EIB 95–10. 

OMB Number: 3048–0013. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Need and Use: The information 

requested enables the applicant to 

provide Ex-Im Bank, with the 

information necessary to determine 

eligibility for the loan and guarantee 

programs. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit. 

Respondents: Entities involved in the 

provision of financing or arranging of 

financing for foreign buyers of U.S. 

exports. 

Estimated Annual Respondents: 86 

(revised). 

Estimated Time Per Respondent: 2.0 

hours (revised). 

Estimated Annual Burden: 172 hours. 

Frequency of Response: When 

applying for a long-time preliminary or 

final commitment. 

Dated: December 27, 2006. 

Solomon Bush, 

Agency Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 06–9978 Filed 1–4–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6690–01–M 

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD 

[No. 2006–N–10] 

Examination Rating System for the 

Federal Home Loan Banks and the 

Office of Finance 

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance 

Board. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance 

Board (Finance Board) is adopting an 

examination rating system known as the 

Federal Home Loan Bank Rating System 

(Rating System). 

DATES: The Finance Board will use the 

Rating System for all examinations that 

begin after December 31, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anthony Cornyn, Associate Director, 

Supervision and Examination, Office of 

Supervision, cornyna@fhfb.gov or 202–

408–2522, or Kari Walter, Associate 

Director, Supervisory and Regulatory 

Policy, Office of Supervision, 

walterk@fhfb.gov or 202–408–2829. You 

can send regular mail to the Federal 

Housing Finance Board, 1625 Eye 

Street, NW., Washington DC 20006. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

In September 2006, the Finance Board 

published a proposed Rating System for 

the Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) 

and the Office of Finance (OF) in the 

Federal Register for public comment. 

See 71 FR 55181 (Sept. 21, 2006) 

(available at the Finance Board’s Web 

site: http://www.fhfb.gov/ 

Default.aspx?Page=59&

ListCategory=4#4). The 30-day comment 

period closed on October 23, 2006. The 

Finance Board received 7 comments 

(the comments are available at the 

Finance Board’s Web site: http:// 

www.fhfb.gov/ 

Default.aspx?Page=93&Top=93). Based 

on the comments, the Office of 

Supervision revised the Introduction 

and Overview to clarify that the 

composite rating will be based on the 

relative importance of each component 

as determined case-by-case within the 

parameters established by the Rating 

System. The proposal stated that the 

Finance Board would give special 

consideration to corporate governance 

in assigning a composite rating. 

Although the importance of corporate 

governance cannot be over-emphasized, 

our intent is not to weight the corporate 

governance component more heavily 

than other components. Rather than 

giving special consideration to any one 

component, examiners will use 

judgment and a case-by-case approach 

when assigning composite ratings. The 

Office of Supervision made no other 

significant changes to the Rating System 

as proposed. 

II. The Federal Home Loan Bank Rating 

System 

In 2005, the Office of Supervision 

began to provide an overall 

conclusion—Satisfactory, Fair, 

Marginal, or Unsatisfactory—as part of 

its Report of Examination. The Rating 

System, which is the next step in 

communicating exam results to the 

Banks, is a risk-focused system under 

which each Bank and the OF is assigned 

a composite rating from ‘‘1’’ to ‘‘4’’

based on an evaluation of various 

aspects of their operations. The 

composite rating of each Bank is based 

on an evaluation and rating of 5 key 

components: corporate governance, 

market risk, credit risk, operational risk, 

and financial condition and 

performance. The composite rating of 

the OF is based primarily on an 

evaluation of 2 components: corporate 

governance and operational risk. A ‘‘1’’

rating indicates the lowest degree of 

supervisory concern, while a ‘‘4’’ rating 

indicates the highest degree of 

supervisory concern. The composite 

rating is based on the ratings of the 

underlying components, which also are 

rated on a scale of ‘‘1’’ to ‘‘4.’’ The 

composite rating is not an arithmetic 

average of the component ratings. 

Instead, the relative importance of each 

component is determined case-by-case 

within the parameters established by the 

Rating System. 

Under the Rating System, examiners 

take administration of a Bank’s 

affordable housing and community 

investment activities into account in 

assigning component ratings for 

corporate governance and operational 

risk. Given the importance of affordable 

housing and community investment 

activities to the mission of the Bank 

System, the Office of Supervision may 

consider the need for a separate rating 

system or a separate ratings component 

to evaluate and rate the affordable 

housing and community investment 

programs of each Bank after gaining 

experience with the Rating System. 

The Rating System is intended to 

serve 2 purposes. First, it is designed to 

reflect in a comprehensive, systematic, 

and consistent fashion the overall 

condition and performance of an 


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institution, taking into consideration all 

significant financial, operational, and 

compliance factors addressed in the 

Finance Board’s examination. Second, 

the Rating System is meant to further 

enhance communication and 

transparency between the Office of 

Supervision and each Bank and the OF 

regarding the results of the examination 

process. 

The ratings for individual Banks and 

the OF will not be made public or 

released to other Banks, but will be 

supplied to the individual Banks and 

the OF on a confidential basis as part of 

the examination and supervisory 

process. 

The Federal Home Loan Bank Rating 

System is attached as an Exhibit to this 

Notice. 

Dated: December 28, 2006. 

By the Federal Housing Finance Board. 

John P. Kennedy, 

General Counsel. 

BILLING CODE 6725–01–P 


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[FR Doc. 06–9984 Filed 1–4–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6725–01–C 


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