[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 28, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15921-15923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7554]



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FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION

[NV 95-13]


Policy Statement Concerning the Release of Consolidated Reporting 
System Information

AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.

ACTION: Policy statement.

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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 [[Page 15922]] 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 [[Page 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