Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 146 / Monday, July 30, 2018 / Notices 36591 

1See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(1), (b), (d). 

2See 12 CFR 1273.7(a). 

3See 12 U.S.C. 4520(a). 

4See 12 U.S.C. 4520(b), (d). 

5See 12 CFR 1223.21(b). 

Management and Administrative 

Matters 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Judith Ingram, Press Officer, Telephone: 

(202) 694–1220. 

Individuals who plan to attend and 

require special assistance, such as sign 

language interpretation or other 

reasonable accommodations, should 

contact Dayna C. Brown, Secretary and 

Clerk, at (202) 694–1040, at least 72 

hours prior to the meeting date. 

Dayna C. Brown, 

Secretary and Clerk of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16399 Filed 7–26–18; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6715–01–P 

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE 

AGENCY 

[No. 2018–N–07] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance 

Agency. 

ACTION: 30-Day notice of submission of 

information collection for approval from 

Office of Management and Budget. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA 

or the Agency) is seeking public 

comments concerning an information 

collection known as ‘‘Minority and 

Women Inclusion,’’ which has been 

assigned control number 2590–0014 by 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB). FHFA intends to submit the 

information collection to OMB for 

review and approval of a three-year 

extension of the control number, which 

is due to expire on July 31, 2018. 

DATES: Interested persons may submit 

comments on or before August 29, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs of the Office of Management and 

Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the 

Federal Housing Finance Agency, 

Washington, DC 20503, Fax: (202) 395– 

3047, Email: OIRA_submission@

omb.eop.gov. Please also submit 

comments to FHFA, identified by 

‘‘Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request: ‘Minority and Women 

Inclusion, (No. 2018–N–07)’ ’’ by any of 

the following methods: 

• Agency Website: www.fhfa.gov/ 

open-for-comment-or-input. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. If 

you submit your comment to the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also 

send it by email to FHFA at 

RegComments@fhfa.gov to ensure 

timely receipt by the agency. 

• Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal 

Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 

400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 

20219, ATTENTION: Proposed 

Collection; Comment Request: 

‘‘Minority and Women Inclusion, (No. 

2018–N–07)’’. 

We will post all public comments we 

receive without change, including any 

personal information you provide, such 

as your name and address, email 

address, and telephone number, on the 

FHFA website at http://www.fhfa.gov. In 

addition, copies of all comments 

received will be available for 

examination by the public through the 

electronic comment docket for this PRA 

Notice also located on the FHFA 

website. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sylvia Martinez, Principal Policy 

Analyst, Office of Minority and Women 

Inclusion, by email at Sylvia.Martinez@

fhfa.gov or by telephone at (202) 649– 

3301; or Eric Raudenbush, Associate 

General Counsel, Eric.Raudenbush@

fhfa.gov, (202) 649–3084 (these are not 

toll-free numbers); Federal Housing 

Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street 

SW, Washington, DC 20219. The 

Telecommunications Device for the 

Hearing Impaired is (800) 877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Housing Finance Agency 

(FHFA) is seeking comments on its 

collection of information regarding the 

minority and gender classification of 

individuals serving on the boards of 

directors of the Federal Home Loan 

Banks (Banks) and of the Office of 

Finance under FHFA’s regulations on 

Minority and Women Inclusion (MWI), 

codified at 12 CFR part 1223, which it 

will be submitting for renewal of the 

OMB control number under the PRA. 

A. Need for and Use of the Information 

Collection 

The Federal Home Loan Bank System 

(Bank System) consists of eleven 

regional Banks and the Office of 

Finance, which issues and services the 

Banks’ debt securities. The Banks are 

wholesale financial institutions, 

organized under authority of the Federal 

Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to 

serve the public interest by enhancing 

the availability of residential housing 

finance and community lending credit 

through their member institutions and, 

to a limited extent, through certain 

eligible non-member entities. Each Bank 

is structured as a regional cooperative 

that is owned and controlled by member 

financial institutions located within its 

district, which are also its primary 

customers. The Bank Act vests the 

management of each Bank in a board of 

directors that consists of two types of 

directors: (1) Member directors, who are 

drawn from the officers and directors of 

member institutions located in the 

Bank’s district and who are elected to 

represent members in a particular state 

in that district; and (2) independent 

directors, who are unaffiliated with any 

of the Bank’s member institutions, but 

who reside in the Bank’s district and are 

elected on an at-large basis.1 The Office 

of Finance is also governed by a board 

of directors, which consists of the 

presidents of the eleven Banks and five 

independent directors.2

Section 1319A of the Federal Housing 

Enterprises Financial Safety and 

Soundness Act of 1992 (Safety and 

Soundness Act) requires that each of the 

Banks establish an Office of Minority 

and Women Inclusion (OMWI) to be 

responsible for all matters relating to 

diversity in its management, 

employment, and business activities, in 

accordance with requirements 

established by FHFA.3 Section 1319A 

also requires that each Bank implement 

standards and procedures to ensure, to 

the maximum extent possible, the 

inclusion and utilization of women and 

minorities ‘‘at all levels’’ of its business 

and activities, and submit an annual 

report to FHFA detailing actions taken 

to achieve those goals.4

FHFA’s MWI regulations implement 

those statutory requirements and also 

extend the requirements to the Office of 

Finance. The regulations require 

generally that each Bank and the Office 

of Finance ‘‘develop, implement, and 

maintain policies and procedures to 

ensure, to the maximum extent possible, 

in balance with financially safe and 

sound business practices, the inclusion 

and utilization of minorities, women, 

individuals with disabilities, and 

minority-, women-, and disabled-owned 

businesses in all business and activities 

and at all levels of the regulated entity, 

including in management, employment, 

procurement, insurance, and all types of 

contracts.’’ 5 In recognition of the fact 

that each Bank is required by statute to 

promote diversity and inclusion ‘‘at all 

levels’’ of its business and activities, the 

MWI regulations further require that the 

Banks’ policies and procedures (as well 

as those of the Office of Finance) 

‘‘[e]ncourage the consideration of 


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36592 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 146 / Monday, July 30, 2018 / Notices 

6See 12 CFR 1223.21(b)(7). 

7See 12 CFR 1223.22(a). 

8See 12 CFR 1223.23(b)(1). As required by 29 

CFR 1602.7, each Bank and the Office of Finance 

annually files an EEO–1 form with the EEOC. 

9See 12 CFR 1223.23(b)(10)(i). 10See 83 FR 22684 (May 16, 2018). 

diversity in nominating or soliciting 

nominees for positions on boards of 

directors and engage in recruiting and 

outreach directed at encouraging 

individuals who are minorities, women, 

and individuals with disabilities to seek 

or apply for employment with the 

regulated entity.’’ 6

In conformity with the statutory 

requirements, FHFA’s MWI regulations 

require that each Bank and the Office of 

Finance submit to FHFA an annual 

report describing, among other things, 

its efforts to promote diversity at all 

levels of management and employment, 

and the results of those efforts.7 In order 

to provide a quantitative basis upon 

which to assess the results of those 

efforts, FHFA’s regulations require that 

each Bank and the Office of Finance set 

forth in in their respective annual 

reports the demographic data reported 

on the EEO–1 form, which they are 

required to file annually with the Equal 

Employment Opportunity Commission 

(EEOC).8 The EEO–1 form requires that 

each respondent provide race, ethnicity, 

and gender information for its 

employees, broken down into various 

job categories. Because the EEO–1 form 

does not require that a respondent 

provide information on board directors, 

FHFA cannot use the EEO–1 data to 

assess the effectiveness of the Bank 

System’s efforts to ‘‘encourage the 

consideration of diversity in nominating 

or soliciting nominees for positions on 

boards of directors.’’ 

Therefore, in order to enable FHFA to 

assess those efforts, the MWI regulations 

separately require that the annual 

reports set forth ‘‘[d]ata showing for the 

reporting year by minority and gender 

classification, the number of individuals 

on the board of directors of each Bank 

and the Office of Finance,’’ using the 

same racial and ethnic classifications 

that are used on the EEO–1 form (which 

comply with OMB’s ‘‘Statistical Policy 

Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic 

Standards for Federal Statistics and 

Administrative Reporting’’).9 The 

regulation requires that each Bank and 

the Office of Finance collect that data 

‘‘through an information collection 

requesting each director’s voluntary 

self-identification of his or her minority 

and gender classification without 

personally identifiable information.’’ 

FHFA uses the information collected 

under this control number to assess the 

effectiveness of the policies and 

procedures that each Bank and the 

Office of Finance is required to 

implement to promote diversity in all of 

its business and activities ‘‘at all levels’’ 

and, specifically, to encourage diversity 

in the nomination and solicitation of 

nominees for members of its boards of 

directors. FHFA also uses the 

information to establish a baseline to 

analyze future trends related to the 

diversity of the boards of directors of the 

Banks and the Office of Finance and to 

assess the effectiveness of the strategies 

developed by the Banks and the Office 

of Finance for promoting, developing, 

and retaining diverse board talent. 

B. Burden Estimate 

FHFA estimates the total annual hour 

burden imposed upon respondents by 

this information collection to be 20 

hours. This is based on estimates that 

200 Bank and Office of Finance 

Directors will respond annually, with 

each response taking an average of 0.1 

hours (6 minutes) (200 respondents × 

0.1 hours = 20 hours). 

C. Comments Request 

In accordance with the requirements 

of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA published an 

initial notice and request for public 

comments regarding this information 

collection in the Federal Register on 

May 16, 2018.10 The 60-day comment 

period closed on July 16, 2018. FHFA 

received no comments. 

FHFA requests written comments on 

the following: (1) Whether the collection 

of information is necessary for the 

proper performance of FHFA functions, 

including whether the information has 

practical utility; (2) the accuracy of 

FHFA’s estimates of the burdens of the 

collection of information; (3) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information collected; and (4) 

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. 

Dated: July 24, 2018. 

Kevin Winkler, 

Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing 

Finance Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16230 Filed 7–27–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8070–01–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Proposed Agency Information 

Collection Activities: Submission for 

OMB Review; Comment Request 

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System (Board). 

ACTION: Notice and request for comment. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Board, 

the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of 

the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) 

(collectively, 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. On 

April 27, 2018, the Board, under the 

auspices of the Federal Financial 

Institutions Examination Council 

(FFIEC), requested public comment for 

60 days on a proposal to extend for 

three years, without revision, the 

Country Exposure Report for U.S. 

Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks 

(FFIEC 019), which is currently an 

approved collection of information. The 

Board is publishing this proposal on 

behalf of the agencies. The comment 

period for this proposal ended on June 

26, 2018, and no comments were 

received. The Board is giving notice that 

it is sending the collection to OMB for 

review. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before August 29, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are 

invited to submit written comments to 

the agency listed below. All comments, 

which should refer to the OMB control 

number, will be shared among the 

agencies. 

You may submit comments, which 

should refer to ‘‘FFIEC 019,’’ 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: regs.comments@

federalreserve.gov. Include the reporting 

form 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 

www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/ 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES