Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 3680-3683 [2020-00933]
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3680
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 14 / Wednesday, January 22, 2020 / Notices
FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE
AGENCY
over 2018, based upon the increase in
the CPI–U between 2018 and 2019.4
[No. 2020–N–4]
II. The CFI Asset Cap for 2020
Notice of Annual Adjustment of the
Cap on Average Total Assets That
Defines Community Financial
Institutions
As of January 1, 2020, FHFA has
increased the CFI asset cap to
$1,224,000,000, which reflects a 2.1
percent increase in the unadjusted CPI–
U from November 2018 to November
2019. Consistent with the practice of
other Federal agencies, FHFA bases the
annual adjustment to the CFI asset cap
on the percentage increase in the CPI–
U from November of the year prior to
the preceding calendar year to
November of the preceding calendar
year, because the November figures
represent the most recent available data
as of January 1st of the current calendar
year. The new CFI asset cap was
obtained by applying the percentage
increase in the CPI–U to the unrounded
amount for the preceding year and
rounding to the nearest million, as has
been FHFA’s practice for all previous
adjustments.
In calculating the CFI asset cap, FHFA
uses CPI–U data that have not been
seasonally adjusted (i.e., the data have
not been adjusted to remove the
estimated effect of price changes that
normally occur at the same time and in
about the same magnitude every year).
The DOL encourages use of unadjusted
CPI–U data in applying ‘‘escalation’’
provisions such as that governing the
CFI asset cap, because the factors that
are used to seasonally adjust the data
are amended annually, and seasonally
adjusted data that are published earlier
are subject to revision for up to five
years following their original release.
Unadjusted data are not routinely
subject to revision, and previously
published unadjusted data are only
corrected when significant calculation
errors are discovered.
Federal Housing Finance
Agency.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Federal Housing Finance
Agency (FHFA) has adjusted the cap on
average total assets that is used in
determining whether a Federal Home
Loan Bank (Bank) member qualifies as
a ‘‘community financial institution’’
(CFI) to $1,224,000,000, based on the
annual percentage increase in the
Consumer Price Index for all urban
consumers (CPI–U), as published by the
Department of Labor (DOL). These
changes took effect on January 1, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James Hedrick, Division of Federal
Home Loan Bank Regulation, (202) 649–
3319, James.Hedrick@fhfa.gov; or Eric
M. Raudenbush, Associate General
Counsel, (202) 649–3084,
Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov, (not toll-free
numbers), Federal Housing Finance
Agency, Constitution Center, 400
Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC
20219. The Telecommunications Device
for the Deaf is (800) 877–8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
I. Statutory and Regulatory Background
The Federal Home Loan Bank Act
(Bank Act) confers upon insured
depository institutions that meet the
statutory definition of a CFI certain
advantages over non-CFI insured
depository institutions in qualifying for
Bank membership, and in the purposes
for which they may receive long-term
advances and the collateral they may
pledge to secure advances.1 Section
2(10)(A) of the Bank Act and § 1263.1 of
FHFA’s regulations define a CFI as any
Bank member the deposits of which are
insured by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation and that has
average total assets below the statutory
cap.2 The Bank Act was amended in
2008 to set the statutory cap at $1
billion and to require FHFA to adjust
the cap annually to reflect the
percentage increase in the CPI–U, as
published by the DOL.3 For 2019, FHFA
set the CFI asset cap at $1,199,000,000,
which reflected a 2.2 percent increase
1 See
12 U.S.C. 1424(a), 1430(a).
2 See 12 U.S.C. 1422(10)(A); 12 CFR 1263.1.
3 See 12 U.S.C. 1422(10)(B); 12 CFR 1263.1
(defining the term CFI asset cap).
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Jkt 250001
Dated: January 14, 2020.
Andre D. Galeano,
Deputy Director, Division of Federal Home
Loan Bank Regulation, Federal Housing
Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2020–00929 Filed 1–21–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070–01–P
FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE
AGENCY
[No. 2020–N–3]
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
AGENCY:
Federal Housing Finance
Agency.
4 See
PO 00000
84 FR 2225 (Feb. 6, 2019).
Frm 00077
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
60-Day notice of submission of
information collection for approval from
Office of Management and Budget.
ACTION:
In accordance with the
requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the
Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) is seeking public comments
concerning an information collection
known as ‘‘Community Support
Requirements,’’ which has been
assigned control number 2590–0005 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 March 31, 2020.
DATES: Interested persons may submit
comments on or before March 23, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA,
identified by ‘‘Proposed Collection;
Comment Request: ‘Community Support
Requirements, (No. 2020–N–3)’ ’’ by any
of the following methods:
• Agency website: 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
20219, ATTENTION: Proposed
Collection; Comment Request:
‘‘Community Support Requirements,
(No. 2020–N–3).’’
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 website at https://www.fhfa.gov. In
addition, copies of all comments
received will be available for
examination by the public through the
electronic comment docket for this PRA
Notice also located on the FHFA
website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Deattra D. Perkins, Senior Policy
Analyst, Division of Housing Mission &
Goals, Deattra.Perkins@fhfa.gov, (202)
649–3133; or Eric Raudenbush,
Associate General Counsel,
Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov, (202) 649–
3084, (these are not toll-free numbers),
Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400
Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC
20219. The Telecommunications Device
for the Deaf is (800) 877–8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 14 / Wednesday, January 22, 2020 / Notices
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A. Background
The Federal Home Loan Bank System
(System) consists of eleven regional
Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) and
the Office of Finance (a joint office of
the Banks that issues and services their
debt securities). The Banks are
wholesale financial institutions,
organized under authority of the Federal
Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to
serve the public interest by enhancing
the availability of residential housing
finance and community lending credit
through their member institutions and,
to a limited extent, through eligible nonmember ‘‘housing associates.’’ Each
Bank is structured as a regional
cooperative that is owned and
controlled by member financial
institutions located within its district,
which are also its primary customers.
Section 10(g)(1) of the Bank Act
requires the Director of FHFA to
promulgate regulations establishing
standards of community investment or
service that Bank member institutions
must meet in order to maintain access
to long-term advances (i.e., loans with a
maturity of five years or greater made by
a Bank to a member).1 Section 10(g)(2)
of the Bank Act requires that, in
establishing these community support
requirements for Bank members, FHFA
take into account factors such as the
member’s performance under the
Community Reinvestment Act of 1977
(CRA) 2 and record of lending to firsttime homebuyers.3 FHFA’s community
support regulation, which establishes
standards and review criteria for
determining compliance with section
10(g) of the Bank Act, is set forth at 12
CFR part 1290.
Part 1290 requires that each Bank
member subject to community support
review submit to FHFA biennially a
completed Community Support
Statement (Form 060), which contains
several short questions the answers to
which are used by FHFA to assess the
responding member’s compliance with
the community support standards.4
Members are strongly encouraged to
complete and submit Form 060 online,
but may submit a version via email or
fax if they cannot complete the
submission online. In part I of the Form,
a member that is subject to the CRA
must record its most recent CRA rating
and the year of that rating. Part II of the
1 See
12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1).
U.S.C. 2901 et seq.
3 See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(2).
4 See 12 CFR 1290.2. Non-depository community
development financial institutions and institutions
that have been Bank members for less than one year
as of March 31 of the year the forms are due are
not required to submit Form 060.
2 12
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16:42 Jan 21, 2020
Jkt 250001
Form addresses a member’s efforts to
assist first-time homebuyers. A member
may either record the number and dollar
amount of mortgage loans made to firsttime homebuyers in the previous or
current calendar year (part II.A), or
indicate the types of programs or
activities it has undertaken to assist
first-time homebuyers by checking
selections from a list (part II.B), or do
both. If a member has received a CRA
rating of ‘‘Outstanding,’’ it need not
complete part II of the Form. A copy of
the current Form and related
instructions appear at the end of this
Notice.
Part 1290 also establishes the
circumstances under which FHFA will
restrict a member’s access to long-term
Bank advances and to Affordable
Housing Program (AHP), Community
Investment Program (CIP) and
Community Investment Cash Advance
(CICA) programs for failure to meet the
community support requirements.5 It
permits Bank members whose access to
long-term advances has been restricted
to apply directly to FHFA to remove the
restriction if certain criteria are met.6
B. Need for and Use of the Information
Collection
FHFA uses the information collection
contained in FHFA Form 060 and part
1290 to determine whether Bank
members satisfy the statutory and
regulatory community support
requirements and to ensure that, as
required by statute and regulation, only
Bank members that meet those
requirements maintain continued access
to long-term Bank advances and to AHP,
CIP, and CICA programs.
The OMB control number for this
information collection is 2590–0005,
which is due to expire on March 31,
2020. The respondents are Bank
member institutions.
C. Burden Estimate
FHFA has analyzed the two facets of
this information collection in order to
estimate the hour burdens that the
collection will impose upon Bank
members annually over the next three
years. Based on that analysis, FHFA
estimates that the total annual hour
burden will be 2,154 hours. The method
FHFA used to determine the annual
hour burden for each facet of the
information collection is explained in
detail below.
1. Community Support Statements
There are currently about 6,800 Bank
members. Most of these are required to
5 See
6 See
PO 00000
12 CFR 1290.5(b), (e).
12 CFR 1290.5(d).
Frm 00078
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
3681
submit a completed Community
Support Statement biennially, with
members that are non-depository
community development financial
institutions (CDFIs) or that have been
members for less than one year as of
March 31st of the year submission is
required exempted from the submission
requirement. Based on the facts that
there were 60 non-depository CDFI
Bank members as of September 30,
2019, and that the average annual
number of new Bank members systemwide was about 140 over the last three
years, FHFA estimates that about 6,600
members will be required to submit the
biennial statement over each of the next
several cycles, which corresponds to an
annual average of 3,300 respondents.
FHFA estimates that the average
preparation time for each Community
Support Statement will be 0.65 hours.
The estimate for the total annual hour
burden on Bank members in connection
with the preparation and submission of
Community Support Statements is 2,145
hours (3,300 Statements × 0.65 hours).
2. Requests To Remove a Restriction on
Access to Long-Term Advances
FHFA estimates that an annual
average of 12 Bank members whose
access to long-term advances and to
AHP, CIP, and CICA programs has been
restricted will submit requests to FHFA
to remove those restrictions, and that
the average preparation time for each
request will be 0.75 hours. The estimate
for the total annual hour burden on
members in connection with the
preparation and submission of requests
to remove a restriction on access to
long-term advances is 9 hours (12
requests × 0.75 hours).
D. Comment Request
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.
Dated: January 15, 2020.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing
Finance Agency.
BILLING CODE 8070–01–P
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3682
[FR Doc. 2020–00933 Filed 1–21–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070–01–C
FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE
AGENCY
[No. 2020–N–2]
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Federal Housing Finance
Agency.
ACTION: 60-Day notice of submission of
information collection for approval from
Office of Management and Budget.
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the
Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) is seeking public comments
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:42 Jan 21, 2020
Jkt 250001
concerning an information collection
known as ‘‘Members of the Banks,’’
which has been assigned control
number 2590–0003 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 March 31, 2020.
DATES: Interested persons may submit
comments on or before March 23, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA,
identified by ‘‘Proposed Collection;
Comment Request: ‘Members of the
Banks, (No. 2020–N–02)’’’ by any of the
following methods:
• Agency Website: www.fhfa.gov/
open-for-comment-or-input.
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
PO 00000
Frm 00080
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
3683
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
20219, ATTENTION: Proposed
Collection; Comment Request:
‘‘Members of the Banks, (No. 2020–
N–2).’’
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 website at https://www.fhfa.gov. In
addition, copies of all comments
received will be available for
examination by the public through the
E:\FR\FM\22JAN1.SGM
22JAN1
EN22JA20.002
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 14 / Wednesday, January 22, 2020 / Notices
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3680-3683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00933]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
[No. 2020-N-3]
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.
ACTION: 60-Day notice of submission of information collection for
approval from Office of Management and Budget.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking
public comments concerning an information collection known as
``Community Support Requirements,'' which has been assigned control
number 2590-0005 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 March 31, 2020.
DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before March 23,
2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed
Collection; Comment Request: `Community Support Requirements, (No.
2020-N-3)' '' by any of the following methods:
Agency website: 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 [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by the agency.
Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219, ATTENTION: Proposed
Collection; Comment Request: ``Community Support Requirements, (No.
2020-N-3).''
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 website at
https://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will
be available for examination by the public through the electronic
comment docket for this PRA Notice also located on the FHFA website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deattra D. Perkins, Senior Policy
Analyst, Division of Housing Mission & Goals, [email protected],
(202) 649-3133; or Eric Raudenbush, Associate General Counsel,
[email protected], (202) 649-3084, (these are not toll-free
numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW,
Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the Deaf is
(800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 3681]]
A. Background
The Federal Home Loan Bank System (System) consists of eleven
regional Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) and the Office of Finance (a
joint office of the Banks that issues and services their debt
securities). The Banks are wholesale financial institutions, organized
under authority of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to serve
the public interest by enhancing the availability of residential
housing finance and community lending credit through their member
institutions and, to a limited extent, through eligible non-member
``housing associates.'' Each Bank is structured as a regional
cooperative that is owned and controlled by member financial
institutions located within its district, which are also its primary
customers.
Section 10(g)(1) of the Bank Act requires the Director of FHFA to
promulgate regulations establishing standards of community investment
or service that Bank member institutions must meet in order to maintain
access to long-term advances (i.e., loans with a maturity of five years
or greater made by a Bank to a member).\1\ Section 10(g)(2) of the Bank
Act requires that, in establishing these community support requirements
for Bank members, FHFA take into account factors such as the member's
performance under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) \2\ and
record of lending to first-time homebuyers.\3\ FHFA's community support
regulation, which establishes standards and review criteria for
determining compliance with section 10(g) of the Bank Act, is set forth
at 12 CFR part 1290.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1).
\2\ 12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.
\3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1290 requires that each Bank member subject to community
support review submit to FHFA biennially a completed Community Support
Statement (Form 060), which contains several short questions the
answers to which are used by FHFA to assess the responding member's
compliance with the community support standards.\4\ Members are
strongly encouraged to complete and submit Form 060 online, but may
submit a version via email or fax if they cannot complete the
submission online. In part I of the Form, a member that is subject to
the CRA must record its most recent CRA rating and the year of that
rating. Part II of the Form addresses a member's efforts to assist
first-time homebuyers. A member may either record the number and dollar
amount of mortgage loans made to first-time homebuyers in the previous
or current calendar year (part II.A), or indicate the types of programs
or activities it has undertaken to assist first-time homebuyers by
checking selections from a list (part II.B), or do both. If a member
has received a CRA rating of ``Outstanding,'' it need not complete part
II of the Form. A copy of the current Form and related instructions
appear at the end of this Notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ See 12 CFR 1290.2. Non-depository community development
financial institutions and institutions that have been Bank members
for less than one year as of March 31 of the year the forms are due
are not required to submit Form 060.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1290 also establishes the circumstances under which FHFA will
restrict a member's access to long-term Bank advances and to Affordable
Housing Program (AHP), Community Investment Program (CIP) and Community
Investment Cash Advance (CICA) programs for failure to meet the
community support requirements.\5\ It permits Bank members whose access
to long-term advances has been restricted to apply directly to FHFA to
remove the restriction if certain criteria are met.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See 12 CFR 1290.5(b), (e).
\6\ See 12 CFR 1290.5(d).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Need for and Use of the Information Collection
FHFA uses the information collection contained in FHFA Form 060 and
part 1290 to determine whether Bank members satisfy the statutory and
regulatory community support requirements and to ensure that, as
required by statute and regulation, only Bank members that meet those
requirements maintain continued access to long-term Bank advances and
to AHP, CIP, and CICA programs.
The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0005, which is due to expire on March 31, 2020. The respondents are
Bank member institutions.
C. Burden Estimate
FHFA has analyzed the two facets of this information collection in
order to estimate the hour burdens that the collection will impose upon
Bank members annually over the next three years. Based on that
analysis, FHFA estimates that the total annual hour burden will be
2,154 hours. The method FHFA used to determine the annual hour burden
for each facet of the information collection is explained in detail
below.
1. Community Support Statements
There are currently about 6,800 Bank members. Most of these are
required to submit a completed Community Support Statement biennially,
with members that are non-depository community development financial
institutions (CDFIs) or that have been members for less than one year
as of March 31st of the year submission is required exempted from the
submission requirement. Based on the facts that there were 60 non-
depository CDFI Bank members as of September 30, 2019, and that the
average annual number of new Bank members system-wide was about 140
over the last three years, FHFA estimates that about 6,600 members will
be required to submit the biennial statement over each of the next
several cycles, which corresponds to an annual average of 3,300
respondents. FHFA estimates that the average preparation time for each
Community Support Statement will be 0.65 hours. The estimate for the
total annual hour burden on Bank members in connection with the
preparation and submission of Community Support Statements is 2,145
hours (3,300 Statements x 0.65 hours).
2. Requests To Remove a Restriction on Access to Long-Term Advances
FHFA estimates that an annual average of 12 Bank members whose
access to long-term advances and to AHP, CIP, and CICA programs has
been restricted will submit requests to FHFA to remove those
restrictions, and that the average preparation time for each request
will be 0.75 hours. The estimate for the total annual hour burden on
members in connection with the preparation and submission of requests
to remove a restriction on access to long-term advances is 9 hours (12
requests x 0.75 hours).
D. Comment Request
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.
Dated: January 15, 2020.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P
[[Page 3682]]
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[[Page 3683]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN22JA20.002
[FR Doc. 2020-00933 Filed 1-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C