Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board).

ACTION:

Notice and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the “agencies”) may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. On May 7, 2021, the Board, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, requested public comment for 60 days on a proposal to revise and extend the Country Exposure Report for U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 019), which is currently an approved collection of information. The comment period for the proposal ended on July 6, 2021. As described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section, the agencies will revise the FFIEC 019 as proposed. In addition, the agencies will make clarifying revisions to the instructions in response to a comment received. The Board hereby gives notice of its plan to submit to OMB a request to approve the revision and extension of this information collection, and again invites comment on the proposal.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before September 17, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

Interested parties are invited to submit written comments, identified by “FFIEC 019,” by any of the following methods:

• Agency website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
• Email: regs.comments@federalreserve.gov. Include the reporting form number in the subject line of the message.
• Fax: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.
• Mail: Ann E. Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20551.

All public comments are available from the Board's website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as submitted, unless modified for technical reasons or to remove personally identifiable information at the commenter's request. Accordingly, comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper in Room 146, 1709 New York Avenue NW Washington, DC 20006, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. For security reasons, the Board requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. You may do so by calling (202) 452-3684. Upon arrival, visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo identification and to submit to security screening in order to inspect and photocopy comments.

Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the OMB desk officer for the agencies by mail to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503; by fax to (202) 395-6974; or by email to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For further information about the proposed extension with revision of the FFIEC 019 discussed in this notice, please contact the agency staff member whose name appears below. In addition, a copy of the FFIEC 019 form can be obtained at the FFIEC's website ( https://www.ffiec.gov/ffiec_report_forms.htm ).

Nuha Elmaghrabi, Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer, (202) 452-3884, Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C Streets NW, Washington, DC 20551. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf users may call (202) 263-4869.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Board is proposing to extend for three years, with revision, the FFIEC 019.

Report Title: Country Exposure Report for U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks.

Form Number: FFIEC 019.

OMB control number: 7100-0213.

Frequency of Response: Quarterly.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.

Respondents: All branches and agencies of foreign banks domiciled in the United States with total direct claims on foreign residents in excess of $30 million.

Estimated Number of Respondents: Ongoing: 147; one-time: 20.

Estimated Average Burden per Response: Ongoing: 10 hours; one-time: 4 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: Ongoing: 5,880 hours; one-time: 320 hours.

I. General Description of Report

This information collection is required pursuant to sections 7 and 13 of the International Banking Act (12 U.S.C. 3105 and 3108) for the Board, sections 7 and 10 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1817 and 1820) for the FDIC, and the National Bank Act (12 U.S.C. 161) as applied through section 4 of the International Banking Act (12 U.S.C. 3102) for the OCC. The FFIEC 019 is given confidential treatment consistent with 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and (b)(8).

The FFIEC 019 report must be filed by each U.S. branch or agency of a foreign bank that has total direct claims on foreign residents in excess of $30 million. The branch or agency reports its total exposure (1) to residents of its home country, and (2) to the other five foreign nations to which its exposure is largest and is at least $20 million. The home country exposure must be reported regardless of the size of the total claims for that nation.

Each respondent must report by country, as appropriate, the information on its direct claims (assets such as deposit balances with banks, loans, or securities), indirect claims (which include guarantees), and total adjusted claims on foreign residents, as well as information on commitments. The respondent also must report information on claims on related non-U.S. offices that are included in total adjusted claims on the home country, as well as a breakdown for the home country and each other reported country of adjusted claims on unrelated foreign residents by the sector of borrower or guarantor, and by maturity (in two categories: One year or less, and over one year). The Board collects and processes this report on behalf of all three agencies.

II. Current Actions

On May 7, 2021, the Board requested comment for 60 days on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the FFIEC 019. The agencies proposed to revise the FFIEC 019 by removing the five-country limit on the reporting of gross claims on foreign nations to which the U.S. branch or agency of a foreign bank has its largest total exposures of at least $20 million.

The comment period for the proposal ended on July 6, 2021, and the agencies received one comment.

The commenter, a banking trade association, asked the agencies to clarify the definitions and treatment of certain terms in the FFIEC 019 to be consistent with the Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009). The commenter stated that consistency between these terms in the FFIEC 019 and FFIEC 009 will reduce burden on firms that use FFIEC 009 definitions to report cross-jurisdictional data via the Systemic Risk Report (FR Y-15). Specifically, the commenter asked the agencies to clarify the FFIEC 019 instructions as follows: Add sections on accounting and differences from U.S. GAAP; add clarifying information to the Claims section regarding the definition of “claims”; add instructions related to Indirect Claims, including instructions related to required risk transfers (e.g., guarantees, insurance policies, and head offices), collateralized claims, debt and equity securities, netting and offsetting, reporting credit derivatives, and treatment of multi-name credit derivatives; and add specific instructions for allocating claims to the rows. The agencies agree with the commenter's suggestions and will revise the FFIEC 019 instructions accordingly. The comment did not object to the agencies' proposed revisions to the FFIEC 019, and therefore the agencies will adopt those revisions as proposed.

III. Request for Comment

Public comment is requested on all aspects of this notice. Comment is also specifically invited on:

a. Whether the information collection is 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 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;

d. Ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and

e. Estimates of capital or start up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Comments submitted to the Board in response to this notice will be shared with the other agencies. All comments will become a matter of public record.