Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/02/13/2017-02827/proposed-agency-information-collection-activities-comment-request
Timestamp: 2018-03-21 05:54:45
Document Index: 159981209

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 263', 'art 2905', 'art 3806', 'art 4008', 'art 1604', 'art 324', 'arts 602']

A Notice by the Federal Reserve System on 02/13/2017
Comments must be submitted on or before April 14, 2017.
10480-10484 (5 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2017-02827 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2017-02827
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board or Federal Reserve) invites comment on a proposal to extend, without revision, the voluntary Generic Clearance for Surveys of Consumer and Community Affairs Publications and Resources (FR 1378; OMB No. 7100-0358); a proposal to extend, without revision, the voluntary Generic Clearance for Consumer and Stakeholder Surveys (FR 3073; OMB No. 7100-0359), a proposal to extend for three years, without Start Printed Page 10481revision, the required Report of Net Debit Cap (FR 2226, OMB No. 7100-0217), and a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, the following voluntary Payments Systems Surveys (OMB No. 7100-0332):
Ad Hoc Payments Systems Survey (FR 3054a)
Currency Quality Sampling Survey (FR 3054b)
Currency Quality Survey (FR 3054c)
Currency Functionality and Perception Survey (FR 3054d)
You may submit comments, identified by FR 1378, FR 3073, FR 2226, or FR 3054abcd, by any of the following methods:
Respondents: Individuals, households, nonprofits, community development organizations, consumer groups, financial institutions, other financial companies offering consumer financial products and services, other for profit companies, state or local agencies, and researchers from academic, government, policy and other institutions.
The surveys in this collection are used to gather qualitative and quantitative information directly from users or potential users of Board publications, resources, and conference materials, such as consumers (consumer surveys) and stakeholders (stakeholder surveys). Stakeholders may include, but are not limited to, nonprofits, community development organizations, consumer groups, conference attendees, financial institutions and other financial companies offering consumer financial products and services, other for profit companies, state or local agencies, and researchers from academic, government, policy and other institutions. Publications and resources may include reports and brochures, as well as audio and visual content, whether delivered in print, online, or through other means.
Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division has determined that the FR 1378 is generally authorized under sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act. Section 2A requires that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates (12 U.S.C. 225a). In addition, under section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act, the FOMC is required to implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted by Federal Reserve Banks with a view to accommodating commerce and business and with regard to the regulations' bearing upon the general credit situation of the country (12 U.S.C. 263). The authority of the Federal Reserve to collect information to carry out the requirements of these provisions is implicit. Accordingly, the Federal Reserve is authorized to collect the information called for by the FR 1378 by sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act.
The surveys in this collection gather quantitative and qualitative information directly from individual consumers or households (consumer surveys) on consumer finance topics. This collection also gathers quantitative and qualitative information on current and emerging community economic issues from Start Printed Page 10483stakeholders (stakeholder surveys). Examples of stakeholders include, for example, such organizations as community groups, community development organizations, nonprofit service providers, faith-based service organizations, public sector agencies, small business owners, health care organizations, food banks, K-12 public and private schools, community colleges, community development financial institutions, credit unions, banks, and other financial institutions and companies offering financial products and services. While these surveys are ongoing, the frequency and content of the questions may change depending on economic conditions, regulatory or legislative developments, as well as changes in technology, business practices, and other factors affecting consumers, stakeholders, and communities.
Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division has determined that FR 3073 is generally authorized under sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act. Section 2A requires that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates (12 U.S.C. 225a). In addition, under section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act, the FOMC is required to implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted by Federal Reserve Banks with a view to accommodating commerce and business and with regard to the regulations' bearing upon the general credit situation of the country (12 U.S.C. part 263). The authority of the Federal Reserve to collect information to carry out the requirements of these provisions is implicit. Accordingly, the Federal Reserve is authorized to collect the information called for by the FR 3073 by sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act.
Community Reinvestment Act, (12 U.S.C. part 2905);
Competitive Equality Banking Act, (12 U.S.C. part 3806);
Expedited Funds Availability Act, (12 U.S.C. part 4008);
Truth in Lending Act, (15 U.S.C. part 1604); [8]
Additionally, depending upon the survey respondent, the information collection may be authorized under a more specific statute. Specifically, the Board is authorized to collect information from state member banks under section 9 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. part 324); from bank holding companies (and their subsidiaries) under section 5(c) of the Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)); from Edge and agreement corporations under section 25 and 25A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. parts 602 and 625); and from U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks under section 7(c)(2) of the International Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3105(c)(2)) and under section 7(a) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(a)). Participation in the FR 3073 is voluntary.
The ability of the Federal Reserve to maintain the confidentiality of information provided by respondents to the FR 3073 surveys will have to be determined on a case by case basis depending on the type of information provided for a particular survey. Some of the information collected on the surveys may be protected from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure by FOIA exemptions 4 and 6. Exemption 4 protects from disclosure trade secrets and commercial or financial information, while Exemption 6 protects information “the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” See 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and (6).
Respondents: Depository institution's board of directors.
Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division has determined that the FR 2226 is authorized pursuant to sections Start Printed Page 1048411, 16, and 19 of the Federal Reserve Act. 12 (U.S.C. 248(i), 248-1, 464). The obligation to respond is required for the institution to obtain the benefit of an increase in daylight overdraft capacity beyond the limit afforded by the exempt-from-filing cap. The Board has confirmed that the disclosure of information collected on the FR 2226 would likely cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the respondent institution. Therefore, the FR 2226 is exempt from disclosure under exemption (b)(4) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which exempts from disclosure “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.” (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). In addition, information reported in connection with the second and third resolutions may be protected under section (b)(8) of FOIA, to the extent that such information is based on the institution's CAMELS rating, and thus is related to examination reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions. (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)).
OMB control number: 7100-0332
Respondents: Financial, institutions (or depository institutions) individuals, law enforcement and nonfinancial businesses (banknote equipment manufacturers, or global wholesale bank note dealers).
General Description of Report: The FR 3054a is an event-driven survey used to obtain information specifically tailored to the Federal Reserve's operational and fiscal agency responsibilities. The FR 3054a may be conducted independently by the Board or jointly with another government agency, a Reserve Bank, or a private firm. The FR 3054b is an annual survey used to assess the quality of currency in circulation and may be conducted by the Federal Reserve Board, jointly with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Cash Product Office (CPO), the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Currency Technology Office (CTO), and each Reserve Bank's cash department. The FR 3054c is a semiannual survey used to determine depository institutions' and Banknote Equipment Manufacturers' (BEMs) opinions of currency quality and may be conducted jointly with the CPO and CTO. The FR 3054d is an annual survey used to assess the functionality of Federal Reserve notes in bank-note handling equipment. The data collected from the FR 3054d are used as inputs for future designs of Federal Reserve notes. The FR 3054d may be conducted jointly with the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and the CTO. The FR 3054a, FR 3054b, FR 3054c, and FR 3054d are sent to financial and nonfinancial businesses.
Because survey questions may differ from survey to survey, it is difficult to determine in advance whether the information collected will be considered confidential. However, information may be exempt from disclosure under exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), if disclosure would likely have the effect of (1) impairing the government's ability to obtain the necessary information in the future, or (2) causing substantial harm to the competitive position of the respondent. Additionally, should survey responses contain any information of a private nature the disclosure of which would constitute “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” such information may be exempt from disclosure under exemption 6, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6). Confidentiality matters should be treated on a case-by-case basis to determine if any of the above exemptions apply.
1. Certain criteria apply to information collections conducted via the Board's generic clearance process. Such information collections shall (1) be vetted by the Board's clearance officer as well as the Division director responsible for the information collection; (2) display the OMB control number and respondents shall be informed that the information collection has been approved, (3) be used only in such cases where response is voluntary, (4) not be used to substantially inform regulatory actions or policy decisions, (5) be conducted only and exactly as described in the OMB submission, (6) involve only noncontroversial subject matter that will not raise concerns for other Federal agencies, (7) include information collection instruments that are each conducted only one time, (8) include a detailed justification of the effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if applicable), and (9) collect personally identifiable information (PII) only to the extent necessary (if collecting PII, the form must display current privacy act notice). In addition, for each information collection instrument, respondent burden will be tracked and submitted to OMB.
6. Although the DFA cut back the Board's authority under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Board maintains the authority to establish appropriate standards for the financial institutions relating to administrative, technical and physical safeguards for certain customer records and information. DFA 1002(12).
[FR Doc. 2017-02827 Filed 2-10-17; 8:45 am]