Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB, 77128-77132 [2013-30309]

Agencies

• FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 245 (Friday, December 20, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77128-77132]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30309]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


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: Notice is hereby given of the final approval of a proposed 
information collection by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.16 
(OMB Regulations on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). 
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 Federal 
Reserve 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Federal Reserve Board Clearance 
Officer--Cynthia Ayouch--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.
    Final approval under OMB delegated authority the revision, without 
extension, of the following report:
    Report title: Banking Organization Systemic Risk Report.
    Agency form number: FR Y-15.
    OMB Control number: 7100-0352.
    Effective Date: December 31, 2013.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Reporters: U.S. Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) with total 
consolidated assets of $50 billion or more, and any U.S.-based 
organizations identified as global systemically important banks (GSIBs) 
that do not otherwise meet the consolidated assets threshold for BHCs.
    Estimated annual reporting hours: 9,735 hours.
    Estimated average hours per response: 295 hours.
    Number of respondents: 33.
    General description of report: This information collection is 
mandatory pursuant to section 5 of the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)). 
Except as otherwise noted, the collected information will be made 
available to the public for report dates beginning December 31, 2013. 
The following line items will be kept confidential for the December 31, 
2013, report date and made publically available beginning with the 
December 31, 2014, report date: Schedule A, items 1(b)(2) through 
2(a)(2) and items 2(b)(2) through 3; and, Schedule C, items 1(a) 
through 1(l). The following line items will be kept confidential until 
the first reporting date after the U.S. rule implementing the liquidity 
coverage ratio (LCR) is finalized: Schedule D, items 7 and 8.
    Though confidential treatment will not be routinely given to the 
financial data in this report, respondents may request such treatment 
for any information that they believe is subject to an exemption from 
disclosure pursuant to sections (b)(4), (b)(6), or (b)(8) of the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 522(b)(4), (b)(6), and 
(b)(8)).
    Abstract: The FR Y-15, which was derived from a Basel data 
collection aimed at measuring systemic importance, was implemented in 
December 2012 (77 FR 76484). In addition to (i) facilitating the future 
implementation of the GSIB surcharge through regulation, (ii) 
identifying institutions that may be domestic systemically important 
banks (DSIBs) under a future framework and (iii) analyzing the systemic 
risk implications of proposed mergers and acquisitions, the Federal 
Reserve uses the FR Y-15 data to monitor, on an ongoing basis, the 
systemic risk profile of the institutions which are subject to enhanced 
prudential standards under section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 
Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA).
    Current Actions: On August 30, 2013, the Federal Reserve published 
a notice

[[Page 77129]]

in the Federal Register (78 FR 53759) requesting public comment for 60 
days on the proposal to revise, without extension, the mandatory annual 
Banking Organization Systemic Risk Report. The comment period for this 
notice expired on October 29, 2013.
    Summary of Public Comments: The Federal Reserve received three 
comment letters on the proposed revisions to the FR Y-15: a joint 
comment letter from three trade associations, another comment letter 
from a different trade association, and a comment letter from a banking 
organization. The comments focused on the confidential treatment of 
data submitted on the FR Y-15 (partially with respect to items based on 
the Basel liquidity coverage ratio) and the submission deadline. 
Several commenters suggested that the Federal Reserve rely on other 
existing data collections in order to reduce reporting burden. Other 
comments expressed concern about using Basel II credit conversion 
factor (CCF) definitions for off-balance sheet items. Commenters 
requested delayed implementation of the requirements, elimination of 
the attestation requirement, and continued confidential treatment of 
certain FR Y-15 data. The following is a detailed discussion of the 
comments received and the Federal Reserve's responses to those 
comments.

Detailed Discussion of Public Comments and Federal Reserve Responses

A. Reporting Panel

    The proposal stated that the FR Y-15 will be used to monitor, on an 
ongoing basis, the systemic risk profile of the institutions which are 
subject to enhanced prudential standards under section 165 of DFA. The 
proposal further stated that the data will be used to facilitate the 
future implementation of the GSIB surcharge through regulation, 
identify institutions that may be DSIBs under a future framework, and 
analyze the systemic risk implications of proposed mergers and 
acquisitions. One commenter suggested the reporting panel is not 
appropriate because BHCs that are subsidiaries of foreign banking 
organizations (FBOs) are not subject to the GSIB framework and the DSIB 
and mergers and acquisitions frameworks are still under development. 
Another commenter similarly argued that the international GSIB 
framework by its terms is not applicable to non-GSIBs and is not 
practical for DSIB identification. One commenter suggested that there 
is no meaningful comparison between top-tier BHCs and the BHC 
subsidiaries of FBOs, because the former is the top-tier company of the 
entire consolidated organization while the latter is a subsidiary that 
includes only part of the entire consolidated organization's 
operations.
    The Federal Reserve's data collections may be implemented 
independent of a related final regulatory framework. As a host of 
metrics have been identified for examining the systemic risk of banking 
organizations, it is incumbent upon national supervisors to collect and 
monitor such data so as to better understand the overall domestic 
systemic risk landscape and pinpoint the riskiest institutions therein. 
Indeed, monitoring the systemic risk profile of institutions subject to 
section 165 of DFA is one of the main purposes of collecting the FR Y-
15. Therefore, the Federal Reserve believes it is appropriate to apply 
the FR Y-15 requirements at this time to institutions that are not 
GSIBs but may be identified as DSIBs, even though a regulatory 
framework for DSIBs has not been proposed or implemented. The Federal 
Reserve further notes that the use of data for analyzing mergers and 
acquisitions will frequently be incorporated into an already-
established applications process.
    With respect to application of the requirements to the U.S. 
subsidiaries of FBOs, the Federal Reserve observes that the FR Y-15 
evaluates the systemic risk footprint of these BHCs in a domestic 
context. Since the global systemic footprint of the entire FBO extends 
beyond that of its U.S. BHC subsidiary, the FR Y-15 does not capture 
the full systemic risk implications of the global entity. Instead, the 
FR Y-15 appropriately focuses on the domestic systemic footprint of 
large U.S. BHCs owned by FBOs. These U.S. BHC subsidiaries are 
similarly situated in size and complexity to other U.S. BHCs that are 
subject to the reporting panel. As such, these subsidiaries may have 
systemic factors of sufficient magnitude to pose a systemic risk to the 
U.S. financial system. Therefore, the Federal Reserve will continue to 
include on the FR Y-15 reporting panel those U.S. BHC subsidiaries of 
FBOs that meet the threshold for scope of application.

B. Alternative Sources of Systemic Risk Data

    Several commenters suggested that information obtained from other 
data collections such as the Capital Assessments and Stress Testing 
report (FR Y-14; OMB No. 7100-0341) or the proposed Liquidity 
Monitoring Reports (FR 2052a and b) could be used in lieu of collecting 
certain data on the FR Y-15. The commenters argued that using such data 
would reduce reporting burden.
    The Federal Reserve notes that the information collected on the FR 
Y 15 provides a baseline set of metrics that are used to assess and 
compare the systemic risk profiles of reporting firms. In order to make 
reliable comparisons, the data must be produced using a common set of 
definitions. Therefore, substituting data with information subject to 
different underlying definitions would weaken the ability to make 
reliable comparisons and could lead to false conclusions about relative 
systemic risk. Other than those items specifically noted in the 
instructions (see General Instructions, Section H), the FR Y-15 data 
are unique and thus cannot be replaced with data from another 
regulatory report. Therefore, the Federal Reserve will not use other 
data collections in lieu of collecting data on the FR Y-15. However, as 
relevant data does become available on other public regulatory reports, 
the Federal Reserve will revise the FR Y-15 at that time to 
automatically import these data.

C. Confidentiality

    In the final 2012 Federal Register notice, the Federal Reserve 
indicated that the FR Y-15 data would be made public via the FFIEC Web 
site because the data provides valuable information about the domestic 
systemic risk landscape and the market can use the measures of systemic 
risk found in the FR Y-15 to evaluate the systemic importance of an 
individual institution on a national level.\1\ The Federal Reserve 
further stated that the public disclosure of the data would promote the 
policy goal of transparency for future systemic risk assessments, 
including through international efforts such as GSIB designation by the 
Financial Stability Board (FSB).\2\
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    \1\ See 77 FR 76484, 76486 (December 28, 2012).
    \2\ Id.
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    Following publication of the final 2012 Federal Register notice, 
the Federal Reserve received additional requests from an industry group 
and several individual institutions to keep parts of the FR Y-15 
confidential. The Federal Reserve decided to publicly release data on 
the FR Y-15 that is published in aggregate form or retrieved from 
public portions of the Consolidated Financial Statements for Bank 
Holding Companies (FR Y-9C; OMB No. 7100-0128). This decision was based 
on various considerations, including that the report was being 
implemented for the first time and that the reporting panel for year-
end 2012

[[Page 77130]]

was limited to a small subset of the total reporting panel.
    In the notice of proposed revisions, the Federal Reserve stated 
that the data items on the FR Y-15 that are retrieved from the public 
portions of the FR Y-9C or that are published only in aggregate form 
are not confidential, and that the confidentiality of the remaining 
items would depend on a determination that considers the competitive 
harm resulting from the disclosure and the public purpose served by the 
disclosure.\3\
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    \3\ See 78 FR 53760 (August 30, 2013).
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    Several commenters requested that the Federal Reserve continue to 
release publicly only the items that were released for the 2012 
submissions. In particular, a commenter asked that the Federal Reserve 
continue this treatment until rules on which the reporting items are 
based are finalized and fully implemented in the United States. The 
commenter also requested that the Federal Reserve clarify its 
intentions as to what reported information it intends to release as 
public information going forward. Additionally, one commenter 
referenced the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's (BCBS's) 
practice of keeping data submitted in connection with the Basel III 
monitoring exercise confidential. The commenter asserted that 
publishing the data would put reporting institutions at a competitive 
disadvantage since institutions outside of the U.S. are not subject to 
the same requirements. The commenter also argued that new data elements 
may confuse investors. Another commenter stated that FR Y-9C 
confidentiality automatically passes through to the FR Y-15 but that 
Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009; OMB No. 7100-0035) confidentiality 
does not.
    In evaluating the concerns raised by commenters, the Federal 
Reserve considered the potential public harm from releasing data 
reported on the FR Y-15 that was not released for the 2012 submissions, 
along with the public purposes that would be served by additional 
disclosure. The Federal Reserve believes that the FR Y-15 data provides 
consistent and comparable measures of systemic risk which can be used 
by market participants to evaluate the systemic importance of an 
institution. Moreover, the Federal Reserve believes that access to the 
underlying data is integral to understanding the drivers of the 
aggregated systemic risk metrics. For example, the total intra-
financial system assets metric (Schedule B, item 6) is comprised of 
eleven subcomponents. Without the more granular data, it may be 
difficult to fully assess whether the planned actions of a firm would 
lead to a material reduction of the metric in future periods. In 
addition, the Federal Reserve believes that the data is key to the 
public understanding how the systemic nature of BHCs subject to section 
165 of DFA is evaluated, including how enhanced prudential standards 
are applied to these BHCs in accordance with their relative systemic 
importance. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve believes that providing 
the underlying data increases transparency and, in turn, market 
discipline regarding systemic risk. Release of the data should 
encourage a market discipline that reduces the negative externalities 
associated with raising a firm's systemic footprint. This market 
discipline should be particularly acute once the regulatory policies 
regarding systemic risk are finalized.
    However, the Federal Reserve believes it is reasonable to delay the 
public release of certain data items about which commenters have 
specifically expressed concern. As noted above, commenters asked that 
the Federal Reserve not release information beyond what was released 
for the 2012 submissions until such time as the rules on which the 
reporting is based are finalized and fully implemented in the United 
States.
    The Federal Reserve believes that it is appropriate to delay, until 
the 2014 reporting period, the public release of non-aggregate Schedule 
A (size indicator) items that are not derived from public portions of 
the FR Y-9C. This information is correspondent or related to the 
information that U.S. BHCs subject to the Federal Reserve's advanced 
approaches framework (advanced approaches BHCs) will report beginning 
in 2015 on the revised FR Y-9C and the revised Risk-Based Capital 
Reporting for Institutions Subject to the Advanced Capital Adequacy 
Framework (FFIEC 101; OMB No. 7100-0319). This reported information is 
related to the international (supplementary) leverage ratio requirement 
and other requirements in the Federal Reserve's revised capital rule 
(12 CFR part 217), adopted in 2013 (capital rule).\4\ Since advanced 
approaches BHCs will be reporting this information quarterly on the FR 
Y-9C and FFIEC 101 in 2015, delaying the release of the associated 
information on the FR Y-15 until the 2014 reporting period will better 
align the public disclosure of the information across the multiple 
reports. In addition, this will provide additional time for respondents 
to ensure that consistent and comparable data is provided across 
reports. The Federal Reserve believes that it is appropriate for the 
delayed disclosure to also apply to BHCs that are not advanced 
approaches BHCs. As with the advanced approaches BHCs, the delay will 
allow these institutions to fully develop their systems and refine the 
accuracy of the data associated with the FR Y-15 and the 2015 capital-
related reporting requirements. Thus, the aggregated total exposures 
figure and those items derived from public portions of the FR Y-9C will 
be the only Schedule A items released for the 2013 reporting period.
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    \4\ 78 FR 62018 (October 11, 2013).
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    As discussed further below, most of the Schedule D line items 
related to the BCBS LCR will no longer be collected on the FR Y-15. The 
two items that remain identify a subset of trading and available-for-
sale (AFS) assets as level 1 or level 2 assets under the BCBS standard. 
These items are necessary to calculate consistently across 
jurisdictions the systemic importance of a reporting institution's 
trading and AFS portfolio. The Federal Reserve observes that these 
items could be estimated from publicly-available FR Y-9C data and that 
these items are not equivalent to an institution's liquidity buffer as 
calculated under the BCBS LCR, or under the U.S. proposed 
implementation of the LCR which was released as a notice of proposed 
rulemaking earlier in 2013.\5\ However, considering commenter concerns 
that there could be market confusion with respect to these line items 
while the rulemaking to implement the LCR is ongoing, the Federal 
Reserve will delay disclosure of those two line items until the U.S. 
rulemaking is finalized. In addition, after the U.S. rule implementing 
the LCR is finalized, the Federal Reserve will consider aligning the 
definitions of level 1 and level 2 assets used in the two items of the 
FR Y-15 with the definitions in the U.S. rule.
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    \5\ See 78 FR 71818 (November 29, 2013).
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    The Federal Reserve will also delay the disclosure of items on 
Schedule C that specify payments activity in individual currencies 
until the 2014 reporting period. Some institutions have expressed 
concern about publicly releasing these new reporting items. The Federal 
Reserve has observed that these items have been among the most 
difficult for institutions to collect and believes it is reasonable to 
keep this information confidential for an additional year while 
reporting institutions continue to develop and enhance their reporting 
capabilities for these items. By adopting this delay, the

[[Page 77131]]

two aggregated payments figures will be the only payments data released 
for the 2013 reporting period.
    Thus, except for the items on Schedules A, C, and D that are 
subject to delayed release as outlined above, all FR Y-15 data will be 
made available to the public beginning with the 2013 reporting period. 
To address concerns about potential misinterpretation of these data, 
the Federal Reserve will give respondents the opportunity to provide an 
optional narrative as part of their FR Y-15 submission. This will allow 
respondents to include brief explanatory comments about any data 
disclosure within the report which they feel may be subject to 
misinterpretation or otherwise cause confusion among investors. These 
statements will be made available to the public.
    With respect to confidential treatment passing through to the FR Y-
15, this is limited to the cases where specific line item 
confidentiality has been granted for a related item on the FR Y-9C (see 
General Instructions, Section H). This automated pass-through does not 
apply to items pulled from confidential reports. The Federal Reserve 
specifically decided to make the highly aggregated item pulled from the 
FFIEC 009 publicly available on the FR Y-15 (Schedule E, item 1) 
because it is a high-level, aggregate number that, if nonzero, does not 
reveal any of the actual underlying values included in the FFIEC 009 
report.\6\
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    \6\ See 77 FR 76486 (December 28, 2012).
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D. Submission Deadline

    The Federal Reserve approved an initial submission window of 90 
days for those institutions submitting the FR Y-15 for the December 31, 
2012, as-of-date.\7\ This was done to allow extra time for the eight 
initial respondents to develop and test the systems required to collect 
the FR Y-15 data. Several commenters suggested keeping the submission 
date at 90 calendar days after the December 31 as-of-date. One 
commenter argued that more time is needed since the same staff work on 
the FR Y-9C and the FR Y-14. This commenter supported the switch to a 
June 30 determination date.
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    \7\ Id.
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    An ongoing window of 60 days after the as-of-date for FR Y-15 
submissions, beginning with the December 31, 2013, as-of-date, was 
approved by the Federal Reserve last year.\8\ This is 15 days beyond 
the deadline associated with the FR Y-9C and 10 days beyond the 
deadline associated with the FFIEC 009, which are both source documents 
for the FR Y-15. This staggered submission schedule made it easier for 
banks to ensure that the forms properly reconciled. The 60 day window 
was chosen, in part, based on the recommendations of several commenters 
on the first FR Y-15 proposal in 2012.
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    \8\ Id.
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    Considering the fact that several regulatory reports are due 60 
days after the December 31 as-of-date,\9\ the Federal Reserve will 
extend the submission window to 65 days. This should ease potential 
resource constraints while simultaneously ensuring the timely 
availability of the systemic risk data.
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    \9\ Examples of reports due 60 days after December 31 include 
the FFIEC 101 and Form 10-K (10-K; OMB No. 3235-0063).
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E. Implementation Issues for New Respondents

    Two commenters noted that several off-balance sheet items use CCF 
categories defined under the standardized approach of the Basel II 
agreement \10\ as modified by the Basel III agreement and published by 
the BCBS. They argued that this creates an undue burden on reporters 
and seems unnecessary considering the recently finalized capital rule 
(final capital rule) \11\ that includes a standardized approach based 
on the BCBS standards. One commenter recommended not requiring the 
reporting of these items for advanced approaches institutions. Another 
commenter recommended making all new reporters exempt from reporting 
any data items connected to the BCBS Basel III implementation 
monitoring exercise.
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    \10\ See paragraphs 83 through 85 of International Convergence 
of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards, June 2006, available 
at https://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs128.pdf.
    \11\ 78 FR 62018 (October 11, 2013).
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    With respect to CCFs, there are minor differences between Basel II 
standardized and the final capital rule. In general, these differences 
are only material for a few large institutions and in each case the 
calculation is relatively simple and straightforward. Moreover, the 
global systemic score under the GSIB framework is calculated using the 
standardized approach of the Basel II agreement. For these reasons, the 
FR Y-15 will continue to use the Basel II CCF definitions.
    For the reasons discussed further in the Specific Data Items 
section below, the Federal Reserve will remove the three items on the 
FR Y-15 with explicit links to the Basel III implementation monitoring 
exercise.

F. Attestation Requirement and Estimated Data

    The FR Y-15 attestation page states ``I, the undersigned CFO (or 
equivalent) of the named banking organization, attest that the Banking 
Organization Systemic Risk Report (including the supporting schedules) 
for this report date has been prepared in conformance with the 
instructions issued by the Federal Reserve System and is true and 
correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.'' One commenter 
recommended allowing first-time reporters in 2013 to use reasonable 
estimates. They recommended that the allowance be made explicit in the 
instructions and on the attestation page. Another commenter asserted 
that the Chief Financial Officer (or equivalent) should not have to 
attest to data that will tie to a future rulemaking until the rule is 
actually finalized. The commenter further argued that respondents need 
ample notice and experience with the data before attesting and that the 
data should be collected on a best efforts basis until firms have 
gained more experience with the report.
    Reasonable estimates are already allowed when the institution is 
filing the report for the first time. This fact is explicitly captured 
in the instructions (see General Instructions, Section F). The 
attestation page on the reporting form states that the report has been 
``prepared in conformance with the instructions issued by the Federal 
Reserve System.'' As the reasonable estimates clause for first-time 
reporters is clearly specified in the instructions, it is not necessary 
to repeat the clause in the attestation itself. Thus, the Federal 
Reserve will retain the current attestation language.
    The Federal Reserve does not believe that the ability to attest 
data must be linked to the publication of a related final regulatory 
requirement. Detailed instructions are provided to respondents and 
Federal Reserve Bank staff are available to answer questions pertaining 
to the collection. The Federal Reserve believes that these resources, 
which mirror those that are available for other collections including 
the FR Y-9C, are sufficient to allow for the attestation of the FR Y-
15. The Federal Reserve agrees that respondents need advanced notice of 
a reporting requirement in order to build adequate collection and 
validation systems. The Federal Reserve, recognizing that smaller BHCs 
would require additional time to collect and audit the FR Y-15 data, 
limited the initial reporting panel to the eight U.S. GSIBs.\12\ This 
provided an additional

[[Page 77132]]

year for the other respondents to prepare for the new reporting 
requirement. Given the advanced notice and the resources available, the 
Federal Reserve will retain the current attestation requirement.
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    \12\ See 77 FR 76484 (December 28, 2012).
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G. Specific Data Items

    One commenter argued that disclosure of the items associated with 
the LCR could expose respondents to risks under U.S. securities laws 
because they are not based on a final regulatory standard. The 
commenter also argued that the market will inappropriately use the LCR-
related data to assess the liquidity positions of respondents. Another 
commenter noted that liquidity rules would not be in effect until 2015 
and suggested that the items related to liquidity not be collected 
until the final rules take effect.
    The BCBS recently adopted a revised systemic risk calculation that 
no longer uses the LCR items collected in the previous version of the 
report. Taking into consideration this revision along with the comments 
received, the Federal Reserve will remove the following six items from 
Schedule D: Level 1 assets, subject to operational requirements; 
Securities in item 7 that are trading or AFS securities; Level 2 
assets, with haircuts and subject to operational requirements; 
Securities in item 8 that are trading or AFS securities; Adjustment to 
high quality liquid assets (HQLA) due to caps on Level 2B and total 
Level 2 assets; and Amount of item 9 attributable to trading and AFS 
securities. The two LCR-related items that remain reflect the liquidity 
of the bank's trading and AFS securities. These items are not subject 
to the same confidentiality concerns since they can be reasonably 
estimated based on public FR Y-9C data.\13\ The Federal Reserve 
believes this more limited disclosure mitigates the risk of market 
participants trying to use systemic risk measures on the FR Y-15 to 
assess a firm's liquidity position. To avoid any potential 
misinterpretation, the Federal Reserve will remove the reference to 
HQLA in one of the remaining items (Total trading and AFS securities 
less HQLA).
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    \13\ FR Y-9C schedules HC-B and HC-D provide category breakdowns 
of AFS and trading securities.
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    One commenter asked that a de minimis exemption be considered for 
line items unique to the FR Y-15. Due to the rounding rules specified 
in the instructions (see General Instructions, Section C), amounts less 
than $500,000 are not reported when respondents choose to report their 
figures in millions. Therefore, a de minimis exemption already exists 
within the report. This exemption will be left unchanged.
    Commenters asked for a number of technical clarifications regarding 
specific data items on the FR Y-15 form. The Federal Reserve has 
addressed these questions in the finalized version of the FR Y-15 
instructions.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 17, 
2013.
Robert deV. Frierson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2013-30309 Filed 12-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P