Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 239 / Thursday, December 12, 2024 / Notices 100495 

1The authority to pay interest was originally 

enacted through the Financial Services Regulatory 

Relief Act of 2006, with an effective date of October 

1, 2011. The date was moved forward to 2008 by 

the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. 

2Final Rule, Regulation D, 86 FR 29937 (June 4, 

2021); Press Release, ‘‘Federal Reserve Board issues 

final rule amending Regulation D with regard to 

interest on reserve balances’’ (June 2, 2021), https:// 

www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/ 

bcreg20210602a.htm. 

3 In a correspondent-respondent relationship, the 

correspondent bank provides banking services on 

behalf of the respondent bank. This often includes 

the correspondent bank executing payments on 

behalf of the respondent bank and its customers. A 

respondent bank typically maintains an account 

with its correspondent bank. 

4 74 FR 5628, 5629 (Jan. 30, 2009). 

obligations may be allocated by 

sponsors to originators, including 

disclosure and monitoring 

requirements. 

Part 373 contains several 

requirements that qualify as information 

collections under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The 

information collection requirements are 

found in 12 CFR 373.4, 373.5, 373.6, 

373.7, 373.8, 373.9, 373.10, 373.11, 

373.13, 373.15, 373.16, 373.17, 373.18, 

and 373.19(g). The recordkeeping 

requirements relate primarily to (i) the 

adoption and maintenance of various 

policies and procedures to ensure and 

monitor compliance with regulatory 

requirements and (ii) certifications, 

including as to the effectiveness of 

internal supervisory controls. The 

required disclosures for each risk 

retention option are intended to provide 

investors with material information 

concerning the sponsor’s retained 

interest in a securitization transaction 

(e.g., the amount, form and nature of the 

retained interest, material assumptions 

and methodology, representations and 

warranties). Compliance with the 

information collection requirements is 

mandatory, responses to the information 

collections will not be kept confidential 

and, with the exception of the 

recordkeeping requirements in 12 CFR 

373.4(d), 373.5(k)(3), and 373.15(d), the 

Rule does not specify a mandatory 

retention period for the information. 

Request for Comment 

Comments are invited on (a) whether 

the collection of information is 

necessary for the proper performance of 

the FDIC’s functions, including whether 

the information has practical utility; (b) 

the accuracy of the estimates of the 

burden of the information collection, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) 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. All comments will become 

a matter of public record. 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. 

Dated at Washington, DC, on December 9, 

2024. 

James P. Sheesley, 

Assistant Executive Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–29295 Filed 12–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6714–01–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

[Docket No. OP–1747] 

Guidelines for Evaluating Account and 

Services Requests 

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System. 

ACTION: Final guidance. 

SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System (Board) has 

clarified that its Guidelines Covering 

Access to Accounts and Services at 

Federal Reserve Banks (Guidelines) 

apply to Excess Balance Accounts at the 

Federal Reserve Banks (Reserve Banks). 

DATES: Implementation Date is 

December 12, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jason Hinkle, Deputy Associate Director 

(202–258–9873), Division of Reserve 

Bank Operations and Payment Systems, 

Kristen Payne, Lead Financial 

Institution and Policy Analyst (202– 

306–9573), Division of Monetary 

Affairs, or Corinne Milliken Van Ness, 

Senior Counsel (202–641–1605), Legal 

Division, Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System. For users of 

text telephone systems (TTY) or any 

TTY-based Telecommunications Relay 

Services, please call 711 from any 

telephone, anywhere in the United 

States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background on Guidelines 

On August 19, 2022, the Board 

implemented the Guidelines, which 

consist of six risk-based principles for 

Reserve Banks to consider when 

evaluating requests for access to Reserve 

Bank accounts and services (accounts 

and services). The risks considered 

under the Guidelines include various 

risks to the Reserve Bank, risks to the 

overall payments systems, risks to the 

stability of the U.S. financial system, 

risks to the overall economy by 

facilitating activities such as money 

laundering or other illicit activity, and 

risk of any adverse impact on the 

Federal Reserve’s ability to implement 

monetary policy. 

The Guidelines apply to requests for 

accounts and services from member 

banks or other entities that meet the 

definition of depository institution 

under section 19(b) of the Federal 

Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 461(b)(1)(A)), as 

well as Edge and Agreement 

Corporations (12 U.S.C. 601–604a, 611– 

631), and U.S. branches and agencies of 

foreign banks (12 U.S.C. 347d). The 

Guidelines do not apply to accounts that 

the Reserve Banks provide (i) as 

depository and fiscal agent for the 

Treasury and certain governmentsponsored entities (12 U.S.C. 391, 393– 

95, 1823, 1435), (ii) to certain 

international organizations (22 U.S.C. 

285d, 286d, 290o–3, 290i–5, 290l–3), 

(iii) to designated financial market 

utilities (12 U.S.C. 5465), (iv) pursuant 

to the Board’s Regulation N (12 CFR 

214), or (v) pursuant to the Board’s 

Guidelines for Evaluating Joint Account 

Requests. 

II. Excess Balance Accounts 

Reserve Banks began to pay interest 

on balances maintained at the Reserve 

Banks by or on behalf of eligible 

institutions in October 2008.1 Until July 

2021, balances maintained by 

depository institutions at a Reserve 

Bank were divided into required 

reserves (balances held to satisfy a 

reserve requirement) and excess 

reserves (balances maintained in excess 

of required reserves).2 Eligible 

institutions that were respondents could 

maintain excess balances as deposits 

with their correspondent or, 

alternatively, could instruct their 

correspondent to sweep their deposits 

into overnight investments in the 

federal funds market.3 Correspondents 

typically preferred the latter because it 

helped to limit the size of their balance 

sheet and boosted their regulatory 

capital ratios. However, when the 

market rate of interest on federal funds 

was below the rate paid by Reserve 

Banks on excess balances, respondents 

had an incentive to shift the investment 

of their surplus funds away from the 

sales of federal funds (through their 

correspondents) and toward holding 

those funds directly as excess balances 

with the Reserve Banks, potentially 

disrupting established correspondentrespondent relationships.4

The Board authorized the creation of 

excess balance accounts (EBAs) on May 

20, 2009, to alleviate these pressures on 

correspondent-respondent business 

relationships associated with an 

environment in which federal funds 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
100496 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 239 / Thursday, December 12, 2024 / Notices 

5Final Rule, Regulation D, 74 FR 25620 (May 29, 

2009); Press Release, ‘‘Board announces approval of 

final amendments to Regulation D pertaining to 

transfers from savings deposits and the 

establishment of excess balance accounts at Reserve 

Banks’’ (May 20, 2009), https://www.federal

reserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/ 

monetary20090520b.htm. 

6See 12 CFR 204.2(aa) (defining ‘‘excess balance 

account’’); 12 CFR 204.10(d)(4) (establishing 

interest payable on excess balance accounts). An 

EBA agent and participant may also be in a separate 

correspondent-respondent relationship, but not 

necessarily. 

traded at rates persistently below the 

interest rate on excess reserves.5 EBAs 

permit eligible institutions to earn 

interest on their excess balances without 

disrupting established correspondentrespondent relationships. An EBA is a 

limited-purpose account at a Federal 

Reserve Bank managed by an agent and 

established for maintaining the excess 

balances of one or more institutions 

(participants) that are eligible to earn 

interest on balances held at a Reserve 

Bank.6 The agent does not own the EBA 

or the balances therein and thus the 

balances held in the EBA are not 

included in the calculation of the 

agent’s regulatory leverage ratio. 

III. Current Scope of the Guidelines 

Currently, the Guidelines do not 

expressly state that EBA arrangements 

are in the scope of the Guidelines. The 

Board believes it is appropriate to 

amend the Guidelines to clarify that 

they apply to requests to be an agent for, 

or a participant in, an EBA. Expressly 

including EBAs in the Guidelines will 

clarify that the same standard of review 

will be applied to any institution 

requesting access to accounts and 

services. While EBAs are not used to 

access Reserve Bank financial 

1254ervicees, they are, in fact, limitedpurpose Reserve Bank accounts. This 

clarification, therefore, would prevent 

depository institutions that do not 

qualify for access to Federal Reserve 

accounts and services under the 

Guidelines from accessing the Federal 

Reserve’s balance sheet through EBAs. 

IV. Clarification to Scope of Guidelines 

For the reasons set forth in this 

document, the Board is amending and 

restating the text in footnote seven to 

the Guidelines to read as follows: 

Unless otherwise expressly excluded 

under the previous footnote, these 

principles apply to account requests 

from all institutions, including member 

banks, entities that meet the definition 

of a depository institution under section 

19(b) (12 U.S.C. 461(b)(1)(A)), Edge and 

Agreement Corporations (12 U.S.C. 601– 

604a, 611–631), and U.S. branches and 

agencies of foreign banks (12 U.S.C. 

347d), and to requests to be an agent or 

participant in an excess balance account 

(12 CFR 204.10(d)). 

By order of the Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System. 

Ann E. Misback, 

Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2024–29250 Filed 12–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Formations of, Acquisitions by, and 

Mergers of Bank Holding Companies 

The companies listed in this notice 

have applied to the Board for approval, 

pursuant to the Bank Holding Company 

Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) 

(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 

225), and all other applicable statutes 

and regulations to become a bank 

holding company and/or to acquire the 

assets or the ownership of, control of, or 

the power to vote shares of a bank or 

bank holding company and all of the 

banks and nonbanking companies 

owned by the bank holding company, 

including the companies listed below. 

The public portions of the 

applications listed below, as well as 

other related filings required by the 

Board, if any, are available for 

immediate inspection at the Federal 

Reserve Bank(s) indicated below and at 

the offices of the Board of Governors. 

This information may also be obtained 

on an expedited basis, upon request, by 

contacting the appropriate Federal 

Reserve Bank and from the Board’s 

Freedom of Information Office at 

https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/ 

request.htm. Interested persons may 

express their views in writing on the 

standards enumerated in the BHC Act 

(12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). 

Comments received are subject to 

public disclosure. In general, comments 

received will be made available without 

change and will not be modified to 

remove personal or business 

information including confidential, 

contact, or other identifying 

information. Comments should not 

include any information such as 

confidential information that would not 

be appropriate for public disclosure. 

Comments regarding each of these 

applications must be received at the 

Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of 

the Board of Governors, Ann E. 

Misback, Secretary of the Board, 20th 

Street and Constitution Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20551–0001, not later 

than January 13, 2025. 

A. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 

(Prabal Chakrabarti, Senior Vice 

President) 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, 

Massachusetts 02210–2204. Comments 

can also be sent electronically to 

BOS.SRC.Applications.Comments@

bos.frb.org: 

1. Liberty Financial Corporation, 

Middletown, Connecticut; to become a 

bank holding company by acquiring 

Liberty Bank, also of Middletown, 

Connecticut. 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System. 

Michele Taylor Fennell, 

Associate Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2024–29278 Filed 12–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

[OMB Control No. 3090–0324; Docket No. 

2024–0001; Sequence No.14] 

Submission for OMB Review; General 

Services Administration Acquisition 

Regulation; Foreign Ownership and 

Financing Representation for HighSecurity Leased Space 

AGENCY: Office of Acquisition Policy, 

General Services Administration (GSA). 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) regulations, GSA invites the 

public to comment on an extension 

concerning disclosure of foreign 

ownership information under highsecurity lease space acquisitions. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

January 13, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments and 

recommendations for this information 

collection should be sent within 30 days 

of publication of this notice to 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Amy Lara, 816–589–3783, General 

Services Acquisition Policy Division, by 

email at gsarpolicy@gsa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Purpose 

The purpose of this information 

collection supports the implementation 

of the Secure Federal LEASEs Act (Pub. 

L. 116–276) to reduce security risks in 

high-security leased space. Section 3 of 

the bill requires agencies, before 

entering into a lease agreement for highsecurity leased space, to require the 

contractor to identify the immediate or 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1