64304 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

(TREAS) 

Statement of Regulatory Priorities 

The primary missions of the 

Department of the Treasury are: 

• To promote prosperous and stable 

American and world economies, 

including promoting domestic 

economic growth and maintaining our 

Nation’s leadership in global 

economic issues, supervising national 

banks and thrift institutions, and 

helping to bring residents of 

distressed communities into the 

economic mainstream. 

• To manage the Government’s finances 

by protecting the revenue and 

collecting the correct amount of 

revenue under the Internal Revenue 

Code, overseeing customs revenue 

functions, financing the Federal 

Government and managing its fiscal 

operations, and producing our 

Nation’s coins and currency. 

• To safeguard the U.S. and 

international financial systems from 

those who would use these systems 

for illegal purposes or to compromise 

U.S. national security interests, while 

keeping them free and open to 

legitimate users. 

Consistent with these missions, most 

regulations of the Department and its 

constituent bureaus are promulgated to 

interpret and implement the laws as 

enacted by the Congress and signed by 

the President. It is the policy of the 

Department to comply with 

requirements to issue a notice of 

proposed rulemaking and carefully 

consider public comments before 

adopting a final rule. Also, in particular 

cases, the Department invites interested 

parties to submit views on rulemaking 

projects while a proposed rule is being 

developed. 

In response to the events of 

September 11, 2001, the President 

signed the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 

into law on October 26, 2001. Since 

then, the Department has accorded the 

highest priority to developing and 

issuing regulations to implement the 

provisions in this historic legislation 

that target money laundering and 

terrorist financing. These efforts, which 

will continue during the coming year, 

are reflected in the regulatory priorities 

of the Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (FinCEN). 

To the extent permitted by law, it is 

the policy of the Department to adhere 

to the regulatory philosophy and 

principles set forth in Executive Order 

12866, and to develop regulations that 

maximize aggregate net benefits to 

society while minimizing the economic 

and paperwork burdens imposed on 

persons and businesses subject to those 

regulations. 

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act 

On October 3, 2008, the President 

signed the Emergency Economic 

Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) (Pub. 

L. 110-334). Section 101(a) of EESA 

authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury 

to establish a Troubled Asset Relief 

Program (TARP) to ‘‘purchase, and to 

make and fund commitments to 

purchase, troubled assets from any 

financial institution, on such terms and 

conditions as are determined by the 

Secretary, and in accordance with this 

Act and policies and procedures 

developed and published by the 

Secretary.’’ 

EESA provides authority to issue 

regulations and guidance to implement 

the program. Regulations and guidance 

required by EESA include conflicts of 

interest, executive compensation, and 

tax guidance. The Secretary is also 

charged with establishing a program 

that will guarantee principal of, and 

interest on, troubled assets originated or 

issued prior to March 14, 2008. 

The Department has issued guidance 

and regulations and will continue to 

provide program information through 

the next year. Regulatory actions taken 

to date include the following: 

• Executive compensation. In October 

2008, the Department issued an 

interim final rule that set forth 

executive compensation guidelines 

for the TARP Capital Purchase 

Program (73 FR 62205). Related tax 

guidance on executive compensation 

was announced in IRS Notice 2008- 

94. In addition, among other EESA tax 

guidance, the IRS issued interim 

guidance regarding loss corporation 

and ownership changes in Notice 

2008-100, providing that any shares of 

stock owned by the Department of the 

Treasury under the Capital Purchase 

Program will not be considered to 

cause Treasury’s ownership in such 

corporation to increase. On June 15, 

2009, the Department issued a revised 

interim final rule that sets forth 

executive compensation guidelines 

for all TARP program participants (74 

FR 28394), implementing 

amendments to the executive 

compensation provisions of EESA 

made by the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L.111- 

5). Public comments on the revised 

interim final rule regarding executive 

compensation were due by August 14, 

2009 and will be considered as part of 

the process of issuing a final rule on 

this subject. 

• Insurance program for trouble assets. 

On October 14, 2008, the Department 

released a request for public input on 

an insurance program for troubled 

assets. 

• Conflicts of interest. On January 21, 

2009, the Department issued an 

interim final rule providing guidance 

on conflicts of interest pursuant to 

section 108 of EESA (74 FR 3431). 

Comments on the interim final rule, 

which were due by March 23, 2009, 

will be considered as part of the 

process of issuing a final rule. 

During Fiscal Year 2010, the 

Department will continue implementing 

the EESA authorities to restore capital 

flows to the consumers and businesses 

that form the core of the nation’s 

economy. 

Terrorism Risk Insurance Program 

Office 

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 

2002 (TRIA) was signed into law on 

November 26, 2002. The law, which was 

enacted as a consequence of the events 

of September 11, 2001, established a 

temporary Federal reinsurance program 

under which the Federal Government 

shares the risk of losses associated with 

certain types of terrorist acts with 

commercial property and casualty 

insurers. The Act, originally scheduled 

to expire on December 31, 2005, was 

extended to December 31, 2007 by the 

Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act 

of 2005 (TRIEA). The Act has since been 

extended to December 31, 2014, by the 

Terrorism Risk Insurance Program 

Reauthorization Act of 2007 (TRIPRA). 

The Office of the Assistant Secretary 

for Financial Institutions is responsible 

for developing and promulgating 

regulations implementing TRIA, as 

extended and amended by TRIEA and 

TRIPRA. The Terrorism Risk Insurance 

Program Office, which is part of the 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Financial Institutions, is responsible for 

operational implementation of TRIA. 

The purposes of this legislation are to 

address market disruptions, ensure the 

continued widespread availability and 

affordability of commercial property 

and casualty insurance for terrorism 

risk, and to allow for a transition period 

for the private markets to stabilize and 

build capacity while preserving State 

insurance regulation and consumer 

protections. 


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Over the past year, the Office of the 

Assistant Secretary has issued proposed 

rules implementing changes authorized 

by TRIA as revised by TRIPRA. The 

following regulations should be 

published by December 31, 2009: 

• Recoupment of Federal Share of 

Compensation for Insured Losses. 

This final rule would implement and 

establish requirements for 

determining amounts to be recouped 

and for procedures insurers are to use 

for collecting terrorism policy 

surcharges and remitting them to the 

Treasury. 

• Cap on Annual Liability and Pro Rata 

Share of Insured Losses. This final 

rule would establish, for purposes of 

the $100 billion cap on annual 

liability, how Treasury will determine 

whether aggregate insured losses will 

exceed $100 billion and, if so, how 

Treasury will determine the pro rata 

share of insured losses to be paid by 

each insurer that incurs insured losses 

under the Program. 

During 2010, Treasury will continue 

the ongoing work of implementing TRIA 

and carrying out revised operations as a 

result of the TRIPRA related regulation 

changes. 

Customs Revenue Functions 

On November 25, 2002, the President 

signed the Homeland Security Act of 

2002 (the Act), establishing the 

Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS). The Act transferred the United 

States Customs Service from the 

Department of the Treasury to the DHS, 

where it is was known as the Bureau of 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

Effective March 31, 2007, DHS changed 

the name of the Bureau of Customs and 

Border Protection to U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP) pursuant to 

section 872(a)(2) of the Act (6 USC 

452(a)(2)) in a Federal Register notice 

(72 FR 20131) published on April 23, 

2007. Notwithstanding the transfer of 

the Customs Service to DHS, the Act 

provides that the Secretary of the 

Treasury retains sole legal authority 

over the customs revenue functions. The 

Act also authorizes the Secretary of the 

Treasury to delegate any of the retained 

authority over customs revenue 

functions to the Secretary of Homeland 

Security. By Treasury Department Order 

No. 100-16, the Secretary of the 

Treasury delegated to the Secretary of 

Homeland Security authority to 

prescribe regulations pertaining to the 

customs revenue functions. This Order 

further provided that the Secretary of 

the Treasury retained the sole authority 

to approve any such regulations 

concerning import quotas or trade bans, 

user fees, marking, labeling, copyright 

and trademark enforcement, and the 

completion of entry or substance of 

entry summary including duty 

assessment and collection, 

classification, valuation, application of 

the U.S. Harmonized Schedules, 

eligibility or requirements for 

preferential trade programs and the 

establishment of recordkeeping 

requirements relating thereto. 

During the past fiscal year, among the 

Treasury-retained CBP customs-revenue 

function regulations issued was an 

interim rule to amend the regulatory 

provisions relating to the requirement 

under the United States-Bahrain FTA 

(BFTA) that a good must be ‘‘imported 

directly’’ from Bahrain to the United 

States or from the United States to 

Bahrain to qualify for preferential tariff 

treatment. The change removed the 

condition that a good passing through 

the territory of an intermediate country 

must remain under the control of the 

customs authority of the intermediate 

country. CBP plans to finalize this 

rulemaking in the upcoming fiscal year. 

In addition, during the past fiscal 

year, CBP amended the regulations on 

an interim basis to implement certain 

provisions of the Tom Lantos Block 

Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic 

Efforts) Act of 2008 (Public Law 110- 

286) (the ‘‘JADE Act’’) and Presidential 

Proclamation 8294 of September 26, 

2008, which includes new Additional 

U.S. Note 4 to Chapter 71 of the 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

United States (‘‘HTSUS’’). The interim 

amendments prohibit the importation of 

Burmese-covered articles of jadeite, 

rubies and articles of jewelry containing 

jadeite or rubies, and sets forth 

restrictions for the importation of nonBurmese covered articles of jadeite, 

rubies and articles of jewelry containing 

jadeite or rubies. 

As a result of last year’s ‘‘Farm Bill’’ 

legislation, CBP implemented interim 

regulations on the Softwood Lumber Act 

of 2008, which prescribed special entry 

requirements as well as an importer 

declaration program applicable to 

certain softwood lumber (SWL) and 

SWL products exported from any 

country into the United States; CBP 

plans to finalize the interim rule in the 

upcoming fiscal year. 

During fiscal year 2010, CBP and 

Treasury plan to give priority to the 

following regulatory matters involving 

the customs revenue functions not 

delegated to DHS: 

• Trade Act of 2002’s preferential trade 

benefit provisions. Treasury and CBP 

plan to finalize several interim 

regulations that implement the trade 

benefit provisions of the Trade Act of 

2002 including the Caribbean Basin 

Economic Recovery Act and the 

African Growth and Opportunity Act. 

• Free Trade Agreements. Treasury and 

CBP also plan to finalize interim 

regulations this fiscal year to 

implement the preferential tariff 

treatment provisions of the United 

States-Singapore Free Trade 

Agreement Implementation Act and 

the Dominican Republic-Central 

America-United States Free Trade 

Agreement (also known as ‘‘CAFTADR’’) Implementation Act. Treasury 

and CBP expect to issue interim 

regulations implementing the United 

States-Australia Free Trade 

Agreement Implementation Act, the 

United States-Oman Free Trade 

Agreement Implementation Act, and 

the United States-Peru Free Trade 

Agreement Implementation Act. 

• Country of Origin of Textile and 

Apparel Products. Treasury and CBP 

also plan to publish a final rule 

adopting an interim rule that was 

published on the Country of Origin of 

Textile and Apparel Products, which 

implemented the changes brought 

about, in part, by the expiration of the 

Agreement on Textile and Clothing 

and the resulting elimination of 

quotas on the entry of textile and 

apparel products from World Trade 

Organizations (WTO) members. 

• North American Free Trade 

Agreement country of origin rules. 

Treasury and CBP are determining 

how to proceed regarding a proposal 

which was published in July 2008 

seeking public comment regarding 

uniform rules governing the 

determination of the country of origin 

of imported merchandise. The 

proposal attracted considerable 

interest from the trading community. 

If finalized, the proposed 

amendments would extend the 

application of the North American 

Free Trade Agreement country of 

origin rules to all trade. 

• Customs Modernization provisions of 

the North American Free Trade 

Implementation Act (Customs Mod 

Act). Treasury and CBP also plan to 

continue moving forward with 

amendments to improve its regulatory 

procedures began under the authority 

granted by the Customs Mod Act. 

These efforts, in accordance with the 

principles of Executive Order 12866, 


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have involved and will continue to 

involve significant input from the 

importing public. CBP will also 

continue to test new programs to see 

if they work before proceeding with 

proposed rulemaking to establish 

permanently the programs. Consistent 

with this practice, we expect to 

finalize a proposal to establish 

permanently the remote location filing 

program, which has been a test 

program under the Customs Mod Act. 

This rule would allow remote location 

filing of electronic entries of 

merchandise from a location other 

than where the merchandise will 

arrive. In addition, Treasury and CBP 

plan to finalize a proposal which was 

published in August 2008 regarding 

the electronic payment and refund of 

quarterly harbor maintenance fees. 

The rule would provide the trade with 

expanded electronic payment/refund 

options for quarterly harbor 

maintenance fees and would 

modernize and enhance CBP’s port 

use fee collection efforts. 

Community Development Financial 

Institutions Fund 

The Community Development 

Financial Institutions Fund (Fund) was 

established by the Community 

Development Banking and Financial 

Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4701 

et seq.). The primary purpose of the 

Fund is to promote economic 

revitalization and community 

development through the following 

programs: the Community Development 

Financial Institutions (CDFI) Program, 

the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) 

Program, the Native American CDFI 

Assistance (NACA) Program, and the 

New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) 

Program. In addition the Fund 

administers the Financial Education and 

Counseling Pilot Program (FEC) and the 

Capital Magnet Fund (CMF). 

In fiscal year (FY) 2010, subject to 

funding availability, the Fund will 

provide awards through the following 

programs: 

• Native American CDFI Assistance 

(NACA) Program. Through the NACA 

Program, the Fund will provide 

technical assistance grants and 

financial assistance awards to 

promote the development of CDFIs 

that serve Native American, Alaska 

Native, and Native Hawaiian 

communities. 

• Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) 

Program. Through the BEA Program, 

the Fund will provide financial 

incentives to encourage insured 

depository institutions to engage in 

eligible development activities and to 

make equity investments in CDFIs. 

• New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) 

Program. Through the NMTC 

Program, the CDFI Fund will provide 

allocations of tax credits to qualified 

community development entities 

(CDEs). The CDEs in turn provide tax 

credits to private sector investors in 

exchange for their investment dollars; 

investment proceeds received by the 

CDEs are be used to make loans and 

equity investments in low-income 

communities. The Fund administers 

the NMTC Program in coordination 

with the Office of Tax Policy and the 

Internal Revenue Service. 

• Financial Education and Counseling 

(FEC) Pilot Program. Through the FEC 

Pilot Program, the CDFI Fund will 

provide grants to eligible 

organizations to provide a range of 

financial education and counseling 

services to prospective homebuyers. 

The Fund will administer the FEC 

Program in coordination with the 

Office of Financial Education. 

• Capital Magnet Fund (CMF). Through 

the Capital Magnet Fund, the CDFI 

Fund will provide competitively 

awarded grants to CDFIs and qualified 

nonprofit housing organizations to 

finance affordable housing and related 

community development projects. In 

FY 2010, the Fund expects to draft 

and publish regulations to govern the 

application process, award selection, 

and compliance components of the 

CMF. 

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

As chief administrator of the Bank 

Secrecy Act (BSA), FinCEN’s 

regulations constitute the core of the 

Department’s anti-money laundering 

and counter-terrorism financing 

programmatic efforts. FinCEN’s 

responsibilities and objectives are 

linked to, and flow from, that role. In 

fulfilling this role, FinCEN seeks to 

enhance U.S. national security by 

making the financial system 

increasingly resistant to abuse by money 

launderers, terrorists and their financial 

supporters, and other perpetrators of 

crime. 

The Secretary of the Treasury, 

through FinCEN, is authorized by the 

BSA to issue regulations requiring 

financial institutions to file reports and 

keep records that are determined to 

have a high degree of usefulness in 

criminal, tax, or regulatory matters, or in 

the conduct of intelligence or counterintelligence activities to protect against 

international terrorism. Those 

regulations also require designated 

financial institutions to establish antimoney laundering programs and 

compliance procedures. To implement 

and realize its mission, FinCEN has 

established regulatory objectives and 

priorities to safeguard the financial 

system from the abuses of financial 

crime, including terrorist financing, 

money laundering, and other illicit 

activity. These objectives and priorities 

include: (1) issuing, interpreting, and 

enforcing compliance with regulations 

implementing the BSA; (2) supporting, 

working with, and, as appropriate, 

overseeing compliance examination 

functions delegated to other Federal 

regulators; (3) managing the collection, 

processing, storage, and dissemination 

of data related to the BSA; (4) 

maintaining a Government-wide access 

service to that same data, and for 

network users with overlapping 

interests; (5) conducting analysis in 

support of policymakers, law 

enforcement, regulatory and intelligence 

agencies, and the financial sector; and 

(6) coordinating with and collaborating 

on anti-terrorism and anti-money 

laundering initiatives with domestic law 

enforcement and intelligence agencies, 

as well as foreign financial intelligence 

units. 

During fiscal year 2009, FinCEN 

issued, or plans to issue, the following 

regulatory actions: 

• Currency Transaction Reporting 

Exemptions. FinCEN published a 

Final Rule that simplifies the existing 

currency transaction reporting (CTR) 

exemption regulatory requirements. 

The amendments were recommended 

by the Government Accountability 

Office in GAO-08-355. By simplifying 

the regulatory requirements regarding 

CTR exemptions, FinCEN believes 

that more depository institutions will 

avail themselves of the exemptions. 

The rule was finalized with an 

effective date of January 5, 2009. 

• Administrative Rulings. Prior to the 

end of the fiscal year, FinCEN will 

issue a final technical rule change to 

update the Bank Secrecy Act 

provisions to reflect that 

Administrative Rulings are published 

on the FinCEN Web site, rather than 

in the Federal Register. 

• Reorganization of BSA Rules. On 

October 23, 2008, FinCEN issued a 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to redesignate and reorganize the BSA 

regulations in a new chapter within 

the Code of Federal Regulations. The 

re-designation and reorganization of 

the regulations in a new chapter is not 


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intended to alter regulatory 

requirements. The regulations will be 

organized in a more consistent and 

intuitive structure that more easily 

allows financial institutions to 

identify their specific regulatory 

requirements under the BSA. The new 

chapter will replace 31 CFR Part 103. 

• Money Services Businesses. On May 

12, 2009, FinCEN issued a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking addressing 

definitional thresholds for Money 

Services Businesses (MSBs), 

incorporating previously issued 

Administrative Rules and guidance 

with regard to MSBs, and addressing 

the issue of foreign-located MSBs. 

• Confidentiality of Suspicious Activity 

Reports. On March 3, 2009, FinCEN 

issued a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking clarifying the nondisclosure provisions with respect to 

the existing regulations pertaining to 

the confidentiality of suspicious 

activity reports (SARs). In conjunction 

with this notice, FinCEN issued for 

comment two guidance documents, 

SAR Sharing with Affiliates for 

depository institutions and SAR 

Sharing with Affiliates for securities 

and futures industry entities, to solicit 

comment permitting certain financial 

institutions to share SARs with their 

U.S. affiliates that are also subject to 

SAR reporting requirements. 

• Mutual Funds. On June 5, 2009, 

FinCEN issued a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking addressing the definition 

of financial institution in the BSA’s 

implementing regulations to include 

open-end investment companies 

(mutual funds). Despite the fact that 

mutual funds are already required to 

comply with anti-money laundering 

and customer identification program 

requirements, file SARs, comply with 

due diligence obligations pursuant to 

rules implementing section 312 of the 

USA PATRIOT Act, and perform 

other BSA compliance functions, a 

mutual fund is not designated as a 

‘financial institution’ under the BSA 

implementing regulations. The 

proposed rule would address 

obligations to file Currency 

Transaction Reports for cash 

transactions over $10,000 in lieu of 

current obligations to file Form 8300s. 

• Non-Bank Residential Mortgage 

Lenders and Originators. On July 21, 

2009, FinCEN issued an Advance 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

(ANPRM) to solicit public comment 

on a wide range of questions 

pertaining to the possible application 

of anti-money laundering (AML) 

program and suspicious activity 

report regulations to a specific sub-set 

of loan and finance companies, i.e., 

non-bank residential mortgage lenders 

and originators 

• Expansion of Special Information 

Sharing Procedures (pursuant to 

section 314(a) of the BSA). Prior to the 

end of the fiscal year, FinCEN will 

issue a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking to amend the BSA 

regulations to allow certain foreign 

law enforcement agencies, State and 

local law enforcement agencies, and 

FinCEN itself to submit requests for 

information to financial institutions. 

• Withdrawal of Proposed Rules. On 

October 30, 2008, FinCEN withdrew 

the proposed rules (issued in 2002 

and 2003) for investment advisers, 

commodity trading advisors, and 

unregistered investment companies. 

The proposed rules were withdrawn 

to eliminate uncertainty associated 

with the existence of out-of-date 

proposed rules, and to allow FinCEN 

to issue new notices of proposed 

rulemaking at a later date that take 

into account industry regulatory 

developments with respect to 

investment advisers, commodity 

trading advisors, and unregistered 

investment companies since 2003. 

• Renewal of Existing Rules. FinCEN 

renewed without change the 

information collections associated 

with the existing regulations requiring 

money services businesses, mutual 

funds, operators of credit card 

systems, dealers in precious metals, 

precious stones, or jewels, and certain 

insurance companies to develop and 

implement written anti-money 

laundering programs. Also, FinCEN 

renewed without change the 

information collections associated 

with the existing regulations requiring 

futures commission merchants, 

introducing brokers in commodities, 

banks, savings associations, credit 

unions, certain non-federally 

regulated banks, mutual funds, and 

securities broker-dealers to develop 

and implement customer 

identification programs. 

• Administrative Rulings and Written 

Guidance. FinCEN issued 10 

Administrative Rulings and written 

guidance pieces (as of August 2009) 

interpreting the BSA and providing 

clarity to regulated industries. 

FinCEN’s regulatory priorities for 

fiscal year 2010 include finalizing the 

proposed initiatives mentioned above, 

as well as the following projects: 

• Anti-Money Laundering Programs. 

Pursuant to section 352 of the USA 

PATRIOT Act, certain financial 

institutions are required to establish 

AML programs. Continued from fiscal 

year 2009, FinCEN will propose a 

rulemaking to require state-chartered 

credit unions and other depository 

institutions without a federal 

functional regulator to implement 

AML programs. With the added 

information from the ANPRM 

regarding non-bank residential 

mortgage lenders or originators, 

FinCEN will research and analyze 

issues regarding potential regulation 

of the loan and finance industry, and 

may issue proposed rulemaking with 

regard to non-bank residential 

mortgage lenders and originators. 

Finally, FinCEN also will continue to 

consider regulatory options regarding 

certain corporate and trust service 

providers. 

• Regulatory Framework for Stored 

Value. The Credit Card 

Accountability, Responsibility, and 

Disclosure Act (CARD Act) of 2009 

(Section 503) requires FinCEN to 

issue a final rule ‘‘regarding issuance, 

sale, redemption, or international 

transport of stored value’’ by midFebruary 2010. This act has imposed 

a timetable to activities that were 

already underway. Just prior to the 

enactment of the CARD Act, FinCEN 

issued a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking clarifying the 

applicability of BSA regulations with 

respect to MSB activities. As part of 

this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 

FinCEN solicited comment on the 

treatment of stored value as money 

transmission under FinCEN’s 

regulations. In the accelerated 

rulemaking environment resulting 

from the CARD Act, FinCEN is 

consulting with law enforcement and 

other regulators with the intent to 

issue a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking and then a Final Rule to 

meet the established deadline. FBAR 

Requirements. FinCEN will work with 

the IRS and other pertinent offices 

within the Department of the Treasury 

to issue a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking with regard to revising 

the regulations governing the filing of 

Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial 

Accounts (FBARs). Among other 

things, FinCEN and the IRS will seek 

comments regarding when a person 

with signature authority over, but no 

financial interest in, a foreign 

financial account should be relieved 

of filing an FBAR for the account, and 

when an interest in a foreign entity 


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(e.g., a corporation, partnership, trust 

or estate) should be subject to FBAR 

reporting. 

Other Requirements. FinCEN will 

continue to consider regulatory action 

in conjunction with the feasibility study 

prepared pursuant to the Intelligence 

Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 

2004 concerning the issue of obtaining 

information about certain cross-border 

funds transfers and transmittals of 

funds. FinCEN also will continue to 

issue proposed and final rules pursuant 

to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT 

Act, as appropriate. Finally, FinCEN 

expects to propose various technical 

and other regulatory amendments in 

conjunction with its ongoing, 

comprehensive review of existing 

regulations to enhance regulatory 

efficiency. 

Internal Revenue Service 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 

working with the Office of the Assistant 

Secretary (Tax Policy), promulgates 

regulations that interpret and 

implement the Internal Revenue Code 

and related tax statutes. The purpose of 

these regulations is to carry out the tax 

policy determined by Congress in a fair, 

impartial, and reasonable manner, 

taking into account the intent of 

Congress, the realities of relevant 

transactions, the need for the 

Government to administer the rules and 

monitor compliance, and the overall 

integrity of the Federal tax system. The 

goal is to make the regulations practical 

and as clear and simple as possible. 

Most IRS regulations interpret tax 

statutes to resolve ambiguities or fill 

gaps in the tax statutes. This includes 

interpreting particular words, applying 

rules to broad classes of circumstances, 

and resolving apparent and potential 

conflicts between various statutory 

provisions. 

During fiscal year 2010, the IRS will 

accord priority to the following 

regulatory projects: 

• Deduction and Capitalization of Costs 

for Tangible Assets. Section 162 of the 

Internal Revenue Code allows a 

current deduction for ordinary and 

necessary expenses paid or incurred 

in carrying on any trade or business. 

Under section 263(a) of the Code, no 

immediate deduction is allowed for 

amounts paid out for new buildings or 

for permanent improvements or 

betterments made to increase the 

value of any property or estate. Those 

expenditures are capital expenditures 

that generally may be recovered only 

in future taxable years, as the property 

is used in the taxpayer’s trade or 

business. It often is not clear whether 

an amount paid to acquire, produce, 

or improve property is a deductible 

expense or a capital expenditure. 

Although existing regulations provide 

that a deductible repair expense is an 

expenditure that does not materially 

add to the value of the property or 

appreciably prolong its life, the IRS 

and Treasury believe that additional 

clarification is needed to reduce 

uncertainty and controversy in this 

area. In August 2006, the IRS and 

Treasury issued proposed regulations 

in this area and received numerous 

comments. In March 2008, the IRS 

and Treasury withdrew the 2006 

proposed regulations and issued new 

proposed regulations, which have 

generated relatively few comments. 

The IRS and Treasury intend to 

finalize those regulations. 

• Arbitrage Investment Restrictions on 

Tax-Exempt Bonds. The arbitrage 

investment restrictions on tax-exempt 

bonds under section 148 generally 

limit issuers from investing bond 

proceeds higher-yielding investments. 

Treasury and the IRS plan to issue 

proposed regulations to address 

selected current issues involving the 

arbitrage restrictions, including 

clarification of the issue price 

definition used in the computation of 

bond yield, clarification and 

simplification of the rules regarding 

modifications and terminations of 

qualified hedging transactions, 

guidance on the treatment of working 

capital financing, and selected other 

issues. 

• Tax Credit Bonds. Tax credit bonds 

are bonds in which the holder 

receives a federal tax credit in lieu of 

some or all of the interest on the 

bond. The American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 created a 

number of new types of tax credit 

bonds and modified the law as it 

concerned several existing types of 

tax credit bonds. The IRS and 

Treasury intend to provide guidance 

on numerous legal issues concerning 

tax credit bonds and to develop clear 

guidelines for the IRS Tax Exempt 

Bond enforcement program. 

• Build America Bonds. Treasury and 

the IRS plan to issue proposed 

regulations to provide guidance on 

interpretative issues that have arisen 

in implementing the broad new Build 

America Bond program in section 

54AA under the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 

• Private Activity Bonds. Treasury and 

the IRS to issue final regulations on 

allocation and accounting rules for 

application of the private business 

restrictions on tax-exempt 

governmental bonds under section 

141. These regulations will include 

guidance on public-private 

partnerships and mixed use 

arrangements in which projects are 

used in part by State and local 

governments and in part by private 

businesses. These regulations will 

finalize 2006 proposed regulations 

with modifications in consideration of 

the public comments. 

• Guidance on the Tax Treatment of 

Distressed Debt. Recent events in the 

financial markets have highlighted a 

number of unresolved tax issues 

relating to the amount, character, and 

timing of income, expense, gain, or 

loss on distressed debt. In addition, 

the tax treatment of distressed debt, 

including distressed debt that has 

been modified, may affect the 

qualification of certain entities for tax 

purposes or result in additional taxes 

on the investors in such entities, such 

as regulated investment companies, 

real estate investment trusts, and real 

estate mortgage investment conduits. 

During fiscal year 2009, Congress, 

Treasury, and the IRS have addressed 

some of these issues through statutory 

changes and published guidance. 

Treasury and the IRS plan to address 

more of these issues in published 

guidance. 

• Classification of Series LLCs and Cell 

Companies. Series LLCs were first 

introduced in Delaware in 1996, and 

since then, series LLC statutes have 

been adopted in several other states. 

These statutes typically permit the 

entity to segregate assets and 

liabilities and to associate certain 

members with specified assets and 

liabilities. In the insurance and 

foreign arena, similar entities are 

sometimes referred to as cell 

companies. In Notice 2008-19, the IRS 

requested comments on when a cell of 

a protected cell company should be 

treated as a separate insurance 

company for federal income tax 

purposes. The IRS also requested 

comments on similar segregated 

arrangements, such as series LLCs that 

do not involve insurance. It is likely 

that, over time, the use of series LLCs 

and cell companies will increase. 

Accordingly, it is important to 

provide timely guidance to clarify the 

classification and other tax treatment 

of this new form of organization. 

Guidance has been requested on the 

federal tax classification of these 

domestic and foreign entities. The IRS 


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and Treasury intend to issue guidance 

that will address the characterization 

of domestic and foreign series and 

cells for federal tax purposes. 

• Elective Deferral of Certain Business 

Discharge of Indebtedness Income. In 

the recent economic downturn, many 

business taxpayers realized income as 

a result of modifying the terms of 

their outstanding indebtedness or 

refinancing on terms subjecting them 

to less risk of default. The American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

2009 includes a special relief 

provision allowing for the elective 

deferral of certain discharge of 

indebtedness income realized in 2009 

and 2010. The provision, section 

108(i) of the Code, is complicated and 

many of the details will have to be 

supplied through regulatory guidance. 

This guidance will have to be 

provided expeditiously so taxpayers 

will be able to evaluate the benefits of 

electing deferral. Treasury and the IRS 

recently issued Revenue Procedure 

2009-37 that prescribes the procedure 

for making the election. The IRS and 

Treasury intend to issue additional 

guidance on such issues as the types 

of indebtedness eligible for the relief, 

acceleration of deferred amounts, the 

operation of the provision in the 

context of flow-through entities, the 

treatment of the discharge for the 

purpose of computing earnings and 

profits, and the operation of a 

provision of the statute deferring 

original issue discount deductions 

with respect to related refinancings. 

• Rules under the Pension Protection 

Act of 2006 and Other RetirementRelated Guidance. Significant new 

rules regarding the funding of 

qualified defined benefit pension 

plans were enacted as part of the 

Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). 

The IRS and Treasury prioritized the 

various pieces of guidance required to 

comply with those rules. The IRS and 

Treasury intend to issue additional 

guidance on the provisions of the PPA 

related to funding. In addition, the 

IRS and Treasury will be issuing 

various items of administrative 

guidance that facilitate or enhance 

retirement savings and security. 

• Withholding on Government 

Payments for Property and Services. 

Section 3402(t) was added to the 

Internal Revenue Code by the Tax 

Increase Prevention and 

Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA). 

Section 3402(t) requires all Federal, 

State and local Government entities 

(except for certain small State entities) 

to deduct and withhold an income tax 

equal to 3 percent from all payments 

(with certain enumerated exceptions) 

the Government entity makes for 

property or services. Section 3402(t) 

will be effective with respect to 

payments made after December 31, 

2011. On March 11, 2008, the IRS 

issued Notice 2008-38 soliciting 

public comments regarding guidance 

to be provided to Federal, State and 

local governments required to 

withhold under section 3402(t). After 

considering the many comments, the 

IRS and Treasury issued a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking, which was 

published in the Federal Register on 

December 4, 2008. A hearing on the 

proposed regulations was held on 

April 16, 2009, and the IRS has 

received 168 comments from 

stakeholders on the proposed 

regulations. The IRS and Treasury are 

considering the comments and intend 

to issue final regulations. 

• Information Reporting of Basis by 

Brokers and Others. Section 403 of 

the Energy Improvement and 

Extension Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 

110-343) enacted on October 3, 2008, 

amended section 6045 to require 

brokers to report both the basis and 

gross proceeds of securities sold by 

customers. Form 1099-B is used for 

this purpose. Basis reporting generally 

will be required for stock acquired 

after December 31, 2010. Basis 

reporting will be required for debt 

securities, such as bonds, acquired 

after December 31, 2012. The 

legislation also imposed basis 

reporting requirements on others in 

certain circumstances. The IRS and 

Treasury intend to issue proposed and 

final regulations under to address 

these new reporting requirements. 

• Information Reporting Concerning 

Payment Card Transactions. Section 

6050W was added to the Internal 

Revenue Code by the Housing 

Assistance Tax Act of 2008, enacted 

on July 30, 2008. Section 6050W 

requires information returns to be 

made for each calendar year 

beginning after December 31, 2010, by 

merchant-acquiring entities and thirdparty settlement organizations with 

respect to payment card transactions 

and third-party payment network 

transactions occurring in that 

calendar year. Certain payment card 

transactions subject to information 

reporting under section 6050W are 

subject to backup withholding if the 

payee has not provided a valid 

taxpayer identification number (TIN). 

Announcement 2009-6, 2009-9 IRB 

643 (Feb. 6, 2009), advised section 

6050W filers that they may participate 

in the TIN matching program under 

the procedures established in Rev. 

Proc. 2003-9, 2003-1 C.B. 516, which 

permits program participants to verify 

the payee TINs required to be 

reported on information returns and 

payee statements. Notice 2009-19, 

2009-10 IRB 660 (Feb. 20, 2009), 

requested public comments regarding 

guidance to be provided to payment 

settlement entities and other affected 

persons concerning the new 

requirements under section 6050W. 

The IRS and Treasury intend to issue 

proposed and final regulations under 

sections 6050W to address these 

requirements. 

• Withholding Tax and the Role of 

Financial Intermediaries. In 1997 the 

IRS and Treasury issued regulations 

under the section 1441 provisions for 

withholding tax on certain items of 

portfolio investment income from 

U.S. sources. The qualified 

intermediary (QI) system was a key 

element. In October 2008 the IRS 

issued Announcement 2008-98 

concerning proposed amendments to 

the qualified intermediary agreements 

and rules to address early notice of 

failures of internal controls, 

evaluation of risk that foreign 

accounts may be subject to control by 

U.S. persons, and association of a U.S. 

auditor to the oversight of QI 

performance. The IRS and Treasury 

intend to issue regulations to address 

these various areas of compliance 

involving the withholding taxes on 

portfolio investment income. 

• Foreign Bank Account Reporting 

(FBAR). In May 2009 the Treasury 

issued budget proposals for Fiscal 

Year 2010 which included proposed 

legislation to address FBAR related 

issues. In August 2009, the IRS and 

Treasury issued Notice 2009-62 

providing an extension until June 30, 

2010 to file FBARs for 2008 and 

earlier calendar years, pending the 

preparation of further guidance. The 

IRS and Treasury intend to issue 

regulations to address these FBAR 

issues. 

Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency 

The Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency (OCC) was created by 

Congress to charter national banks, to 

oversee a nationwide system of banking 

institutions, and to assure that national 

banks are safe and sound, competitive 

and profitable, and capable of serving in 

the best possible manner the banking 

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1 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Board 

of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal 

Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Office of Thrift 

Supervision. 2 73 FR 55704 (September 26, 2008). 

The OCC seeks to assure a banking 

system in which national banks soundly 

manage their risks, maintain the ability 

to compete effectively with other 

providers of financial services, meet the 

needs of their communities for credit 

and financial services, comply with 

laws and regulations, and provide fair 

access to financial services and fair 

treatment of their customers. 

Significant rules issued during fiscal 

year 2009 include: 

• Fair Credit Reporting, Accuracy and 

Integrity of Information Furnished to 

Consumer Reporting Agencies (12 

CFR Part 41). The banking agencies,1

the National Credit Union 

Administration (NCUA), and the 

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 

issued a joint final rule to implement 

section 312 of the FACT Act. Section 

312 requires the issuance of 

guidelines regarding the accuracy and 

integrity of information entities 

furnish to a consumer reporting 

agency (CRA). Section 312 also 

requires the issuance of regulations 

requiring entities that furnish 

information to a CRA to establish 

reasonable policies and procedures 

for the implementation of the 

guidelines. In addition, section 312 

requires jointly prescribed regulations 

that identify the circumstances under 

which a furnisher of information to a 

CRA shall be required to investigate a 

dispute concerning the accuracy of 

information contained in a consumer 

report based on the consumer’s direct 

request to the furnisher. A final rule 

was issued on July 1, 2009 (74 FR 

31484). 

• Risk-Based Capital Guidelines; 

Capital Adequacy Guidelines; Capital 

Maintenance; Capital – Residential 

Mortgage Loans Modified Pursuant to 

the Home Affordable Program (12 

CFR Part 3). In order to support and 

facilitate the timely implementation 

of the Home Affordable Program 

(Program) announced by the U.S. 

Department of Treasury and to 

promote the stability of banking 

organizations and the financial 

system, the banking agencies issued 

an interim final rule providing that a 

residential mortgage loan (whether a 

first-lien or a second-lien loan) 

modified under the Program will 

retain the risk weight assigned to the 

loan prior to the modification, so long 

as the loan continues to meet other 

relevant supervisory criteria. The rule 

minimizes disincentives to bank 

participation in the Program that 

could otherwise result from agencies’ 

regulatory capital regulations. The 

banking agencies believe that this 

treatment is appropriate in light of the 

overall important public policy 

objectives of promoting sustainable 

loan modifications for at-risk 

homeowners that balance the interests 

of borrowers, servicers, and investors. 

Joint agency action is essential to 

ensure that the regulatory capital 

consequences of participation in the 

Program are the same for all 

commercial banks and thrifts. An 

interim final rule was issued on June 

30, 2009. (74 FR 31160). 

• Registration of Mortgage Loan 

Originators (12 CFR Part 34). The 

banking agencies, the NCUA, and 

Farm Credit Administration (FCA) 

proposed amendments to their rules 

to implement the S.A.F.E. Mortgage 

Licensing Act of 2008, Title V of the 

Housing and Economic Recovery Act 

of 2008, P.L. 110-289. These 

amendments require an employee of a 

depository institution, an employee of 

a depository institution subsidiary 

regulated by a Federal banking 

agency, or an employee of an 

institution regulated by the FCA that 

engages in the business of a mortgage 

loan originator to register with the 

Nationwide Mortgage Licensing 

System and Registry (NMLSR) and to 

obtain a unique identifier. These 

amendments also provide that these 

institutions must require their 

employees who act as mortgage loan 

originators to comply with this Act’s 

registration and unique identifier 

requirements and must adopt and 

follow written policies and 

procedures to assure compliance with 

these requirements. A notice of 

proposed rulemaking was issued on 

June 9, 2009 (74 FR 27386). The OCC 

has included this rulemaking project 

in the Regulatory Plan (1557-AD23). 

• Risk-Based Capital Guidelines — 

Money Market Mutual Funds (12 CFR 

Part 3). On September 19, 2008, the 

Board of Governors of the Federal 

Reserve System adopted the AssetBacked Commercial Paper Money 

Market Mutual Fund Liquidity 

Facility (the ‘‘AMLF’’ or ‘‘ABCP 

Lending Facility’’) which enables 

depository institutions and bank 

holding companies to borrow from the 

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on a 

nonrecourse basis if they use the 

proceeds of the loan to purchase 

certain asset-backed commercial 

paper (ABCP) from money market 

mutual funds. The purpose of this 

action was to reduce strains being 

experienced by money market mutual 

funds. To facilitate national bank 

participation in the program, the OCC 

adopted on September 19, 2008,2 on 

an interim final basis, an exemption 

from its risk-based capital guidelines 

for ABCP held by a national bank as 

a result of its participation in this 

program. The AMLF was set to expire 

on January 30, 2009. However, to 

encourage the stability of money 

market mutual funds, the program has 

been extended. This rule finalizes the 

risk-based capital exemption and 

extends the risk-based capital 

exemption to ABCP purchased 

beyond the original January 30, 2009 

date. This final rule applies the riskbased capital exemption to any ABCP 

purchased as a result of a national 

bank’s participation in the facility. 

The risk-based capital exemption will 

continue to apply if the AMLF has not 

expired. A final rule was issued on 

March 27, 2009 (74 FR 13336). 

• Minimum Capital Ratios; Capital 

Adequacy Guidelines; Capital 

Maintenance; Capital: Deduction of 

Goodwill Net of Associated Deferred 

Tax Liability (12 CFR Part 3). The 

banking agencies issued a final rule to 

allow their institutions to elect to 

reduce the amount of goodwill that a 

bank must deduct from tier 1 capital 

by the amount of any deferred tax 

liability associated with that goodwill. 

This treatment is currently permitted 

only in the case of goodwill acquired 

in a nontaxable purchase business 

combination. This change effectively 

reduces the amount of goodwill that 

a bank must deduct from tier 1 capital 

and reflects a bank’s maximum 

effective exposure to loss in the event 

that such goodwill is impaired or 

derecognized for financial reporting 

purposes. A final rule was issued on 

December 30, 2008 (74 FR 79602). 

• Standards Governing the Release of a 

Suspicious Activity Report (12 CFR 

Part 4). The OCC proposed to revise 

its regulations governing the release of 

non-public OCC information set forth 

in 12 CFR part 4, subpart C. The 

proposal would clarify that the OCC’s 

decision to release a suspicious 

activity report (SAR) will be governed 

by the standards set forth in proposed 

amendments to the OCC’s SAR 

regulation, 12 CFR 21.11(k), that are 

part of a separate, but simultaneously 

issued, rulemaking. A notice of 


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proposed rulemaking was published 

on March 9, 2009 (74 FR 10136). 

• Confidentiality of Suspicious Activity 

Reports (12 CFR Part 21). The OCC 

proposed to amend its regulations 

implementing the Bank Secrecy Act 

governing the confidentiality of a 

suspicious activity report (SAR) to: 

clarify the scope of the statutory 

prohibition on the disclosure by a 

national bank of a SAR; address the 

statutory prohibition on the 

disclosure by the government of a 

SAR as that prohibition applies to the 

OCC’s standards governing the 

disclosure of SARs; clarify that the 

exclusive standard applicable to the 

disclosure of a SAR, or any 

information that would reveal the 

existence of a SAR, by the OCC is ‘‘to 

fulfill official duties consistent with 

the purposes of the BSA’’; and modify 

the safe harbor provision in its rules 

to include changes made by the USA 

PATRIOT Act. This proposal is based 

upon a similar proposal issued 

simultaneously by the Financial 

Crimes Enforcement Network 

(FinCEN). A notice of proposed 

rulemaking was published on March 

9, 2009 (74 FR 10130). 

• Community and Economic 

Development Entities, Community 

Development Projects, and Other 

Public Welfare Investments (12 CFR 

Part 24). The OCC adopted without 

change the interim final rule, issued 

on August 11, 2008, which 

implemented the statutory change to 

national banks’ community 

development investment authority 

made in the Housing and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). The 

OCC also revised Appendix 1 to part 

24, the CD-1 National Bank 

Community Development (Part 24) 

Investments Form, to make technical 

changes that are consistent with the 

HERA provision and the revised 

regulation. Section 2503 of the HERA 

revised the community development 

investment authority in section 

24(Eleventh) to restore a national 

bank’s authority to make investments 

designed primarily to promote the 

public welfare. A final rule was 

published on April 7, 2009 (74 FR 

15657). 

• Community Reinvestment Act 

Regulations (12 CFR Part 25). On 

August 14, 2008, the Higher 

Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) 

was enacted into law. Section 1031 of 

the HEOA revised the Community 

Reinvestment Act (CRA) to require the 

banking agencies, when evaluating a 

bank’s record of meeting community 

credit needs, to consider, as a factor, 

low-cost education loans provided by 

the bank to low-income borrowers. 

The banking agencies issued a 

proposal that would implement 

section 1031 of the HEOA. In 

addition, the proposal would 

incorporate into the banking agencies’ 

rules statutory language that allows 

them to consider as a factor when 

evaluating a bank’s record of meeting 

community credit needs capital 

investment, loan participation, and 

other ventures undertaken by 

nonminority- and nonwomen-owned 

financial institutions in cooperation 

with minority- and women-owned 

financial institutions and low-income 

credit unions. A notice of proposed 

rulemaking was published on June 30, 

2009 (74 FR 31209). 

The OCC’s regulatory priorities for 

fiscal year 2010 include the following: 

• Risk-Based Capital Guidelines; 

Capital Adequacy Guidelines; Capital 

Maintenance: Regulatory Capital; 

Impact of Modifications to Generally 

Accepted Accounting Principles; 

Consolidation of Asset-Backed 

Commercial Paper Programs; and 

Other Related Issues (12 CFR Part 3). 

The banking agencies issued a notice 

of proposed rulemaking to: (i) modify 

their general risk-based capital 

standards and advanced risk-based 

capital adequacy frameworks to 

eliminate the exclusion of certain 

consolidated asset-backed commercial 

paper programs from risk-weighted 

assets; and (ii) provide a reservation 

of authority in their general risk-based 

capital standards to permit the 

agencies’ to require banking 

organizations to treat structures that 

are not consolidated under accounting 

standards as if they were consolidated 

for risk-based capital purposes 

commensurate with the risk 

relationship of the banking 

organization to the structure. The 

banking agencies also requested 

comment on the effect on regulatory 

capital requirements of the 

consolidation of assets required by the 

Financial Accounting Standard 

Board’s (FASB) recent issuance of 

Statement of Financial Accounting 

Standards No. 166, Accounting for 

Transfers of Financial Assets, an 

Amendment of FASB Statement No. 

140 and Statement of Financial 

Accounting Standards No. 167, 

Amendments to FASB Interpretation 

No. 46(R). A notice of proposed 

rulemaking was published on 

September 15, 2009 (74 FR 47138). 

• Risk-Based Capital Guidelines; 

Capital Adequacy Guidelines; Capital 

Maintenance: Basel II Standardized 

Approach (12 CFR Part 3). As part of 

the banking agencies’ ongoing efforts 

to develop and refine the capital 

standards to enhance their risk 

sensitivity and ensure the safety and 

soundness of the banking system, they 

issued a notice of proposed 

rulemaking to amend various 

provisions of the capital rules on July 

29, 2008, at 73 FR 43982. The changes 

involve amending the current capital 

rules for those banks that will not be 

subject to the advanced internal 

ratings-based approaches. Work on a 

final rule is underway. 

• Risk-Based Capital Standards: Market 

Risk (12 CFR Part 3). The banking 

agencies plan to issue a second notice 

of proposed rulemaking to amend the 

market risk capital requirements for 

national banks. The banking agencies 

issued a notice of proposed 

rulemaking on September 25, 2006 

(71 FR 55958). The rule would make 

the current market risk capital 

requirements generally more risk 

sensitive with respect to the capital 

treatment of trading activities in 

banks and bank holding companies. 

• Interagency Proposal for Model 

Privacy Form under Gramm-LeachBliley Act (12 CFR Part 40). The 

banking agencies, along with the 

NCUA, FTC, the Commodity Futures 

Trading Commission, and the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(SEC), issued a joint notice of 

proposed rulemaking pursuant to 

section 728 of the Financial Services 

Regulatory Relief Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 

109-351) on March 29, 2007 (72 FR 

14940). Specifically, a safe harbor 

model privacy form was proposed 

that financial institutions may use to 

provide the disclosures under the 

privacy rules. After further consumer 

testing of this model form, the SEC 

published for comment in the Federal 

Register a report analyzing this testing 

on April 20, 2009. 74 FR 17925. The 

final rule will be published in 

November 2009. 

Office of Thrift Supervision 

As the primary Federal regulator of 

the thrift industry, the Office of Thrift 

Supervision (OTS) has established 

regulatory objectives and priorities to 

supervise thrift institutions effectively 

and efficiently. These objectives include 

maintaining and enhancing the safety 

and soundness of the thrift industry; a 

flexible, responsive regulatory structure 

that enables savings associations to 


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provide credit and other financial 

services to their communities, 

particularly housing mortgage credit; 

and a risk-focused, timely approach to 

supervision. 

OTS, the Office of the Comptroller of 

the Currency (OCC), the Board of 

Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System (FRB), and the Federal Deposit 

Insurance Corporation (FDIC) 

(collectively, the banking agencies) 

continue to work together on regulations 

where they share the responsibility to 

implement statutory requirements. For 

example, the banking agencies are 

working jointly on several rules to 

update capital standards to maintain 

and improve consistency in agency 

rules. These rules implement revisions 

to the International Convergence of 

Capital Management and Capital 

Standards: A Revised Framework (Basel 

II Framework) and include: 

• Risk-Based Capital Guidelines: 

Implementation of Revised Basel 

Capital Accord. The final Basel II 

Advanced Approaches rule was 

published by the banking agencies on 

December 7, 2007 and became 

effective April 1, 2008. The OTS, in 

conjunction with the other banking 

agencies, is working on implementing 

the Advanced Approaches rule first 

for core banking organizations. This is 

an institution-specific and multi-year 

process of evaluating each 

organization’s readiness and 

qualification to move forward into 

transitional capital floors. 

• Risk-Based Capital Standards: Market 

Risk. On September 25, 2006, the 

Agencies issued an NPRM on Market 

Risk. In this rule, OTS proposed to 

require savings associations to 

measure and hold capital to cover 

their exposure to market risk. The 

Agencies did not finalize the 2006 

NPRM. Subsequently, the Basel 

Committee directed international 

revisions which were completed in 

July 2009. At that time the Agencies 

began drafting a new NPR, based 

upon the international revisions as 

well as on the comments received in 

2006. The new NPRM should be 

issued in 2010. 

• Risk-Based Capital Standards: 

Standardized Approach. The banking 

agencies issued an NPRM 

implementing the Standardized 

Approach to credit risk and 

approaches to operational risk that are 

contained in the Basel II Framework. 

73 FR 43982 (July 29, 2008). Banking 

organizations would be able to elect to 

adopt these proposed revisions or 

remain subject to the agencies’ 

existing risk-based capital rules, 

unless the banking organization uses 

the Advanced Capital Adequacy 

Framework described above. The 

comment period closed October 27, 

2008 and the proposal is still pending 

final action by the banking agencies. 

• Risk-Based Capital Guidelines: 

Impact of Modifications to Generally 

Accepted Accounting Principles; 

Consolidation of Asset-Backed 

Commercial Paper Programs. The 

banking agencies are proposing to 

modify its general risk-based capital 

standards and advanced risk-based 

capital adequacy framework to 

eliminate the exclusion of certain 

consolidated asset-backed commercial 

paper programs from risk-weighted 

assets; and permit the banking 

agencies to require banking 

organizations to treat structures that 

are not consolidated under accounting 

standards as if they were consolidated 

for risk-based capital purposes 

commensurate with the risk 

relationship of the banking 

organization to the structure. The 

agencies issued an NPRM on 

September 15, 2009 (74 FR 47138). 

Significant proposed rules issued 

during fiscal year 2009 include: 

• S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing. On June 

9, 2009, the banking agencies and the 

Farm Credit Administration (FCA) 

issued a joint NPRM proposing to 

amend their rules to implement the 

Secure and Fair Enforcement for 

Mortgage Licensing Act (the S.A.F.E. 

Act). These amendments require an 

employee of a depository institution, 

an employee of a depository 

institution subsidiary regulated by a 

Federal banking agency, or an 

employee of an institution regulated 

by the FCA that engages in the 

business of a mortgage loan originator 

to register with the Nationwide 

Mortgage Licensing System and 

Registry and to obtain a unique 

identifier. These amendments also 

provide that these institutions must 

require their employees who act as 

mortgage loan originators to comply 

with this Act’s registration and 

unique identifier requirements and 

must adopt and follow written 

policies and procedures to assure 

compliance with these requirements. 

The comment period on this proposal 

closed on July 9, 2009, and comments 

are being reviewed in preparation for 

drafting a final rule in 2010. 

Significant final rules issued during 

fiscal year 2009 include: 

• OTS, FRB and NCUA issued a final 

rule on January 29, 2009 (74 FR 5498) 

to prohibit certain unfair or deceptive 

acts or practices in the areas of credit 

cards and overdrafts and proposed 

clarifications to that final rule on May 

5, 2009 (84 FR 20804). The comment 

period closed on July 30, 2009 and, in 

accordance with the statute, the 

agencies may issue further 

clarifications at a later date. 

• OTS anticipates implementing section 

728 of the Financial Services 

Regulatory Relief Act by amending its 

privacy rules under the Gramm-Leach 

Bliley Act to include a safe harbor 

model privacy form. The banking 

agencies, NCUA, FTC, Commodity 

Futures Trading Commission (FTC), 

and SEC expect to issue final 

amendments to their rules requiring 

initial and annual privacy notices to 

their customers. And, pursuant to 

Section 728 of the Financial Services 

Regulatory Relief Act of 2006, the 

agencies are adopting a model privacy 

form that financial institutions may 

rely on as a safe harbor to provide 

disclosures under the privacy rules. 

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade 

Bureau 

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and 

Trade Bureau (TTB) issues regulations 

to enforce the Federal laws relating to 

alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and 

ammunition taxes and relating to 

commerce involving alcohol beverages. 

TTB’s mission and regulations are 

designed to: 

1) Regulate with regard to the issuance 

of permits and authorizations to 

operate in the alcohol and tobacco 

industries; 

2) Assure the collection of all alcohol, 

tobacco, and firearms and 

ammunition taxes, and obtain a high 

level of voluntary compliance with all 

laws governing those industries; and 

3) Suppress commercial bribery, 

consumer deception, and other 

prohibited practices in the alcohol 

beverage industry. 

TTB plans to pursue one significant 

regulatory action during FY 2010. In 

2007, the Department approved the 

publication of a notice of proposed 

rulemaking soliciting comments on a 

proposal to require a serving facts 

statement on alcohol beverage labels. 

The proposed statement would include 

information about the serving size, the 

number of servings per container, and 

per-serving information on calories and 

grams of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. 

The proposed rule would also require 


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information about alcohol content. This 

regulatory action was initiated under 

section 105(e) of the Federal Alcohol 

Administration Act, 27 U.S.C. 205(e), 

which confers on the Secretary of the 

Treasury authority to promulgate 

regulations for the labeling of alcoholic 

beverages, including regulations that 

prohibit consumer deception and the 

use of misleading statements on labels 

and that ensure that such labels provide 

the consumer with adequate 

information as to the identity and 

quality of the product. TTB received 

and reviewed approximately 800 

comments on the serving facts proposal 

and plans to put forward for Department 

approval a final rule on this matter in 

FY 2010. 

In addition to the regulatory action 

described above, in FY 2010 TTB plans 

to give priority to the following 

regulatory matters: 

• Modernization of title 27, Code of 

Federal Regulations. TTB will 

continue to pursue its multi-year 

program of modernizing its 

regulations in title 27 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations. This program 

involves updating and revising the 

regulations to be more clear, current, 

and concise, with an emphasis on the 

application of plain language 

principles. TTB laid the groundwork 

for this program in 2002 when it 

started to recodify its regulations in 

order to present them in a more 

logical sequence. In FY 2005, TTB 

evaluated all of the 36 CFR parts in 

title 27 and prioritized them as 

‘‘high,’’ ‘‘medium,’’ or ‘‘low’’ in terms 

of the need for complete revision or 

regulation modernization. TTB 

determined importance based on 

industry member numbers, revenue 

collected, and enforcement and 

compliance issues identified through 

field audits and permit qualifications, 

statutory changes, significant industry 

innovations, and other factors. The 10 

parts of title 27, Code of Federal 

Regulations, that TTB ranked as 

‘‘high’’ include the five parts directing 

operation of the major taxpayers 

under the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986: Part 19 - Distilled Spirits Plants; 

Part 24 - Wine; Part 25 - Beer; Part 40 

- Manufacture of Tobacco Products 

and Cigarette Papers and Tubes; and 

Part 53 - Manufacturers Excise Taxes 

- Firearms and Ammunition. These 

five parts represent nearly all the tax 

revenue that TTB collects, which is 

expected to be approximately $22 

billion in FY 2010. The remaining five 

parts rated ‘‘high’’ consist of 

regulations covering imports and 

exports (Part 27 - Importation of 

Distilled Spirits, Wine and Beer; Part 

28 - Exportation of Alcohol; and Part 

41 - Exportation of Tobacco Products 

and Cigarette Papers and Tubes), as 

well as regulations addressing the 

American Viticultural Area program 

(Part 9) and TTB procedures (Part 70). 

To date, related to the modernization 

plan, TTB has published notices of 

proposed rulemaking to revise Part 19 

and to amend Part 9 and has reviewed 

the public comments received in 

response to those notices, and TTB 

anticipates that in FY 2010 it will 

forward to the Department final rules 

for both parts for publication 

approval. In FY 2010, TTB plans to 

put forward to the Department for 

publication approval an advance 

notice for proposed rulemaking for 

the revision of the beer regulations in 

Part 25. 

• Allergen Labeling. In FY 2006 TTB 

published interim regulations setting 

forth standards for voluntary allergen 

labeling of alcohol beverages. These 

regulatory changes were an outgrowth 

of changes made to the Federal Food, 

Drug and Cosmetic Act by the Food 

Allergen Labeling and Consumer 

Protection Act of 2004. At the same 

time, TTB published a proposal to 

make those interim requirements 

mandatory. In FY 2010 TTB intends 

to continue its review of mandatory 

allergen labeling with a view to 

preparing a final rule document that 

would take effect on the same date as 

the serving facts regulatory changes 

discussed above. 

• Multi-Region Appellations for 

Imported Wine. TTB will put forward 

for Departmental publication approval 

a proposal to amend its wine labeling 

regulations to allow the labeling of 

imported wines with multi-region 

appellations of origin. The proposed 

regulatory change would provide 

labeling treatment for imported wines 

that is similar to what is currently 

available for domestic wines, which 

may be labeled with a multi-state or 

multi-county appellation of origin. 

• Other wine labeling issues. In FY 2010 

TTB will continue to act on petitions 

for the establishment of new 

American viticultural areas (AVAs) 

and for the modification of the 

boundaries of existing AVAs. TTB 

also will seek Departmental 

publication approval of a number of 

other wine labeling rulemaking 

documents for public comment in FY 

2010. These initiatives include a 

clarification of the approval process 

for the use of American grape varietal 

names on labels and an updating of 

the list of approved American grape 

varietal names. We also plan 

regulatory action on petitions seeking 

to adopt new label designation 

standards for wines now generally 

described as ‘‘wine with natural 

flavors,’’ and to limit the use of 

American appellations to wines 

produced entirely from U.S. grapes. 

• Specially Denatured and Completely 

Denatured Alcohol Formulas. TTB 

will submit for publication approval 

by the Department a proposal to 

reclassify some specially denatured 

alcohol (SDA) formulas as completely 

denatured alcohol (CDA) for which 

formula submission to TTB is not 

required. The proposed regulatory 

changes would also allow other SDA 

formulas to be used without the 

submission of article formulas. These 

changes would allow TTB to shift its 

SDA-dedicated resources from the 

current front-end pre-market formula 

control approach to a post-market 

assessment of actual compliance with 

SDA regulations. 

• Special (Occupational) Tax Repeal. 

TTB published in FY 2009 a 

temporary rule, together with a 

contemporaneous notice of proposed 

rulemaking that amended the TTB 

regulations in response to the 

statutory repeal of the special 

(occupational) taxes on producers and 

marketers of alcoholic beverages. In 

FY 2010 TTB intends to put forward 

for Departmental approval a 

document that adopts those 

temporary amendments as a final rule. 

• Alternation of Brewery Premises. In 

FY 2010 TTB will forward to the 

Department for publication approval a 

notice of proposed rulemaking to 

amend the TTB regulations to set 

forth specific standards for the 

approval and operation of alternating 

proprietorships at the same brewery 

premises. The proposed regulations 

will include standards for alternation 

agreements between host and tenant 

brewers as well as rules for 

recordkeeping and segregation of 

products made by different brewers. 

• Determination of Tax on Large Cigars. 

TTB will forward to the Department 

for publication approval a notice of 

proposed rulemaking that clarifies the 

rules for determining the amount of 

tax that is due on large cigars, which 

is based on their sale price. The 

proposed regulatory changes will 

include specific standards for 

determining the tax on large cigars 


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64314 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

that are provided at no cost in 

connection with a sale. 

• Time For Payment of Tax on Alcohol 

Beverages. In FY 2010 TTB will 

forward to the Department for 

publication approval a temporary 

rule, together with a 

contemporaneous notice of proposed 

rulemaking, to reflect statutory 

standards for the deferred payment of 

taxes on alcohol beverages in the 

month of September and for quarterly 

payment of tax by small producers of 

alcohol beverages. 

• Classification of Tobacco Products. In 

FY 2010 TTB will continue its review 

of standards for the classification of 

different tobacco products. In FY 2007 

TTB published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking to set standards for 

distinguishing between cigars and 

cigarettes and, after a review of the 

public comments received in response 

to that proposal, TTB determined that 

further review was necessary with a 

view to possible publication of new 

proposals for further comment. In 

addition, TTB will consider the 

possibility of proposing standards to 

distinguish between pipe tobacco and 

roll-your-own tobacco. 

• CHIPRA Tobacco Product and 

Processed Tobacco Implementation. 

In FY 2009 TTB published two 

temporary rules, together with a 

contemporaneous notice of proposed 

rulemaking in each case, to 

implement changes to the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 made by the 

Children’s Health Insurance Program 

Reauthorization Act of 2009 

(CHIPRA). The changes included 

tobacco product tax rate increases, 

changes to the bases for the denial, 

suspension, or revocation of permits 

for tobacco manufacturers and 

importers, permit and related 

requirements for manufacturers and 

importers of processed tobacco, and 

an expansion of the definition of rollyour-own tobacco. TTB anticipates 

that in FY 2010 it will forward to the 

Department for publication approval 

final rules regarding these two 

regulatory initiatives. 

Bureau of the Public Debt 

The Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) 

has responsibility for borrowing the 

money needed to operate the Federal 

Government and accounting for the 

resulting debt, regulating the primary 

and secondary Treasury securities 

markets, and ensuring that reliable 

systems and processes are in place for 

buying and transferring Treasury 

securities. 

BPD administers regulations: (1) 

Governing transactions in Government 

securities by Government securities 

brokers and dealers under the 

Government Securities Act of 1986 

(GSA), as amended; (2) Implementing 

Treasury’s borrowing authority, 

including rules governing the sale and 

issue of savings bonds, marketable 

Treasury securities, and State and local 

Government securities; (3) Setting out 

the terms and conditions by which 

Treasury may redeem (buy back) 

outstanding, unmatured marketable 

Treasury securities through debt 

buyback operations; (4) Governing 

securities held in Treasury’s retail 

systems; and (5) Governing the 

acceptability and valuation of all 

collateral pledged to secure deposits of 

public monies and other financial 

interests of the Federal Government. 

Treasury’s GSA rules govern financial 

responsibility, the protection of 

customer funds and securities, record 

keeping, reporting, audit, and large 

position reporting for all government 

securities brokers and dealers, including 

financial institutions. 

Treasury maintains regulations 

governing two retail systems for 

purchasing and holding Treasury 

securities: Legacy Treasury Direct, in 

which investors can purchase, manage, 

and hold marketable Treasury securities 

in book-entry form, and TreasuryDirect, 

in which investors may purchase, 

manage, and hold savings bonds, 

marketable Treasury securities, and 

certificates of indebtedness in an 

Internet-based system. 

During fiscal year 2010, BPD will 

accord priority to the following 

regulatory projects: 

• Savings Bond Issuing and Paying 

Agent Regulations. BPD plans to issue 

a final rule amending the savings 

bond issuing regulations to equalize 

the fee structure between definitive 

and electronic bonds, and amending 

the savings bond paying agent 

regulations to replace the EZ Direct 

system with the EZ Clear system. 

• TreasuryDirect. BPD plans to issue a 

final rule revising the TreasuryDirect 

regulations to support enhancements 

to the system, primarily to implement 

a reinvestment option and to revise 

the purchase process. 

• Marketable Treasury bills, notes, 

bonds, and non-marketable savings 

bonds. BPD plans to amend the 

regulations to remove certain 

evidentiary requirements for deceased 

owner cases. 

Financial Management Service 

The Financial Management Service 

(FMS) issues regulations to improve the 

quality of Government financial 

management and to administer its 

payments, collections, debt collection, 

and Government-wide accounting 

programs. For fiscal year 2010, FMS’s 

regulatory plan includes the following 

priorities: 

• Federal Government Participation in 

the Automated Clearing House. FMS 

is proposing to amend our regulation 

at 31 CFR part 210 governing the use 

of the Automated Clearing House 

(ACH) system by Federal agencies. 

The proposed amendments will 

adopt, with some exceptions, the ACH 

Rules developed by NACHA – The 

Electronic Payments Association 

(NACHA) as the rules governing the 

use of the ACH Network by Federal 

agencies. 

We are issuing this proposed rule to 

address changes that NACHA has 

made to the ACH Rules since the 

publication of NACHA’s 2007 ACH 

Rules book. These changes include 

new requirements to identify all 

international payment transactions 

using a new Standard Entry Class 

Code and to include certain 

information in the ACH record 

sufficient to allow the receiving 

financial institution to identity the 

parties to the transaction and to allow 

the Office of Foreign Assets Control 

(OFAC) screening. 

In addition, we are proposing (1) to 

streamline the process for reclaiming 

post-death benefit payments from 

financial institutions; (2) to require 

financial institutions to provide 

limited account-related customer 

information related to the reclamation 

of post-death benefit payments as 

permitted under the Payment 

Transactions Integrity Act of 2008; 

and (3) to modify our previous 

guidance regarding the requirement 

that non-vendor payments be 

delivered to a deposit account in the 

name of the recipient. 

• Debt Collection Authorities Under the 

Debt Collection Improvement Act. 

FMS is amending its regulation at 31 

CFR part 285 governing the 

centralized offset of federal payments, 

including tax refund payments, to 

collect nontax debts owed to the 

United States. The amendments 

remove the time limitation on the 

collection of nontax debts by 

centralized offset, consistent with a 

change in the statute on which it is 

based. The statutory change, enacted 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 64315 

as part of the Food, Conservation and 

Energy Act of 2008, allows for the use 

of centralized offset of federal 

payments, including federal salary 

payments, to collect nontax debts 

owed to the United States irrespective 

of the amount of time the debt has 

been outstanding. 

Domestic Finance – Office of the Fiscal 

Assistant Secretary (OFAS) 

The Office of the Fiscal Assistant 

Secretary develops policy for and 

oversees the operations of the financial 

infrastructure of the federal government, 

including payments, collections, cash 

management, financing, central 

accounting, and delinquent debt 

collection. 

• Anti-Garnishment. In FY 2010, 

Treasury plans to promulgate a joint 

rule, with Federal benefit agencies, to 

give better force and effect to various 

benefit agency statutes that exempt 

Federal benefits from garnishment. 

Typically, upon receipt of a 

garnishment order from a State court, 

financial institutions will completely 

freeze an account as they perform due 

diligence in complying with the 

order. The joint rule will address this 

practice of account freezes to ensure 

that benefit recipients have access to 

a certain amount of lifeline funds 

while garnishment orders or other 

legal processes are resolved or 

adjudicated, and will provide 

financial institutions with specific 

administrative instructions to carry 

out upon receipt of a garnishment 

order. The joint rule will apply to 

financial institutions, but is not 

expected to have specific provisions 

for consumers, States, debt collectors, 

or banking regulators. However, the 

banking regulators would enforce the 

policy in cases of non-compliance by 

means of their general authorities. 

This proposed regulation will be a 

new part in Title 31 jointly controlled 

by Treasury and the Federal benefit 

agencies. 

TREAS—Departmental Offices (DO) 

FINAL RULE STAGE 

130. EMERGENCY ECONOMIC 

STABILIZATION ACT; CONFLICTS OF 

INTEREST 

Priority: 

Other Significant 

Legal Authority: 

PL 110–343; 122 Stat 3765 

CFR Citation: 

31 CFR 31 

Legal Deadline: 

None 

Abstract: 

This rule provides guidance on 

conflicts of interest pursuant to section 

108 of the Emergency Economic 

Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), which 

was enacted on October 3, 2008. 

Statement of Need: 

This rulemaking is necessary to revise 

the interim conflicts of interest rule 

issued in January 2009 based on public 

comments received. This January 2009 

interim rule addressed conflicts that 

may arise during the selection of 

individuals or entities seeking a 

contract or financial agency agreement 

with the Treasury, particularly those 

involved in the acquisition, valuation, 

management, and disposition of 

troubled assets. 

Summary of Legal Basis: 

This rule is issued pursuant to section 

108 of the Emergency Economic 

Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), which 

was enacted on October 3, 2008. 

Section 108 of EESA authorizes the 

Secretary to issue regulations or 

guidelines necessary to address and 

manage or to prohibit conflicts of 

interest that may arise in connection 

with the administration and execution 

of the EESA authorities. 

Alternatives: 

Not applicable. 

Anticipated Cost and Benefits: 

Not applicable. 

Risks: 

Not applicable. 

Timetable: 

Action Date FR Cite 

Interim Final Rule 01/21/09 74 FR 3431 

Interim Final Rule 

Effective 

01/21/09 

Interim Final Rule 

Comment Period 

End 

03/23/09 

Final Rule 12/00/09 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Required: 

No 

Government Levels Affected: 

None 

Agency Contact: 

Program Compliance Officer 

Office of Financial Stability 

Department of the Treasury 

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. 

Washington, DC 20220 

Phone: 202 622–2000 

Email: tarp.compliance@do.treas.gov 

RIN: 1505–AC05 

TREAS—DO 

131. TARP STANDARDS FOR 

COMPENSATION AND CORPORATE 

GOVERNANCE 

Priority: 

Economically Significant. Major under 

5 USC 801. 

Legal Authority: 

PL 110–343; PL 111–5 

CFR Citation: 

31 CFR 30 

Legal Deadline: 

None 

Abstract: 

This interim final rule, promulgated 

pursuant to sections 101(a)(1), 

101(c)(5), and 111(b) of the Emergency 

Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, 

Division A of Public Law 110-343 

(EESA), as amended, provides further 

guidance on the executive 

compensation provisions applicable to 

participants in the Troubled Assets 

Relief Program (TARP). 

Statement of Need: 

EESA provided immediate authority 

and facilities that the Secretary of the 

Treasury could use to restore liquidity 

and stability to the financial system. 

The rule is necessary to establish 

standards for executive compensation 

practices at firms receiving TARP 

assistance, in order to fully protect the 

interests of taxpayers and mandate 

compensation practices that maximize 

the value of the firm for shareholders. 

Summary of Legal Basis: 

Section 111 of EESA, as amended, 

provides that certain entities that 

receive financial assistance from 

Treasury under the TARP will be 

subject to specified executive 

compensation and corporate 

governance standards to be established 

by the Secretary. 

Alternatives: 

Not yet determined. 


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64316 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

Anticipated Cost and Benefits: 

Not yet determined. 

Risks: 

Not yet determined. 

Timetable: 

Action Date FR Cite 

Interim Final Rule 06/15/09 74 FR 28394 

Interim Final Rule 

Effective 

06/15/09 

Interim Final Rule 

Comment Period 

End 

08/14/09 

Final Rule 12/00/09 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Required: 

No 

Government Levels Affected: 

None 

Agency Contact: 

Stephen Tackney 

Attorney–Advisor 

Department of the Treasury 

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. 

Washington, DC 20220 

Phone: 202 622–1773 

RIN: 1505–AC09 

TREAS—Comptroller of the Currency 

(OCC) 

FINAL RULE STAGE 

132. S.A.F.E. MORTGAGE LICENSING 

ACT 

Priority: 

Economically Significant. Major under 

5 USC 801. 

Legal Authority: 

12 USC 1 et seq; 12 USC 29; 12 USC 

93a; 12 USC 371; 12 USC 1701j–3; 12 

USC 1828(o); 12 USC 3331 et seq 

CFR Citation: 

12 CFR 34 

Legal Deadline: 

Other, Statutory, July 29, 2009, 

Implement Registration System. 

Implement system for registering 

employees as mortgage loan originators 

with the Nationwide Mortgage 

Licensing System and Registry. 

Abstract: 

These regulations implement the 

Federal registration requirement 

imposed by the S.A.F.E. Mortgage 

Licensing Act, title V of the Housing 

and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 

(Pub. L. 110-289, 122 Stat. 2654 (2008)) 

with respect to national banks and their 

operating subsidiaries. They are being 

issued by the OCC, FRB, FDIC, OTS, 

NCUA, and Farm Credit Administration 

(the Agencies). 

Statement of Need: 

The S.A.F.E. Act requires the Agencies 

to develop and maintain a system for 

registering employees of depository 

institutions and their subsidiaries 

regulated by a Federal Banking Agency 

or employees of institutions regulated 

by the Farm Credit Administration as 

registered loan originators with the 

Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System 

and Registry. The Agencies determined 

the best method for implementing this 

requirement was through a rulemaking. 

Summary of Legal Basis: 

This rulemaking is based on the 

requirements of the S.A.F.E. Act’s 

requirements, S.A.F.E. Mortgage 

Licensing Act, title V of the Housing 

and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 

(Pub. L. 110-289, 122 Stat. 2654 (2008)), 

and the OCC’s general rulemaking 

authority in 12 U.S.C. 93a. 

Alternatives: 

Not yet determined. 

Anticipated Cost and Benefits: 

Not yet determined. 

Risks: 

Not yet determined. 

Timetable: 

Action Date FR Cite 

NPRM 06/09/09 74 FR 27386 

NPRM Comment 

Period End 

07/09/09 

Final Action 12/00/09 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Required: 

Undetermined 

Government Levels Affected: 

Undetermined 

Agency Contact: 

Heidi M. Thomas 

Special Counsel 

Department of the Treasury 

Comptroller of the Currency 

Legislative and Regulatory Activities 

Division 

250 E Street SW. 

Washington, DC 20219 

Phone: 202 874–5090 

Fax: 202 874–4889 

Email: heidi.thomas@occ.treas.gov 

Related RIN: Related to 1550–AC33 

RIN: 1557–AD23 

BILLING CODE 4810–25–S 


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