Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 28, 1995 / Notices 15921

statement of the requesting person’s

interest in the Regional Administrator’s

determination and of information that

the requesting person intends to submit

at such hearing; and (3) the signature of

the individual making the request, or, if

the request is made on behalf of an

organization or other entity, the

signature of the responsible official of

the organization or other entity.

Notice of any hearing shall be given

not less than fifteen (15) days prior to

the time scheduled for the hearing. Such

notice will be made by the Regional

Administrator in the Federal Register

and in newspapers of general

circulation in the State of South Dakota.

A notice will also be sent to the

person(s) requesting the hearing as well

as to the State of South Dakota. The

hearing notice will include a statement

of purpose, information regarding time

and location, and the address and

telephone number where interested

persons may obtain further information.

The Regional Administrator will issue

an order affirming or rescinding his

determination upon review of the

hearing record. Should the

determination be affirmed, it will

become effective as of the date of the

order.

Should no timely and appropriate

request for a hearing be received, and

the Regional Administrator does not

elect to hold a hearing on his own

motion, this determination shall become

effective on April 27, 1995. Please bring

this notice to the attention of any

persons known by you to have an

interest in this determination.

All documents relating to this

determination are available for

inspection at the following locations: (1)

U.S. EPA Region VIII, Drinking Water

Branch, 999 18th Street (4th floor),

Denver, Colorado; (2) Department of

Environment and Natural Resources,

Office of Drinking Water, 523 East

Capital Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David Schmidt, Drinking Water Branch,

EPA Region VIII (8WM–DW), 999 18th

Street, Suite 500, Denver, Colorado

80202–2466, telephone (303) 293–1415.

Dated: March 20, 1995.

Kerrigan Clough,

Acting Regional Administrator, EPA, Region

VIII.

[FR Doc. 95–7591 Filed 3–27–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION

[NV 95–13]

Policy Statement Concerning the

Release of Consolidated Reporting

System Information

AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.

ACTION: Policy statement.

SUMMARY: On March 20, 1995, the Farm

Credit Administration (FCA) adopted a

policy statement concerning the release

of reports of condition and performance

(Call Reports) and other reports

containing nonexempt information

(such as the Uniform Performance

Report (UPR) and the Uniform Peer

Performance Report (UPPR)) that are

produced from the FCA’s Consolidated

Reporting System (CRS) (hereinafter

nonexempt CRS Reports). Under this

policy, the UPR and UPPR will be

disclosed to the institution that

submitted the information 50 days after

the end of a quarter or a fiscal year. All

other reports containing nonexempt

information that are produced from the

FCA’s CRS would be disclosed, as

available, to System institutions and to

the general public 90 days after the end

of a quarter or a fiscal year. For

purposes of this policy, nonexempt CRS

Reports are defined as reports produced

from the CRS containing information

that has been routinely disclosed in

System institutions’ quarterly and

annual financial reports to shareholders

and filed with the FCA pursuant to 12

CFR part 620. The FCA intends to set

user fees for the dissemination of this

information sufficient to recover the

cost of dissemination. Nonexempt CRS

Report information has been previously

disclosed on a case-by-case basis in

response to Freedom of Information Act

requests. The FCA believes that

providing the public access to

nonexempt CRS Report information

under this policy statement would

enhance the FCA’s information

management activities in an efficient,

effective, and economical manner.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 20, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nan P. Mitchem, Compliance Officer,

Office of Examination, Farm Credit

Administration, 1501 Farm Credit

Drive, McLean, Virginia 22102–5090,

(703) 883–4073, TDD (703)883–4444

or

Jane M. Virga, Senior Attorney, Office of

General Counsel, Farm Credit

Administration, 1501 Farm Credit

Drive, McLean, Virginia 22102–5090,

(703) 883–4071, TDD (703)883–4444.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Call Reports and other nonexempt

information produced from the FCA’s

CRS contain valuable information and

could be useful to Farm Credit System

institutions and to members of the

public by enabling them to evaluate the

financial condition of the institution in

comparison to its peers. This policy

statement is intended to provide for the

dissemination of this information in a

manner that effectively balances the

goals of maximizing the usefulness of

the information and minimizing the cost

to the Government and the public.

Similarly, the Federal Financial

Institutions Examination Council,

which consists of the Federal Deposit

Insurance Corporation, the Office of the

Comptroller of the Currency, and the

Board of Governors of the Federal

Reserve System, has made a

determination to disseminate CRS-type

information to banks, State banking

departments, and the public in a report

known as the Uniform Bank

Performance Report.

The FCA’s objective in adopting this

policy statement is to enhance the

utility of Call Reports for System

institutions and the public, and to make

available in an orderly and consistent

way nonexempt information (i.e.,

information that has been routinely

disclosed in System institutions’

quarterly and annual financial reports

and filed with the FCA) in conformance

with the objectives set forth in OMB

Circular A–130. This policy statement

should benefit System institutions and

the public by establishing a more

effective and efficient means of

accessing information that can be used

to evaluate and compare System

institutions and their performance. The

release of nonexempt CRS Reports

should also benefit the FCA in its

regulatory role and in accomplishing its

mission by enhancing the agency’s

communications with System

institutions. Additionally, the FCA

believes that the availability of

nonexempt CRS Reports will enhance

its ability to oversee and examine

institutions.

Availability of Nonexempt CRS Reports

Under the policy statement, the UPR

and UPPR will be disclosed free of

charge to the institution that submitted

the information 50 days after the end of

a quarter or a fiscal year. All other

reports containing nonexempt

information that are produced from the

FCA’s CRS would be disclosed, as

available, to System institutions and to

the general public 90 days after the end
15922 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 28, 1995 / Notices

of a quarter or a fiscal year. The delay

in availability of nonexempt CRS

Reports would allow System

institutions to publish their quarterly

and annual financial reports prior to

FCA dissemination. At a System

institution’s request, a copy of a

nonexempt CRS Report containing Call

Report information of another

institution or computer diskettes

containing nonexempt Call Report

information of all System institutions

would be provided for a fee. Nonexempt

CRS Reports or computer diskettes

containing nonexempt Call Report

information would also be made

available, upon request, to the general

public for a fee. The FCA believes that

disclosing reports such as the UPR and

the UPPR will assist institutions and the

public in their analyses and evaluations

of the delivery of financial services by

allowing comparisons of financial

performance. To provide further

assistance to System institutions and the

public, a detailed description of the

UPR and the UPPR is provided below.

A determination on a special request

(i.e., ad hoc report) for nonexempt CRS

information and any fees assessed from

any System institution or the general

public would be made on a case-by-case

basis. Special requests would be granted

only when the benefit to the FCA

significantly outweighs the burden to

the agency in complying with the

request. Requests for fee waivers may be

granted to educational institutions,

researchers, Governmental agencies,

newspapers, and other parties, only

when the agency determines that the

benefit derived from releasing the

information exceeds the fees being

waived. All requests for release of CRS

information should be directed to the

Office of Resources Management,

Information Resources Division,

Customer Planning Team.

The FCA uses the UPR and the UPPR

as analytical tools for supervisory and

examination purposes, offsite

monitoring and evaluation, and

financial analysis. The reports, which

are based on data from the CRS and

updated quarterly, contain information

using key ratios, percentages, and dollar

amounts. The UPPR also contains peer

averages, as well as percentile rankings

for all direct lender associations falling

within one of four peer groups based on

asset size. Each report displays four

reporting periods. Yearend reports

contain financial data for the current

year and the previous 3 years.

Quarterend reports contain financial

data for the current quarter, the same

quarter for the previous year, and

yearend information for the previous 2

years.

These reports are organized to

facilitate agency decisionmaking

concerning the adequacy of capital,

asset quality, earnings, and liquidity.

Both the UPR and the UPPR are

organized as follows:

Section I is a summary. It provides

key balance sheet and income statement

items, as well as key ratios.

Section II presents a condensed

balance sheet and summary information

on loan categories by performance

category. The balance sheet items are

combined into key categories.

Section III addresses the composition

of capital as a percentage of assets and

its relationship to liabilities, unallocated

retained earnings, and risk-adjusted

assets.

Section IV contains information on

assets, changes in assets, the percentage

of loans in each loan performance

category, the various relationships of the

allowance accounts to loans and

acquired properties, and gains and

losses incurred from the valuation and

disposition of these assets.

Section V is a year-to-date condensed

income statement.

Section VI presents earnings and

profitability measurements and certain

ratios involving net interest income.

Also, this section contains information

on the return on average assets and

component ratios. Ratios of operating

expenses are also shown in this section.

Section VII contains liquidity

measurements and compares maturing

assets to maturing liabilities. This

section also addresses collateral and

funds availability for investments.

User Fees

User fees for the above information

would be sufficient to recover the cost

of dissemination. A CRS pricing

schedule will be developed. Special

requests for information not listed on

the CRS pricing schedule may be subject

to fees to recover the agency’s cost of

complying with the request, which may

include the cost of collecting and

processing, as well as disseminating the

information.

The following glossary contains

definitions that may be useful to an

understanding of this policy.

A. Farm Credit System institutions

means the Farm Credit Banks, banks for

cooperatives, agricultural credit banks,

production credit associations, Federal

land bank associations, agricultural

credit associations, Federal land credit

associations, service corporations

chartered under the Farm Credit Act of

1971, as amended, the Federal Farm

Credit Banks Funding Corporation, and

Farm Credit System Financial

Assistance Corporation.

B. System Banks and associations

means the Farm Credit banks, banks for

cooperatives, agricultural credit banks,

production credit associations, Federal

land bank associations, agricultural

credit associations, and Federal land

credit associations.

C. Direct lender associations means

production credit associations,

agricultural credit associations, and

Federal land credit associations.

D. Call Report means reports of

financial condition and performance

prepared and filed by Farm Credit

System institutions in accordance with

the FCA Uniform Call Report

Instructions.

E. Call Report information means data

contained in Call Reports.

F. Consolidated Reporting System

(CRS) means all programs, files,

documentation, and interfaces with

source data, created and used to store,

process, and retrieve CRS Derived Data

and produce CRS Reports.

G. CRS Reports means reports

produced via the CRS System for agency

use in planning, monitoring, and

analyzing the performance of Farm

Credit System institutions.

H. Computer Diskette means a

standard 3 1⁄2’’ magnetic type diskette

used with personal computers that

contains Call Report information of all

System institutions in an ASCII format.

The text of the Board’s policy

statement concerning the release of CRS

information to System institutions and

to the general public is set forth below

in its entirety:

FCA BOARD ACTION ON POLICY

STATEMENT CONCERNING THE

RELEASE OF CONSOLIDATED

REPORTING SYSTEM INFORMATION,

NV 95–13, FCA–PS–65

Effective Date: March 20, 1995.

Effect on Previous Action: None.

Source of Authority: 12 CFR part 621,

subpart D; 12 CFR 602.200; OMB

Circular A–130 (July 2, 1993).

Purpose: The Farm Credit

Administration (FCA) Board is hereby

adopting a policy to disclose reports of

condition and performance (Call

Reports) and other reports containing

nonexempt information (such as the

Uniform Performance Report (UPR) and

the Uniform Peer Performance Report

(UPPR)) that are produced from the

FCA’s Consolidated Reporting System

(CRS) (hereinafter nonexempt CRS

Reports). Under this policy, the UPR

and UPPR will be disclosed to the

institution that submitted the

information 50 days after the end of a

quarter or a fiscal year. All other reports

containing nonexempt information that

are produced from the FCA’s CRS
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 28, 1995 / Notices 15923

would be disclosed, as available, to

System institutions and to the general

public 90 days after the end of a quarter

or a fiscal year. For purposes of this

policy, nonexempt CRS Reports are

defined as reports produced from the

CRS containing information that has

been routinely disclosed in Farm Credit

System (System) institutions’ quarterly

and annual financial reports and filed

with the FCA.

Objectives: The FCA’s mission is to

facilitate the competitive delivery of

financial services to agriculture while

protecting the public, the taxpayer, and

the investor. Consistent with that

mission, the FCA endeavors to provide

information to System institutions and

to the public. Call Reports and other

nonexempt CRS Reports contain

information of value to the agency, the

System, and the public that enables an

evaluation of the financial condition of

a System institution in comparison to its

peers. Release of this information will

provide institutions with a succinct

assessment of performance, in addition

to that provided in the examination

process. The FCA believes that

implementation of this policy statement

will enhance the FCA’s information

management activities in an efficient,

effective, and economical manner

consistent with the objectives of OMB

Circular A–130.

Operating Principles: Certain

information reported to the agency in

compliance with Call Report

instructions, such as asset and liability

repricing schedules or loan specific

data, will continue to be exempt from

disclosure and will not be made

available under this policy statement.

Nonexempt CRS Reports will be

disclosed under a pricing schedule to be

subsequently determined.

Certain nonexempt CRS Reports (such

as the UPR and the UPPR) that contain

Call Report information will be

routinely forwarded free of charge to the

institution that submitted the

information or will be made available,

upon request, to the general public for

a fee. Upon request by a System

institution, the FCA will make available

free of charge any other nonexempt CRS

Reports that contain Call Report

information submitted by that

institution, or, for a fee, will make

available a copy of a nonexempt CRS

Report containing Call Report

information of another institution or

computer diskettes containing

nonexempt Call Report information of

all System institutions. A determination

on a special request (i.e., ad hoc report)

for nonexempt CRS information and any

fees assessed from any System

institution or the general public will be

made on a case-by-case basis. Special

requests will be granted only when the

benefit to the FCA significantly

outweighs the burden to the agency in

complying with the request. All requests

for release of CRS information should be

directed to the Office of Resources

Management, Information Resources

Division, Customer Planning Team.

Any fees assessed under this policy

for disclosing routine nonexempt CRS

Reports will be sufficient to recover the

cost of dissemination. Special requests

will be subject to fees to recover the

agency’s cost of complying with the

request, which will include the cost of

collecting and processing, as well as

disseminating the information. Requests

for fee waivers may be granted to

educational institutions, researchers,

Governmental agencies, newspapers,

and other parties, only when the agency

determines that the benefit derived from

releasing the information exceeds the

fees being waived.

Delegated Authority: The Director,

Office of Resources Management, in

concurrence with the Director, Office of

Examination, Director, Office of Special

Supervision and Corporate Affairs, and

General Counsel is responsible for

implementing this policy statement,

developing operating procedures,

developing a pricing schedule for the

fees to be charged for the reports, and

developing specific guidelines for fee

waivers when releasing reports to

educational institutions, researchers,

Governmental agencies, newspapers,

and other parties, as determined to be

appropriate. Any of these

responsibilities may be delegated.

Reporting Requirements: The

Director, Office of Resources

Management, shall make a report

annually concerning nonexempt CRS

Report releases and the number of

requests and fees received to the Chief

Operating Officer.

Adopted this 20th day of March, 1995

by order of the Board.

Dated: March 22, 1995.

Floyd Fithian,

Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board.

[FR Doc. 95–7554 Filed 3–27–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6705–01–P

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE

CORPORATION

Intra-Agency Appellate Process

AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of guidelines.

SUMMARY: On March 21, 1995, the Board

of Directors (Board) of the Federal

Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

adopted guidelines for the

establishment of an independent intraagency appellate process to review

material supervisory determinations as

required by the Riegle Community

Development and Regulatory

Improvement Act of 1994. The

guidelines were effective upon adoption

and supersede the FDIC’s procedures for

requesting review of supervisory

determinations set forth in FIL–11–92,

dated February 7, 1992. The guidelines

are intended to clarify the types of

determinations that are eligible for

review and establish the process by

which appeals will be considered and

decided.

DATES: The guidelines were effective on

March 21, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

William G. Hrindac, Examination

Specialist (202/898–6892), Division of

Supervision; Ken A. Quincy, Section

Chief (202/942–3088), Division of

Compliance and Consumer Affairs;

Gwen E. Factor, Counsel (202/898–

8522), Legal Division, Federal Deposit

Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street,

N.W., Washington, D.C. 20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 309(a) of the Riegle

Community Development and

Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994

(Pub. L. 103–325, 108 Stat. 2160) (Act)

requires the FDIC (as well as the other

Federal banking agencies and the

National Credit Union Administration

Board) to establish an independent

intra-agency appellate process to review

material supervisory determinations.

The process is to be established within

180 days after enactment of the Act (i.e.,

by March 22, 1995). The Act defines the

term ‘‘independent appellate process’’

to mean a review by an agency official

who does not directly or indirectly

report to the agency official who made

the material supervisory determination

under review. In establishing the

appeals process, the FDIC must ensure

that: (1) any appeal of a material

supervisory determination by an

insured depository institution is heard

and decided expeditiously; and (2)

appropriate safeguards exist for

protecting the appellant from retaliation

by agency examiners.

Section 309(c) of the Act requires

public notice and opportunity for

comment on proposed guidelines for the

establishment of the independent

appellate process. On December 28,

1994, the FDIC published in the Federal

Register, for a 30-day comment period,

a notice of and request for comments on