Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

AGENCY:

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

SUMMARY:

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) is adopting a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, the Senior Financial Officer Survey (FR 2023; OMB No. 7100-0223).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer—Nuha Elmaghrabi—Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202) 452-3829. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may contact (202) 263-4869, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551.

OMB Desk Officer—Shagufta Ahmed—Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) delegated to the Board authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to approve of and assign OMB control numbers to collection of information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the Board. Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act submission, supporting statements and approved collection of information instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. 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 OMB control number.

Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for Three Years, Without Revision, of the Following Report

Report title: Senior Financial Officer Survey.

Agency form number: FR 2023.

OMB control number: 7100-0223.

Frequency: Up to four times a year.

Respondents: Domestically chartered large commercial banks.

Estimated number of respondents: 80.

Estimated average hours per response: 3 hours.

Estimated annual burden hours: 960 hours.

General description of report: The Board uses the surveys in this collection to gather qualitative and limited quantitative information about liability management, the provision of financial services, and the functioning of key financial markets. Responses are obtained from a senior officer at each participating institution usually through an electronic submission. Although a survey may not be collected in a given year, the Board may conduct up to four surveys per year when informational needs arise and cannot be met from existing data sources. The survey does not have a fixed set of questions; each survey consists of a limited number of questions directed at topics of timely interest.

Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2023 is a voluntary survey. Section 2A of the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) requires that the Board 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 FRA, the FOMC is required to implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted by Federal Reserve Banks. Those transactions must be governed with a view to accommodating commerce and business and with regard to their bearing upon the general credit situation of the country (12 U.S.C. 263). The Board and the FOMC use the information obtained from the FR 2023 to help fulfill these obligations.

The questions asked on each survey will vary, so the ability of the Board to maintain the confidentiality of information collected must be determined on a case by case basis. It is likely that much of the information collected would constitute confidential financial information obtained from a person and would thus be protected from disclosure under exemption 4 to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Exemption 8 of the FOIA, which protects information related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared for the use of an agency supervising financial institutions, may also occasionally apply (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)).

Current actions: On May 15, 2018, the Board published a notice in the Federal Register (83 FR 22488) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, without revision, of the Board's clearance for the Senior Financial Officer Survey. The comment period for this notice expired on July 16, 2018. The Board did not receive any comments.