Comptroller of the Currency 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) (collectively, the Agencies) are proposing revisions to the existing risk-based capital framework that would enhance its risk sensitivity without unduly increasing regulatory burden. These changes would apply to banks, bank holding companies, and savings associations (banking organizations). A banking organization would be able to elect to adopt these proposed revisions or remain subject to the Agencies' existing risk-based capital rules, unless it uses the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework proposed in the notice of proposed rulemaking published on September 25, 2006 (Basel II NPR). In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR or Basel IA), the Agencies are proposing to expand the number of risk weight categories, allow the use of external credit ratings to risk weight certain exposures, expand the range of recognized collateral and eligible guarantors, use loan-to-value ratios to risk weight most residential mortgages, increase the credit conversion factor for certain commitments with an original maturity of one year or less, assess a charge for early amortizations in securitizations of revolving exposures, and remove the 50 percent limit on the risk weight for certain derivative transactions. A banking organization would have to apply all the proposed changes if it chose to use these revisions. Finally, in Section III of this NPR, the Agencies seek further comment on possible alternatives for implementing the ``International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework'' (Basel II) in the United States as proposed in the Basel II NPR.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (collectively, the agencies) may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, approved the agencies' publication for public comment of proposed new regulatory reporting requirements for banks \1\ that qualify for and adopt the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework to calculate their risk-based capital requirement or banks that are in the parallel run stage of qualifying to adopt this proposed framework. This notice extends the comment period on this document for consistency with the extension of the comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking on the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework, as published elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``Privacy of Consumer Financial Information (12 CFR part 40).'' The OCC is also giving notice that it has sent the information collection to OMB for review.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (the ``agencies'') may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication for public comment a proposal to extend, with revision, the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for banks and the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) for savings associations, which are currently approved collections of information. At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the FFIEC and the agencies should modify the proposed revisions prior to giving final approval. The agencies will then submit the revisions to OMB for review and approval.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``Leasing12 CFR Part 23.'' The OCC also gives notice that this collection of information has been sent to OMB for review.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (collectively, the ``agencies'') may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. On July 14, 2006, the agencies, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), published a notice in the Federal Register (71 FR 40119) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, with revision, of the Foreign Branch Report of Condition (FFIEC 030), which is a currently approved information collection for each agency. The comment period for this notice expired on September 12, 2006. No comments were received. The agencies are now submitting requests to OMB for approval of the extension, with revision, of the FFIEC 030.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, and NCUA (the Agencies), request comment on these Proposed Illustrations of Consumer Information for Nontraditional Mortgage Products. The illustrations are intended to assist institutions in implementing the consumer protection portion of the Interagency Guidance on Nontraditional Mortgage Product Risks (Interagency Guidance), which is being published simultaneously with this notice. The illustrations are not intended as model forms, and institutions will not be required to use them. Rather, they are provided at the request of commenters to the Interagency Guidance to illustrate the type of information that the Interagency Guidance contemplates.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (collectively, the agencies) may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication for public comment of proposed new regulatory reporting requirements for banks \1\ that qualify for and adopt the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework to calculate their risk-based capital requirement or are in the parallel run stage of qualifying to adopt this framework. The proposal describes the scope of reporting and the proposed reporting requirements. At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the FFIEC should modify the proposed reporting requirements prior to giving its final approval. The agencies will then submit the proposed reporting requirements to OMB for review and approval and, upon approval, OMB will assign control numbers.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) (collectively, the agencies) are proposing a new risk-based capital adequacy framework that would require some and permit other qualifying banks \1\ to use an internal ratings-based approach to calculate regulatory credit risk capital requirements and advanced measurement approaches to calculate regulatory operational risk capital requirements. The proposed rule describes the qualifying criteria for banks required or seeking to operate under the proposed framework and the applicable risk-based capital requirements for banks that operate under the framework.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, the OTS, the NCUA, and the FTC (Agencies) may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. Pursuant to section 214(e) of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act or Act), the Agencies are requesting public comment on a proposed information collection concerning the ``Survey of Information Sharing Practices with Affiliates'' (Survey).

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``Bank Activities and Operations12 CFR 7.'' The OCC also gives notice that it has sent the information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, NCUA and FTC (the Agencies) request comment on a proposal that would implement sections 114 and 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). As required by section 114, the Agencies are jointly proposing guidelines for financial institutions and creditors identifying patterns, practices, and specific forms of activity, that indicate the possible existence of identity theft. The Agencies also are proposing joint regulations requiring each financial institution and creditor to establish reasonable policies and procedures for implementing the guidelines, including a provision requiring credit and debit card issuers to assess the validity of a request for a change of address under certain circumstances. In addition, the Agencies are proposing joint regulations under section 315 that provide guidance regarding reasonable policies and procedures that a user of consumer reports must employ when such a user receives a notice of address discrepancy from a consumer reporting agency.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``(MA) Securities Exchange Act Disclosure Rules (12 CFR Part 11).''

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), FinCEN, OCC, OTS, FDIC, and NCUA (collectively, the ``agencies'') hereby give notice that they have submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requests for review of the information collections described below. OCC, OTS, FDIC, NCUA, and FinCEN are submitting the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) information collection to OMB for extension with revision. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) also participated in this review. However, the Board, under its Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) delegated authority, will publish a separate final notice and submit its SAR information collection to OMB. On February 17, 2006, the agencies and the Board, requested public comment on a major revision of the SAR form. OCC also requested comments on all information collections contained in 12 CFR part 21 (``Minimum Security Devices and Procedures, Reports of Suspicious Activities, and Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program''). The agencies have made the proposed changes, as well as additional changes suggested by the commenters.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``International RegulationPart 28.'' The OCC also gives notice that it has sent the information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.

On May 19, 2004, the Agencies issued and requested comment on a proposed Interagency Statement on Sound Practices Concerning Complex Structured Finance Activities (``Initial Statement'') of national banks, state banks, bank holding companies, Federal and state savings associations, savings and loan holding companies, U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, and SEC registered broker-dealers and investment advisers (collectively, ``financial institutions'' or ``institutions''). The Initial Statement described some of the internal controls and risk management procedures that may help financial institutions identify, manage, and address the heightened reputational and legal risks that may arise from certain complex structured finance transactions (``CSFTs''). After reviewing the comments received on the Initial Statement, the Agencies are requesting comment on a revised proposed interagency statement (``Revised Statement''). The Revised Statement has been modified in numerous respects to address issues and concerns raised by commenters, clarify the purpose, scope and effect of the statement, and make the statement more principles-based. These changes include reorganizing and streamlining the document to reduce redundancies and to focus the statement on those CSFTs that may pose heightened levels of legal or reputational risk to the relevant institution (referred to as ``elevated risk CSFTs''). In addition, the Agencies have modified the examples of transactions that may present elevated risk to make these examples more risk-focused, and have recognized more explicitly that an institution's review and approval process for elevated risk CSFTs should be commensurate with, and focus on, the potential risks presented by the transaction to the institution. As discussed below, the Revised Statement will not affect or apply to the vast majority of small financial institutions, nor does it create any private rights of action.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Currently, the OCC is soliciting comment concerning its collection titled ``Securities Offering Disclosure Rules12 CFR Part 16''. The OCC is also giving notice that the information collection has been submitted to OMB for review.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``International RegulationPart 28.''

On January 13, 2006, the OCC, Board, FDIC, and OTS (the Agencies) published for public comment proposed Interagency Guidance on Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate Lending, Sound Risk Management Practices. The Agencies are extending the comment period on the proposed guidance for 30 days.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (the ``agencies'') may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. On December 13, 2005, the agencies, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), published a notice in the Federal Register (70 FR 73745) requesting public comment on the extension, without revision, of the currently approved information collections, the Country Exposure Report (FFIEC 009) and the Country Exposure Information Report (FFIEC 009a). The comment period for this notice expired on February 13, 2006. No comments were received. The agencies are now submitting requests to OMB for approval of the extension, without revision, of the FFIEC 009 and FFIEC 009a reports.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, the Agencies) are issuing a final rule that amends their market risk rules to revise the risk-based capital treatment for cash collateral that is posted in connection with securities borrowing transactions. This final rule will make permanent, and expand the scope of, an interim final rule issued in 2000 (the interim rule) that reduced the capital requirement for certain cash-collateralized securities borrowing transactions of banks and bank holding companies (banking organizations) that have adopted the market risk rule. This action more appropriately aligns the capital requirements for these transactions with the risk involved and provides a capital treatment for U.S. banking organizations that is more in line with the capital treatment to which their domestic and foreign competitors are subject.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Banking Supervisory Agencies \1\, as part of their continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Banking Supervisory Agencies are soliciting comments concerning the Suspicious Activity Report by Depository Institutions, which is being revised and reformatted to standardize this report with suspicious activity reports being filed by other financial institutions. The report also is being revised to support joint filing, providing the necessary data blocks and instructions for completing a jointly filed suspicious activity report. The instructions limit joint filing to those suspicious activities that do not involve insider abuse.

The OCC, Board, FDIC and OTS published in the Federal Register on March 29, 2005 interpretive guidance on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the Interagency Guidelines Establishing Information Security Standards (Security Guidelines). In footnote six of the interpretive guidance, the Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'') citation reads 12 CFR part 314 whereas it should read 16 CFR part 314.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``Community and Economic Development Entities, Community Development Projects12 CFR part 24.'' The OCC also gives notice that it has sent the information collection to OMB for review and approval.