Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 64767-64783 [2014-25923]
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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 211 / Friday, October 31, 2014 / Notices
[FR Doc. 2014–25871 Filed 10–30–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6714–01–P
FEDERAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
EXAMINATION COUNCIL
basis. The use of any video or audio
tape recording device, photographing
device, or any other electronic or
mechanical device designed for similar
purposes is prohibited at ASC meetings.
[Docket No. AS14–10]
Dated: October 27, 2014.
James R. Park,
Executive Director.
Appraisal Subcommittee Notice of
Meeting
[FR Doc. 2014–25932 Filed 10–30–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6700–01–P
Appraisal Subcommittee of the
Federal Financial Institutions
Examination Council.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
AGENCY:
In accordance with Section
1104 (b) of Title XI of the Financial
Institutions Reform, Recovery, and
Enforcement Act of 1989, as amended,
notice is hereby given that the Appraisal
Subcommittee (ASC) will meet in open
session for its regular meeting:
Location: Federal Reserve Board—
International Square location, 1850 K
Street NW., Washington, DC 20006.
Date: November 12, 2014.
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Status: Open.
SUMMARY:
Reports
Chairman
Executive Director
Delegated State Compliance Reviews
Financial Report
Appraisal Subcommittee Advisory
Committee
Action Items
September 10, 2014 minutes—Open
Session
FY15 Appraisal Foundation Grant
Proposal
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How To Attend and Observe an ASC
Meeting
18:51 Oct 30, 2014
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[No. 2014–N–12]
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Federal Housing Finance
Agency.
ACTION: 30-day Notice of Submission of
Information Collection for Approval
from the Office of Management and
Budget.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) is seeking public comments
concerning the information collection
known as ‘‘Federal Home Loan Bank
Directors,’’ which has been assigned
control number 2590–0006 by the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB).
FHFA intends to submit the information
collection to OMB for review and
approval of a three-year extension of the
control number, which is due to expire
on October 31, 2014.
DATES: Interested persons may submit
comments on or before December 1,
2014.
SUMMARY:
Submit comments to the
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs of the Office of Management and
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the
Federal Housing Finance Agency,
Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 202–395–
6974, Email: OIRA_Submisson@
omb.eop.gov. Please also submit
comments to FHFA using any one of the
following methods:
• Agency Web site: www.fhfa.gov/
open-for-comment-or-input.
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments. If
you submit your comment to the
Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also
send it by email to FHFA at
RegComments@fhfa.gov to ensure
timely receipt by the agency.
• Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal
Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor,
400 Seventh Street SW., Washington,
DC 20024, Attention: Public Comments/
ADDRESSES:
If you plan to attend the meeting in
person, we ask that you notify the
Federal Reserve Board via email at
appraisal-questions@frb.gov, requesting
a return meeting registration email. The
Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Unit
will then send an email message with a
Web link where you may provide your
date of birth and social security number
through their encrypted system. You
may register until close of business
November 6, 2014. You will also be
asked to provide identifying
information, including a valid
government-issued photo ID, before
being admitted to the meeting.
Alternatively, you can contact Kevin
Wilson at 202–452–2362 for other
registration options. The meeting space
is intended to accommodate public
attendees. However, if the space will not
accommodate all requests, the ASC may
refuse attendance on that reasonable
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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE
AGENCY
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64767
Proposed Collection; Comment Request:
‘‘Federal Home Loan Bank Directors
(No. 2014–N–12).’’
We will post all public comments we
receive without change, including any
personal information you provide, such
as your name and address, email
address, and telephone number, on the
FHFA Web site at https://www.fhfa.gov.
In addition, copies of all comments
received will be available for
examination by the public on business
days between the hours of 10 a.m. and
3 p.m., at the Federal Housing Finance
Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh
Street SW., Washington, DC 20024. To
make an appointment to inspect
comments, please call the Office of
General Counsel at (202) 649–3804.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Patricia Sweeney, Management Analyst,
Division of Bank Regulation, by email at
Patricia.Sweeney@fhfa.gov or by
telephone at (202) 649–3311; or Eric
Raudenbush, Assistant General Counsel,
by email at Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov
or by telephone at (202) 649–3084 (not
toll-free numbers); or by regular mail at
Federal Housing Finance Agency,
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20024. The telephone
number for the Telecommunications
Device for the Hearing Impaired is (800)
877–8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Need For and Use of the Information
Collection
Section 7 of the Federal Home Loan
Bank Act (Bank Act) vests the
management of each Federal Home Loan
Bank (Bank) in its board of directors.1
As required by section 7, each Bank’s
board comprises two types of directors:
(1) Member directors, who are drawn
from the officers and directors of
member institutions located in the
Bank’s district and who are elected
every four years to represent members
in a particular state in that district; and
(2) independent directors, who are
unaffiliated with any of the Bank’s
member institutions, but who reside in
the Bank’s district and are elected every
four years on an at-large basis.2 Section
7 and FHFA’s implementing regulation,
codified at 12 CFR part 1261, establish
the eligibility requirements for both
types of Bank directors and the required
professional qualifications for
independent directors, and set forth the
procedures for their election.
Part 1261 of the regulations requires
each Bank, as part of its responsibility
to administer its annual director
election process, to determine the
1 See
2 See
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12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(1).
12 U.S.C. 1427(b) and (d).
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eligibility of candidates to serve as
member and independent directors on
its board. Specifically, each Bank must
require each candidate for either type of
directorship, including any incumbent
that may be a candidate for reelection,
to complete and return to the Bank a
form that solicits information about the
candidate’s statutory eligibility to serve
and, in the case of independent director
candidates, about his or her professional
qualifications for the directorship being
sought.3 Member director candidates are
required to complete the Federal Home
Loan Bank Member Director Eligibility
Certification Form (Member Director
Eligibility Certification Form), while
independent director candidates must
complete the Federal Home Loan Bank
Independent Director Application Form
(Independent Director Application
Form).
Under part 1261, each Bank must also
require each of its incumbent directors
to certify annually that he or she
continues to meet all of the applicable
statutory eligibility requirements.4
Member directors do this by completing
the Member Director Eligibility
Certification Form again every year,
while independent directors complete
the abbreviated Federal Home Loan
Bank Independent Director Annual
Certification Form (Independent
Director Annual Certification Form) to
certify their ongoing eligibility.
The OMB control number for the
information collection is 2590–0006,
which is due to expire on October 31,
2014. The likely respondents are
individuals who are prospective and
incumbent Bank directors. Copies of
each of the forms appear at the end of
this notice.
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B. Burden Estimate
FHFA estimates the total annual hour
burden imposed upon respondents by
this information collection is 145 hours.
This estimate is based on the following
calculations:
1. Member Director Eligibility
Certification Form
FHFA estimates the total annual hour
burden on all member director
candidates and incumbent member
directors associated with review and
completion of the Member Director
Eligibility Certification Form is 37
hours. This includes a total annual
average of 68 member director
candidates, with 1 response per
individual taking an average of 15
minutes (.25 hours) (68 respondents ×
.25 hours = 17 hours). It also includes
3 See
4 See
12 CFR 1261.7(c) and (f); 12 CFR 1261.14(b).
12 CFR 1261.12.
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a total annual average of 80 incumbent
member directors, with 1 response per
individual taking an average of 15
minutes (.25 hours) (80 individuals ×
.25 hours = 20 hours).
2. Independent Director Application
Form
FHFA estimates the total annual hour
burden on all independent director
candidates associated with review and
completion of the Independent Director
Application Form is 75 hours. This
includes a total annual average of 25
independent director candidates, with 1
response per individual taking an
average of 3 hours (25 individuals × 3
hours = 75 hours).
3. Independent Director Annual
Certification Form
FHFA estimates the total annual hour
burden on all incumbent independent
directors associated with review and
completion of the Independent Director
Annual Certification Form is 33 hours.
This includes a total annual average of
66 incumbent independent directors,
with 1 response per individual taking an
average of 30 minutes (.5 hours) (66
individuals × .5 hours = 33 hours).
C. Comment Request
1. Comment Received in Response to the
Initial Notice
In accordance with the requirements
of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA published a
request for public comments regarding
this information collection in the
Federal Register on August 11, 2014.
See 79 FR 46801 (Aug. 11, 2014). The
60-day comment period closed on
October 10, 2014. FHFA received one
comment letter, signed jointly by two
Members of Congress, that suggested
several revisions to the forms and
questioned the accuracy of FHFA’s
burden estimate pertaining to
completion of the Independent Director
Application Form. For the reasons
stated below, the agency has decided
against making any of the suggested
revisions or changing the burden
estimate.
Citing the importance of diversity
among Bank directors, the commenters
suggested that FHFA revise the forms to
include questions regarding the gender,
race, ethnicity, and geographic location
of the respondent. With respect to a
respondent’s geographic location, the
application forms already address that
issue by requiring respondents to
provide their home and business
addresses. With respect to the other
three elements, FHFA anticipates
obtaining that information through a
separate rulemaking. In June 2014 FHFA
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issued a proposed rule to amend its
regulations on Minority and Women
Inclusion (MWI), located at 12 CFR part
1207. That proposal would require each
Bank annually to request that each
member of its board of directors
voluntarily provide the Bank with
information about his or her minority
and gender classification. The Banks
would then provide that information, on
an aggregate basis and without
including personally identifiable
information, to FHFA as part of their
annual MWI reports to the agency.5 The
comment period for that rulemaking
ended on August 25, 2014, and FHFA is
in the process of reviewing the
comments received and developing a
final rule. Because FHFA anticipates
having in place another avenue for
receiving information about the
diversity of Bank boards of directors, it
does not believe that it is necessary to
collect that same information through
the director application forms.
The Bank Act requires that at least
two of each Bank’s independent
directors qualify as ‘‘public interest’’
directors—i.e., that they have more than
four years of experience representing
consumer or community interests on
banking services, credit needs, housing,
or consumer financial protections.6 The
commenters’ second suggested revision
relates to question 3 in the ‘‘Statutory
Eligibility Requirements’’ section of the
Independent Director Application Form,
which asks respondents who are
interested in serving as a ‘‘public
interest’’ director to ‘‘provide
information on how you have
represented such consumer or
community interests for more than four
years.’’ The commenters suggest that
FHFA revise this question to require
that each such respondent also be
required to specify the ‘‘leadership role’’
that the individual has held in a
‘‘mission-driven organization.’’
The agency has declined to make this
revision for several reasons. First, the
principal purpose of the form is to
determine whether the respondent
satisfies the statutory and regulatory
eligibility requirements for being a
public interest director. While it has
been FHFA’s experience that most, if
not all, of the Banks’ ‘‘public interest’’
director candidates have in fact served
in a leadership position with a
‘‘mission-driven’’ organization, the Bank
Act does not require that an individual
fulfill the ‘‘public interest’’ requirement
in this particular manner in order to be
5 See 79 FR 35960 (June 25, 2014). The proposed
rule would also apply to the Bank System’s Office
of Finance.
6 See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3)(B)(ii).
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eligible. If the question were to be
revised as suggested, it would then
imply that serving in such a position is
a necessary means of fulfilling the
eligibility requirements and would
likely cause confusion among potential
applicants about the actual eligibility
requirements. Second, FHFA, which
reviews the completed form for every
individual a Bank proposes to nominate
for an independent directorship, is
unaware of any instance in recent years
in which an applicant responding to
question 3 has failed to specify the
position or positions he or she held with
any organization mentioned therein. In
most cases, respondents have provided
additional detail as to the duties
undertaken while holding those
positions. Both the Banks and FHFA
review the information provided in
order to confirm that the persons
actually satisfy the statutory eligibility
requirements for the public interest
directorships. If an applicant for a
‘‘public interest’’ independent
directorship did not include such
information, it is likely that the Bank, or
FHFA, would require the respondent to
provide such information before he or
she could be considered for the
directorship. Finally, question 1 in the
‘‘Selection Criteria’’ section of the
Independent Director Application Form
already requests that applicants provide
detailed information about their
leadership experience, and their
responses to that question should
provide the Banks and FHFA with
information about the leadership roles
they have had with any consumer- or
community interest-focused
organizations.
The commenters’ third suggested
revision relates to question 2(G) in the
‘‘Selection Criteria’’ section of the
Independent Director Application Form,
which is intended to elicit information
on experience that the respondent may
have that is related to ‘‘the mission of
the Banks.’’ The question characterizes
the Banks’ mission as being ‘‘to support
the housing finance activities of their
members, which includes residential
mortgage finance and community and
economic development lending
activities.’’ Noting that ‘‘Congress has
consistently defined the [Banks’]
mission as serving both housing and
community economic development
needs of people and their
communities,’’ the commenters suggest
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that FHFA revise question 2(G) so that
it instead describes the mission of the
Banks as being to support the ‘‘housing
and community economic development
activities of its members.’’ There is no
specific definition of the Banks’
mission. Nonetheless, since its
inception in 1932, the principal activity
of the Banks has been to support their
members’ residential housing finance
business by providing loans to their
members (known as ‘‘advances’’) that
are secured by the members’ assets,
most typically other residential
mortgage loans. In 1989, Congress
further required the Banks to establish
Affordable Housing Programs, through
which members can support access to
housing for persons with lower or
moderate incomes, and to support their
members’ community and economic
development activities. Thereafter, the
Federal Housing Finance Board, FHFA’s
predecessor agency as regulator of the
Banks, construed the ‘‘housing finance
mission’’ of the Banks broadly, and to
include two elements: Providing
support for their members’ residential
mortgage lending, and providing
support for their members’ community
and economic development activities.
FHFA has embraced the view that
support for the members’ community
and economic development activities is
a core aspect of the Banks’ housing
finance mission and believes that the
existing language of the form, which
explicitly refers to ‘‘community and
economic development activities,’’ is
consistent with that view and need not
be changed.
Finally, the commenters assert that
FHFA’s estimate that it will take a
respondent an average of 3 hours to
complete the Independent Director
Application Form is too high and
suggest that an estimate of one hour
would be more accurate. The
commenters argue that the types of
individuals being considered for a Bank
directorship would be likely to have
already prepared similar information for
other purposes, which could be drawn
upon to reduce the time needed to
complete the form. In deciding upon a
burden estimate of 3 hours per form,
FHFA considered the amount of time it
would take an individual completing
the form for the first time to: (1) Read
through the questions and background
information to understand the statutory
requirements and the reasoning behind
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64769
the questions; (2) gather the information
requested on the form and any
additional materials he or she wishes to
provide; (3) prepare narrative answers of
sufficient detail to demonstrate his or
her eligibility and qualifications to
serve; and (4) sign the form and transmit
it to the Bank. Undoubtedly, many
respondents will have materials at hand
containing relevant information that can
be readily incorporated into the
electronic version of the form, which
may reduce the amount of time it will
take them to complete the form. It may
also be true that an incumbent seeking
reelection may require less time to
update a previously completed version
of the form. Those situations will not
necessarily be the case for all
respondents, however, because FHFA
has observed that a number of
applicants still complete the eligibility
forms by hand, which takes longer to
do. Moreover, in developing its burden
estimates for collections of information,
it has been the agency’s practice to err
on the high side and not to assume that
all respondents will use the most
efficient methods for completing the
forms. Because there is no way of
knowing what time-saving resources a
respondent may be able to draw upon in
completing the form, the agency has
decided to retain the existing estimate of
3 hours.
2. Further Comments Requested in
Response to This Notice
In response to this notice, FHFA
requests written comments on the
following: (1) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of FHFA functions,
including whether the information has
practical utility; (2) the accuracy of
FHFA’s estimates of the burdens of the
collection of information; (3) ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information collected; and (4)
ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on
respondents, including through the use
of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Date: October 27, 2014.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing
Finance Agency.
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BILLING CODE 8070–01–C
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Da~d: ----------------------------
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 211 (Friday, October 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64767-64783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-25923]
=======================================================================
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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
[No. 2014-N-12]
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.
ACTION: 30-day Notice of Submission of Information Collection for
Approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking public comments
concerning the information collection known as ``Federal Home Loan Bank
Directors,'' which has been assigned control number 2590-0006 by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FHFA intends to submit the
information collection to OMB for review and approval of a three-year
extension of the control number, which is due to expire on October 31,
2014.
DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before December 1,
2014.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer
for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 202-
395-6974, Email: OIRA_Submisson@omb.eop.gov. Please also submit
comments to FHFA using any one of the following methods:
Agency Web site: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email
to FHFA at RegComments@fhfa.gov to ensure timely receipt by the agency.
Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20024, Attention: Public
Comments/Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ``Federal Home Loan Bank
Directors (No. 2014-N-12).''
We will post all public comments we receive without change,
including any personal information you provide, such as your name and
address, email address, and telephone number, on the FHFA Web site at
https://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will
be available for examination by the public on business days between the
hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., at the Federal Housing Finance Agency,
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20024. To make an
appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of General
Counsel at (202) 649-3804.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Sweeney, Management Analyst,
Division of Bank Regulation, by email at Patricia.Sweeney@fhfa.gov or
by telephone at (202) 649-3311; or Eric Raudenbush, Assistant General
Counsel, by email at Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov or by telephone at (202)
649-3084 (not toll-free numbers); or by regular mail at Federal Housing
Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC
20024. The telephone number for the Telecommunications Device for the
Hearing Impaired is (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection
Section 7 of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) vests the
management of each Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) in its board of
directors.\1\ As required by section 7, each Bank's board comprises two
types of directors: (1) Member directors, who are drawn from the
officers and directors of member institutions located in the Bank's
district and who are elected every four years to represent members in a
particular state in that district; and (2) independent directors, who
are unaffiliated with any of the Bank's member institutions, but who
reside in the Bank's district and are elected every four years on an
at-large basis.\2\ Section 7 and FHFA's implementing regulation,
codified at 12 CFR part 1261, establish the eligibility requirements
for both types of Bank directors and the required professional
qualifications for independent directors, and set forth the procedures
for their election.
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\1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(1).
\2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(b) and (d).
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Part 1261 of the regulations requires each Bank, as part of its
responsibility to administer its annual director election process, to
determine the
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eligibility of candidates to serve as member and independent directors
on its board. Specifically, each Bank must require each candidate for
either type of directorship, including any incumbent that may be a
candidate for reelection, to complete and return to the Bank a form
that solicits information about the candidate's statutory eligibility
to serve and, in the case of independent director candidates, about his
or her professional qualifications for the directorship being
sought.\3\ Member director candidates are required to complete the
Federal Home Loan Bank Member Director Eligibility Certification Form
(Member Director Eligibility Certification Form), while independent
director candidates must complete the Federal Home Loan Bank
Independent Director Application Form (Independent Director Application
Form).
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\3\ See 12 CFR 1261.7(c) and (f); 12 CFR 1261.14(b).
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Under part 1261, each Bank must also require each of its incumbent
directors to certify annually that he or she continues to meet all of
the applicable statutory eligibility requirements.\4\ Member directors
do this by completing the Member Director Eligibility Certification
Form again every year, while independent directors complete the
abbreviated Federal Home Loan Bank Independent Director Annual
Certification Form (Independent Director Annual Certification Form) to
certify their ongoing eligibility.
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\4\ See 12 CFR 1261.12.
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The OMB control number for the information collection is 2590-0006,
which is due to expire on October 31, 2014. The likely respondents are
individuals who are prospective and incumbent Bank directors. Copies of
each of the forms appear at the end of this notice.
B. Burden Estimate
FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden imposed upon
respondents by this information collection is 145 hours. This estimate
is based on the following calculations:
1. Member Director Eligibility Certification Form
FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden on all member director
candidates and incumbent member directors associated with review and
completion of the Member Director Eligibility Certification Form is 37
hours. This includes a total annual average of 68 member director
candidates, with 1 response per individual taking an average of 15
minutes (.25 hours) (68 respondents x .25 hours = 17 hours). It also
includes a total annual average of 80 incumbent member directors, with
1 response per individual taking an average of 15 minutes (.25 hours)
(80 individuals x .25 hours = 20 hours).
2. Independent Director Application Form
FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden on all independent
director candidates associated with review and completion of the
Independent Director Application Form is 75 hours. This includes a
total annual average of 25 independent director candidates, with 1
response per individual taking an average of 3 hours (25 individuals x
3 hours = 75 hours).
3. Independent Director Annual Certification Form
FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden on all incumbent
independent directors associated with review and completion of the
Independent Director Annual Certification Form is 33 hours. This
includes a total annual average of 66 incumbent independent directors,
with 1 response per individual taking an average of 30 minutes (.5
hours) (66 individuals x .5 hours = 33 hours).
C. Comment Request
1. Comment Received in Response to the Initial Notice
In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA
published a request for public comments regarding this information
collection in the Federal Register on August 11, 2014. See 79 FR 46801
(Aug. 11, 2014). The 60-day comment period closed on October 10, 2014.
FHFA received one comment letter, signed jointly by two Members of
Congress, that suggested several revisions to the forms and questioned
the accuracy of FHFA's burden estimate pertaining to completion of the
Independent Director Application Form. For the reasons stated below,
the agency has decided against making any of the suggested revisions or
changing the burden estimate.
Citing the importance of diversity among Bank directors, the
commenters suggested that FHFA revise the forms to include questions
regarding the gender, race, ethnicity, and geographic location of the
respondent. With respect to a respondent's geographic location, the
application forms already address that issue by requiring respondents
to provide their home and business addresses. With respect to the other
three elements, FHFA anticipates obtaining that information through a
separate rulemaking. In June 2014 FHFA issued a proposed rule to amend
its regulations on Minority and Women Inclusion (MWI), located at 12
CFR part 1207. That proposal would require each Bank annually to
request that each member of its board of directors voluntarily provide
the Bank with information about his or her minority and gender
classification. The Banks would then provide that information, on an
aggregate basis and without including personally identifiable
information, to FHFA as part of their annual MWI reports to the
agency.\5\ The comment period for that rulemaking ended on August 25,
2014, and FHFA is in the process of reviewing the comments received and
developing a final rule. Because FHFA anticipates having in place
another avenue for receiving information about the diversity of Bank
boards of directors, it does not believe that it is necessary to
collect that same information through the director application forms.
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\5\ See 79 FR 35960 (June 25, 2014). The proposed rule would
also apply to the Bank System's Office of Finance.
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The Bank Act requires that at least two of each Bank's independent
directors qualify as ``public interest'' directors--i.e., that they
have more than four years of experience representing consumer or
community interests on banking services, credit needs, housing, or
consumer financial protections.\6\ The commenters' second suggested
revision relates to question 3 in the ``Statutory Eligibility
Requirements'' section of the Independent Director Application Form,
which asks respondents who are interested in serving as a ``public
interest'' director to ``provide information on how you have
represented such consumer or community interests for more than four
years.'' The commenters suggest that FHFA revise this question to
require that each such respondent also be required to specify the
``leadership role'' that the individual has held in a ``mission-driven
organization.''
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\6\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3)(B)(ii).
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The agency has declined to make this revision for several reasons.
First, the principal purpose of the form is to determine whether the
respondent satisfies the statutory and regulatory eligibility
requirements for being a public interest director. While it has been
FHFA's experience that most, if not all, of the Banks' ``public
interest'' director candidates have in fact served in a leadership
position with a ``mission-driven'' organization, the Bank Act does not
require that an individual fulfill the ``public interest'' requirement
in this particular manner in order to be
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eligible. If the question were to be revised as suggested, it would
then imply that serving in such a position is a necessary means of
fulfilling the eligibility requirements and would likely cause
confusion among potential applicants about the actual eligibility
requirements. Second, FHFA, which reviews the completed form for every
individual a Bank proposes to nominate for an independent directorship,
is unaware of any instance in recent years in which an applicant
responding to question 3 has failed to specify the position or
positions he or she held with any organization mentioned therein. In
most cases, respondents have provided additional detail as to the
duties undertaken while holding those positions. Both the Banks and
FHFA review the information provided in order to confirm that the
persons actually satisfy the statutory eligibility requirements for the
public interest directorships. If an applicant for a ``public
interest'' independent directorship did not include such information,
it is likely that the Bank, or FHFA, would require the respondent to
provide such information before he or she could be considered for the
directorship. Finally, question 1 in the ``Selection Criteria'' section
of the Independent Director Application Form already requests that
applicants provide detailed information about their leadership
experience, and their responses to that question should provide the
Banks and FHFA with information about the leadership roles they have
had with any consumer- or community interest-focused organizations.
The commenters' third suggested revision relates to question 2(G)
in the ``Selection Criteria'' section of the Independent Director
Application Form, which is intended to elicit information on experience
that the respondent may have that is related to ``the mission of the
Banks.'' The question characterizes the Banks' mission as being ``to
support the housing finance activities of their members, which includes
residential mortgage finance and community and economic development
lending activities.'' Noting that ``Congress has consistently defined
the [Banks'] mission as serving both housing and community economic
development needs of people and their communities,'' the commenters
suggest that FHFA revise question 2(G) so that it instead describes the
mission of the Banks as being to support the ``housing and community
economic development activities of its members.'' There is no specific
definition of the Banks' mission. Nonetheless, since its inception in
1932, the principal activity of the Banks has been to support their
members' residential housing finance business by providing loans to
their members (known as ``advances'') that are secured by the members'
assets, most typically other residential mortgage loans. In 1989,
Congress further required the Banks to establish Affordable Housing
Programs, through which members can support access to housing for
persons with lower or moderate incomes, and to support their members'
community and economic development activities. Thereafter, the Federal
Housing Finance Board, FHFA's predecessor agency as regulator of the
Banks, construed the ``housing finance mission'' of the Banks broadly,
and to include two elements: Providing support for their members'
residential mortgage lending, and providing support for their members'
community and economic development activities. FHFA has embraced the
view that support for the members' community and economic development
activities is a core aspect of the Banks' housing finance mission and
believes that the existing language of the form, which explicitly
refers to ``community and economic development activities,'' is
consistent with that view and need not be changed.
Finally, the commenters assert that FHFA's estimate that it will
take a respondent an average of 3 hours to complete the Independent
Director Application Form is too high and suggest that an estimate of
one hour would be more accurate. The commenters argue that the types of
individuals being considered for a Bank directorship would be likely to
have already prepared similar information for other purposes, which
could be drawn upon to reduce the time needed to complete the form. In
deciding upon a burden estimate of 3 hours per form, FHFA considered
the amount of time it would take an individual completing the form for
the first time to: (1) Read through the questions and background
information to understand the statutory requirements and the reasoning
behind the questions; (2) gather the information requested on the form
and any additional materials he or she wishes to provide; (3) prepare
narrative answers of sufficient detail to demonstrate his or her
eligibility and qualifications to serve; and (4) sign the form and
transmit it to the Bank. Undoubtedly, many respondents will have
materials at hand containing relevant information that can be readily
incorporated into the electronic version of the form, which may reduce
the amount of time it will take them to complete the form. It may also
be true that an incumbent seeking reelection may require less time to
update a previously completed version of the form. Those situations
will not necessarily be the case for all respondents, however, because
FHFA has observed that a number of applicants still complete the
eligibility forms by hand, which takes longer to do. Moreover, in
developing its burden estimates for collections of information, it has
been the agency's practice to err on the high side and not to assume
that all respondents will use the most efficient methods for completing
the forms. Because there is no way of knowing what time-saving
resources a respondent may be able to draw upon in completing the form,
the agency has decided to retain the existing estimate of 3 hours.
2. Further Comments Requested in Response to This Notice
In response to this notice, FHFA requests written comments on the
following: (1) Whether the collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of FHFA functions, including whether the
information has practical utility; (2) the accuracy of FHFA's estimates
of the burdens of the collection of information; (3) ways to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (4)
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
respondents, including through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Date: October 27, 2014.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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[FR Doc. 2014-25923 Filed 10-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C