[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 237 (Monday, December 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63526-63527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-30037]



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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board).
ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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BACKGROUND: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Board may not conduct 
or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an 
information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented 
on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. Proposed 
revisions to the following currently approved collections of 
information have received approval from the Federal Financial 
Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the Board is a 
member, and are hereby published for comment. At the end of the comment 
period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to 
determine the extent to which the proposed revisions should be modified 
prior to the agencies' submission of them to OMB for review and 
approval. Comments are invited on:
    (a) Whether the proposed revisions to the following collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the agencies' 
functions, including whether the information has practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of the agencies' estimate of the burden of the 
information collections as they are proposed to be revised, 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 information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 9, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments 
the agency listed below. All comments should refer to the OMB control 
number.
    Written comments should be addressed to Mr. William W. Wiles, 
Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C 
Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551, or delivered to the Board's mail 
room between 8:45 a.m. and 5:15 p.m., and to the security control room 
outside of those hours. Both the mail room and the security control 
room are accessible from the courtyard entrance on 20th Street between 
Constitution Avenue and C Street, N.W. Comments received may be 
inspected in room M-P-500 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., except as 
provided in section 261.8 of the Board's Rules Regarding Availability 
of Information, 12 CFR 261.8(a).
    A copy of the comments may also be submitted to the OMB desk 
officer for the agencies: Milo Sunderhauf, Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 3208, Washington, D.C. 20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the proposed revisions to 
the collections of information may be requested from the agency 
clearance officers whose name appears below.
Mary M. McLaughlin, Board Clearance Officer, (202) 452-3829, Division 
of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, 20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551. For the 
hearing impaired only, Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), 
Dorothea Thompson, (202) 452-3544, Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System, 20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Proposal to revise the following currently approved collection of 
information:
Title: Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies 
of Foreign Banks
Form Number: FFIEC 002
OMB Number: 7100-0032.
Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
Affected Public: U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 557
Estimated Time per Response: 22.40 burden hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 49,907 burden hours.
    General Description of Report: This information collection is 
mandatory: 12 U.S.C. 3105(b)(2), 1817(a)(1) and (3), and 3102(b). 
Except for select sensitive items, this information collection is not 
given confidential treatment (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)). Small businesses 
(i.e., small U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks) are affected.
    Abstract: On a quarterly basis, all U.S. branches and agencies of 
foreign banks (U.S. branches) are required to file detailed schedules 
of assets and liabilities in the form of a condition report and a 
variety of supporting schedules. This balance sheet information is used 
to fulfill the supervisory and regulatory requirements of the 
International Banking Act of 1978. The data are also used to augment 
the bank credit, loan, and deposit information needed for monetary 
policy purposes. The report is collected and processed by the Federal 
Reserve on behalf of all three federal bank regulatory agencies (i.e., 
the Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the 

[[Page 63527]]
Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).
    Current Actions: The proposed revisions to the Report of Assets and 
Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002) 
that are the subject of this notice have been approved by the FFIEC for 
implementation as of the March 31, 1996, report date. Nonetheless, as 
is customary for FFIEC 002 reporting changes, U.S. branches are advised 
that, for the March 31, 1996, report date, reasonable estimates may be 
provided for any new or revised item for which the requested 
information is not readily available.
    The proposed revisions are summarized as follows:
New Items
    FFIEC 002 items in the following areas would be added:
    (1) Trading Assets and Liabilities
    When off-balance-sheet derivative contracts held by U.S. branches 
for trading purposes are periodically marked to market (or the lower of 
cost or market, as appropriate), this process results in the recording 
of the fair values of derivatives that are in gain and loss positions 
as on-balance-sheet assets and liabilities, respectively. In order to 
monitor the magnitude of these fair values and changes therein, new 
items would be added for the reporting of these two amounts in the 
Memoranda section of Schedule RAL, ``Assets and Liabilities.''
    (2) Past Due Derivatives
    The FFIEC 002 does not currently require disclosures about off-
balance sheet derivative contracts where the counterparty is not 
performing in accordance with the contractual terms. Although the 
number of such contracts is believed to be limited, the disclosure of 
exposures associated with such contracts will highlight, for 
supervisory purposes, the most immediate risks faced by a U.S. branch 
from its involvement with off-balance-sheet derivatives. Information 
about these past due derivatives would be added to the Memoranda 
section of Schedule N, ``Past Due, Nonaccrual, and Restructured 
Loans.'' Amounts would be separately reported for derivatives that are 
past due 30 through 89 days and for those past due 90 days or more. 
Reported amounts associated with derivatives that are past due 90 days 
or more would also include information about derivatives that, while 
not technically past due, are with counterparties that are not expected 
to pay the full amounts owed to the institution under the derivative 
contracts. As with the information U.S. branches currently report in 
Schedule N, individual U.S. branch information on derivatives for which 
payments are delinquent would be treated as confidential.
    In these new items, U.S. branches would first report the book value 
of any amounts carried as assets on the balance sheet that are related 
to those off-balance sheet derivatives for which any required payment 
from the counterparty is either past due 30 through 89 days or past due 
90 days or more. In addition, in order to indicate the relative size 
and volume of those contracts where the counterparty is not performing, 
separate Memoranda items would be provided for reporting the current 
replacement cost (if positive) for those contracts that are past due 30 
through 89 days and for those that are past due 90 days or more.
Instructional Changes
    Changes, which may affect how some banks report certain information 
on the FFIEC 002, would be made to the instructions as follows.
    (1) The FFIEC 002 Glossary entry for ``Trading Account'' would be 
revised to incorporate parallel changes to the FFIEC 031 instructions 
regarding report changes implemented since 1994 on trading assets and 
liabilities and the treatment of off-balance-sheet derivatives held for 
trading purposes. In addition, the Glossary entry's discussion of the 
accounting for transfers to or from a trading account would be brought 
into conformity with FASB Statement no. 115, ``Accounting for Certain 
Investments in Debt and Equity Securities.''
    (2) The instructions for the reporting of commercial and industrial 
loans with remaining maturity of
    (i) one year or less and
    (ii) of more than one year in the loan schedule (Schedule C), would 
be clarified to exclude nonaccrual status loans in a manner consistent 
with the reporting of maturity and repricing data for loans and leases 
on the FFIEC 031. Clarifications or other conforming changes would also 
be made to several other instructions.
Request for Comment
    Comments submitted in response to this Notice will be summarized or 
included in the agencies' requests for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record. Written comments should address the 
accuracy of the burden estimates and ways to minimize burden including 
the use of automated collection techniques or the use of other forms of 
information technology as well as other relevant aspects of the 
information collection request.
    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 5, 
1995.
William W. Wiles,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 95-30037 Filed 12-8-95; 8:45 am]
Billing Code 6210-01-F