Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request, 1732-1734 [2019-00996]

Download as PDF 1732 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2019 / Notices Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for Three Years, Without Revision, of the Following Report Report title: Recordkeeping Requirements of Regulation H and Regulation K Associated with the Procedures for Monitoring Bank Secrecy Act Compliance. Agency form number: FR K. OMB control number: 7100–0310. Frequency: Annually. Respondents: State member banks; Edge and agreement corporations; and certain U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks supervised by the Board. Estimated number of respondents: Establish compliance program—1; maintenance of compliance program— 957. Estimated average hours per response: Establish compliance program—16; maintenance of compliance program—4. Estimated annual burden hours: Establish compliance program—16; maintenance of compliance program— 3,828. General description of report: The Board’s Regulation K and Regulation H require state member banks, Edge and agreement corporations and, except for a federal branch or a federal agency or a state branch that is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks supervised by the Board to establish a written Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance program that includes the following components: (1) A system of internal controls to assure ongoing compliance, (2) independent testing of compliance by the institution’s personnel or by an outside party, (3) the designation of an individual or individuals for coordinating and monitoring day-to-day compliance, and (4) training for appropriate personnel.1 The compliance program must be approved by the board of directors of the state member bank, Edge corporation, or agreement corporation and must be noted in the institution’s minutes. In the case of a branch, agency, or representative office of a foreign bank, the compliance program may be approved by the foreign bank’s board of directors and noted in the minutes or approved by a delegee acting under the express authority of the foreign bank’s board of directors. Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR K is authorized pursuant to the Federal Deposit 1 See 12 CFR 208.63(c); these specific requirements are incorporated by reference in 12 CFR 211.5(m)(1) and 211.24(j)(1). VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:22 Feb 04, 2019 Jkt 247001 Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1818(s)), which requires the federal banking agencies, including the Board, to (1) prescribe regulations requiring the institutions they regulate to establish and maintain procedures reasonably designed to assure and monitor compliance with the BSA and (2) to review such procedures during the course of their examinations.2 The FR K is mandatory. Because the Federal Reserve will not collect this information, confidentiality issues would normally not arise. Because the records will be retained at banking organizations, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will only be implicated if the Board’s examiners retain a copy of the record as part of an examination or supervision of a banking institution. In that case, the records would be exempt from disclosure under exemption 8 to FOIA, which protects examination materials from disclosure (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(8)). Exemption 4 to FOIA, which protects confidential financial information, may also be applicable (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 30, 2019. Michele Taylor Fennell, Assistant Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 2019–01000 Filed 2–4–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–P FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Change in Bank Control Notices; Acquisitions of Shares of a Bank or Bank Holding Company The notificants listed below have applied under the Change in Bank Control Act (‘‘Act’’) (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)) and § 225.41 of the Board’s Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.41) to acquire shares of a bank or bank holding company. The factors that are considered in acting on the notices are set forth in paragraph 7 of the Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(7)). The notices are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The notices also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing to the Reserve Bank indicated for that notice or to the offices of the Board of Governors. Comments must be received not later than February 21, 2019. 2 The Board’s authority in 12 U.S.C. 1818(s) to prescribe regulations includes the entities required to comply with section 208.63 of the Board’s Regulation H (12 CFR 208.63) and sections 211.5(m)(1) and 211.24(j)(1) of the Board’s Regulation K (12 CFR 211.5(m)(1) and 12 CFR 211.24(j)(1)). PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 A. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Dennis Denney, Assistant Vice President) 1 Memorial Drive, Kansas City, Missouri 64198–0001: 1. The RFB–FLB Trust, U/A/D October 25, 2016 and Frances Biolchini, as trustee, both of Kelly, Wyoming; to retain voting shares of Tulsa Valley Bancshares Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and thereby indirectly retain Vast Bank, N.A., Tulsa, Oklahoma Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 31, 2019. Yao-Chin Chao, Assistant Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 2019–01125 Filed 2–4–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE P FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. ACTION: Notice, request for comment. AGENCY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the Suspicious Activity Report (FR 2230; OMB No. 7100–0212). DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 8, 2019. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 2230, 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 OMB 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 sensitive personally identifiable information at the commenter’s request. Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper form in Room 3515, 1801 K Street NW (between 18th and 19th Streets NW), Washington, DC 20006, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. For security reasons, the SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\05FEN1.SGM 05FEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2019 / Notices 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—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. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the PRA OMB submission, including the proposed reporting form and instructions, supporting statement, and other documentation will be placed into OMB’s public docket files, if approved. These documents will also be made available on the Board’s public website at: https:// www.federalreserve.gov/apps/ reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears below. 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. 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 and assign OMB control numbers to collection of information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the Board. In exercising this delegated authority, the Board is directed to take every reasonable step to solicit comment. In determining whether to approve a collection of information, the Board will consider all comments received from the public and other agencies. Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal The Board invites public comment on the following information collection, which is being reviewed under authority delegated by the OMB under the PRA. Comments are invited on the following: a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the Board’s functions; including whether the information has practical utility; VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:22 Feb 04, 2019 Jkt 247001 b. The accuracy of the Board’s estimate of the burden of the proposed 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 information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and e. Estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the Board should modify the proposal. Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for Three Years, With Revision, of the Following Report Report title: Suspicious Activity Report. Agency form number: FR 2230. OMB control number: 7100–0212. Frequency: On occasion. Respondents: State member banks, bank holding companies and their nonbank subsidiaries, Edge and agreement corporations, the nonbank subsidiaries of foreign banks supervised by the Board, and certain U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of such foreign banks. Estimated number of respondents: 6,698. Estimated average hours per response: 1.5. Estimated annual burden hours: 439,520. General description of report: Since 1996, the federal banking agencies 1 and the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have required certain types of financial institutions to report known or suspected violations of law and suspicious transactions. To fulfill these requirements, supervised banking organizations file Bank Secrecy Act— Suspicious Activity Reports (BSA– SARs).2 Law enforcement agencies use the information submitted in the reports to initiate investigations and the Board 1 These agencies include the Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration. 2 In 1996, the Board together with the other federal banking agencies issued nearly identical regulations to implement the SAR process for banking organizations. PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 1733 uses the information in the examination and oversight of supervised institutions. The Board’s suspicious activity reporting rules apply to state member banks, bank holding companies and their nonbank subsidiaries, Edge and agreement corporations, the nonbank subsidiaries of foreign banks supervised by the Board, and certain U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of such foreign banks.3 The Board is only responsible for the paperwork burden imposed on these institutions. Other federal banking agencies account for the paperwork burden for the institutions they supervise. Proposed revisions: On July 27, 2018, FinCEN implemented the new version 1.2 of the SAR, which added, removed, or revised several data fields.4 The FinCEN revisions added or modified types and subtypes of suspicious activities, added new fields related to IP address information, and added new cyber event indicators. These revisions were made to ensure the collection of appropriate and current information in order to aid law enforcement in combating cyber-events and cyberenabled crime. The Board is proposing to adopt the revisions made by FinCEN. With respect to the file format changes for electronic submission, the BSA E-Filing System would continue to accept ASCII based batch files until January 1, 2019. Batch filers would have six months from the expected go-live date in June to adhere to the new XML specification.5 Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2230 is authorized pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1), 602, 625), the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1818(s)), the Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)), and 3 See 12 CFR 208.62 (state member banks); 12 CFR 211.5(k) (Edge and agreement corporations); 12 CFR 211.24(f) (a branch, agency, or representative office of a foreign bank operating in the United States, except for a federal branch or a federal agency or a state branch that is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)); 12 CFR 225.4(f) (bank holding companies, nonbank subsidiaries of a bank holding company, foreign banks subject to the Bank Holding Company Act, and nonbank subsidiaries of such a foreign bank). The Board’s suspicious activity reporting rules do not apply to a branch or agency of a foreign bank operating in the United States if it is a federal branch or a federal agency or a state branch that is insured by the FDIC. 4 The notice announcing the final submission to OMB was published in the Federal Register November 28, 2017 (82 FR 56325). 5 See Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (2018), ‘‘FinCEN Announces Update to the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) & Technical Webinar for Batch Filers,’’ press release, January 26, 2018 https:// bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/docs/ SARXMLAnnouncement_Jan2018.pdf. E:\FR\FM\05FEN1.SGM 05FEN1 1734 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2019 / Notices the International Banking Act (12 U.S.C. 3105(c)(2) and 3106(a)). The FR 2230 is mandatory. SARs are confidential and exempt from Freedom of Information Act (‘‘FOIA’’) disclosure by 31 U.S.C. 5319, which specifically provides that SARs ‘‘are exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5,’’ and FOIA exemption 3, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3) (matters ‘‘specifically exempted from disclosure by statute’’). Consultation outside the agency: The current revisions to the BSA–SAR data elements were discussed in the interagency Data Management Council led by FinCEN and of which the Board is a member. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 30, 2019. Michele Taylor Fennell, Assistant Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 2019–00996 Filed 2–4–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–P A. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Colette A. Fried, Assistant Vice President) 230 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60690–1414: 1. MiCommunity Bancorp, Inc.; to become a bank holding company by acquiring voting shares of Mi Bank, a de novo bank, both of Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 31, 2019. Yao-Chin Chao, Assistant Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 2019–01126 Filed 2–4–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–P FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB 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 Disclosure Requirements of Subpart H of Regulation H (Consumer Protections in Sales of Insurance) (Reg H–7; OMB No. 7100–0298). 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 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) AGENCY: FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) (BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 225), and all other applicable statutes and regulations to become a bank holding company and/or to acquire the assets or the ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks and nonbanking companies owned by the bank holding company, including the companies listed below. The applications listed below, as well as other related filings required by the Board, are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The applications will also be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing on the standards enumerated in the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the proposal also involves the acquisition of a nonbanking company, the review also includes whether the acquisition of the nonbanking company complies with the standards in section 4 of the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise noted, nonbanking activities will be conducted throughout the United States. Unless otherwise noted, comments regarding each of these applications must be received at the Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of the Board of Governors not later than March 6, 2019. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:22 Feb 04, 2019 Jkt 247001 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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 Information Collection Report title: Disclosure Requirements of Subpart H of Regulation H (Consumer Protections in Sales of Insurance). Agency form number: Reg H–7. OMB control number: 7100–0298. Frequency: On occasion. Respondents: State member banks and other persons. Estimated number of respondents: 822. Estimated time per response: 1.5 minutes. Estimated annual burden hours: 12,947. General description of report: Subpart H of Regulation H was adopted by the Board in 2003 pursuant to section 305 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA), which required the federal banking agencies to issue joint regulations governing retail sales practices, solicitations, advertising, and offers of insurance by, on behalf of, or at the offices of insured depository institutions. The insurance consumer protection rules in Regulation H, which apply to the sale of insurance by a state member bank or by any other person at an office of the bank or on behalf of the bank (collectively, ‘‘Covered Persons’’), require Covered Persons to prepare and provide certain disclosures to consumers. Covered persons are required to make certain written and oral disclosures before the completion of the initial sale of an insurance product or annuity to a consumer and at the time a consumer applies for an extension of credit in connection with which an insurance product or annuity is solicited, offered, or sold (see 12 CFR 208.84(a)–(d)). Legal authorization and confidentiality: Section 305 of the GLBA requires that the Board issue regulations, including disclosure requirements, applicable to retail sales practices, solicitations, advertising, or offers of insurance by depository institutions (12 U.S.C. 1831x). The disclosure requirements described above are contained in Subpart H of the Board’s Regulation H. 12 CFR part 208, subpart H. The disclosures required under Subpart H are mandatory. Because Regulation H–7 disclosures are E:\FR\FM\05FEN1.SGM 05FEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1732-1734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00996]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Notice, request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, 
the Suspicious Activity Report (FR 2230; OMB No. 7100-0212).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 2230, 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 OMB 
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 sensitive 
personally identifiable information at the commenter's request. Public 
comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper form in Room 
3515, 1801 K Street NW (between 18th and 19th Streets NW), Washington, 
DC 20006, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. For security 
reasons, the

[[Page 1733]]

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--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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the PRA OMB submission, 
including the proposed reporting form and instructions, supporting 
statement, and other documentation will be placed into OMB's public 
docket files, if approved. These documents will also be made available 
on the Board's public website at: https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested from the agency clearance 
officer, whose name appears below.
    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.

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 and assign OMB control numbers to 
collection of information requests and requirements conducted or 
sponsored by the Board. In exercising this delegated authority, the 
Board is directed to take every reasonable step to solicit comment. In 
determining whether to approve a collection of information, the Board 
will consider all comments received from the public and other agencies.

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    The Board invites public comment on the following information 
collection, which is being reviewed under authority delegated by the 
OMB under the PRA. Comments are invited on the following:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Board's functions; including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Board's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed 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 information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    e. Estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations 
received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the Board 
should modify the proposal.

Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for 
Three Years, With Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: Suspicious Activity Report.
    Agency form number: FR 2230.
    OMB control number: 7100-0212.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondents: State member banks, bank holding companies and their 
nonbank subsidiaries, Edge and agreement corporations, the nonbank 
subsidiaries of foreign banks supervised by the Board, and certain U.S. 
branches, agencies, and representative offices of such foreign banks.
    Estimated number of respondents: 6,698.
    Estimated average hours per response: 1.5.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 439,520.
    General description of report: Since 1996, the federal banking 
agencies \1\ and the Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes 
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have required certain types of financial 
institutions to report known or suspected violations of law and 
suspicious transactions. To fulfill these requirements, supervised 
banking organizations file Bank Secrecy Act--Suspicious Activity 
Reports (BSA-SARs).\2\ Law enforcement agencies use the information 
submitted in the reports to initiate investigations and the Board uses 
the information in the examination and oversight of supervised 
institutions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ These agencies include the Board, the Office of the 
Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration.
    \2\ In 1996, the Board together with the other federal banking 
agencies issued nearly identical regulations to implement the SAR 
process for banking organizations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Board's suspicious activity reporting rules apply to state 
member banks, bank holding companies and their nonbank subsidiaries, 
Edge and agreement corporations, the nonbank subsidiaries of foreign 
banks supervised by the Board, and certain U.S. branches, agencies, and 
representative offices of such foreign banks.\3\ The Board is only 
responsible for the paperwork burden imposed on these institutions. 
Other federal banking agencies account for the paperwork burden for the 
institutions they supervise.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ See 12 CFR 208.62 (state member banks); 12 CFR 211.5(k) 
(Edge and agreement corporations); 12 CFR 211.24(f) (a branch, 
agency, or representative office of a foreign bank operating in the 
United States, except for a federal branch or a federal agency or a 
state branch that is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation (FDIC)); 12 CFR 225.4(f) (bank holding companies, 
nonbank subsidiaries of a bank holding company, foreign banks 
subject to the Bank Holding Company Act, and nonbank subsidiaries of 
such a foreign bank). The Board's suspicious activity reporting 
rules do not apply to a branch or agency of a foreign bank operating 
in the United States if it is a federal branch or a federal agency 
or a state branch that is insured by the FDIC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Proposed revisions: On July 27, 2018, FinCEN implemented the new 
version 1.2 of the SAR, which added, removed, or revised several data 
fields.\4\ The FinCEN revisions added or modified types and subtypes of 
suspicious activities, added new fields related to IP address 
information, and added new cyber event indicators. These revisions were 
made to ensure the collection of appropriate and current information in 
order to aid law enforcement in combating cyber-events and cyber-
enabled crime.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ The notice announcing the final submission to OMB was 
published in the Federal Register November 28, 2017 (82 FR 56325).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Board is proposing to adopt the revisions made by FinCEN.
    With respect to the file format changes for electronic submission, 
the BSA E-Filing System would continue to accept ASCII based batch 
files until January 1, 2019. Batch filers would have six months from 
the expected go-live date in June to adhere to the new XML 
specification.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ See Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement 
Network (2018), ``FinCEN Announces Update to the Suspicious Activity 
Report (SAR) & Technical Webinar for Batch Filers,'' press release, 
January 26, 2018 https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/docs/SARXMLAnnouncement_Jan2018.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2230 is authorized 
pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1), 602, 625), 
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1818(s)), the Bank Holding 
Company Act (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)), and

[[Page 1734]]

the International Banking Act (12 U.S.C. 3105(c)(2) and 3106(a)). The 
FR 2230 is mandatory. SARs are confidential and exempt from Freedom of 
Information Act (``FOIA'') disclosure by 31 U.S.C. 5319, which 
specifically provides that SARs ``are exempt from disclosure under 
section 552 of title 5,'' and FOIA exemption 3, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3) 
(matters ``specifically exempted from disclosure by statute'').
    Consultation outside the agency: The current revisions to the BSA-
SAR data elements were discussed in the interagency Data Management 
Council led by FinCEN and of which the Board is a member.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 30, 
2019.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Assistant Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2019-00996 Filed 2-4-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P
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