Federal Reserve System December 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (collectively, the ``agencies'') are amending their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations to adjust the asset-size thresholds used to define ``small bank'' or ``small savings association'' and ``intermediate small bank'' or ``intermediate small savings association.'' As required by the CRA regulations, the adjustment to the threshold amount is based on the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 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 June 17, 2011, OMB approved the agencies' emergency clearance requests to implement assessment-related reporting revisions to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for banks, the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) for savings associations, the Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002), and the Report of Assets and Liabilities of a Non-U.S. Branch that is Managed or Controlled by a U.S. Branch or Agency of a Foreign (Non-U.S.) Bank (FFIEC 002S), all of which currently are approved collections of information, effective as of the June 30, 2011, report date. OMB's emergency approval of the assessment- related reporting revisions extends through the December 31, 2011, report date. (As separately approved by OMB, December 31, 2011, is also the final report date as of which the TFR will be collected; savings associations will begin to file the Call Report as of the March 31, 2012, report date (76 FR 39986)). Because of the limited approval period associated with OMB's emergency clearance, the agencies, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), requested public comment for 60 days on July 27, 2011, on the assessment-related reporting revisions to which the emergency approval pertained (76 FR 44987). After considering the comments received on these revisions, the transition guidance for the reporting of subprime and leveraged loans and securities by large and highly complex institutions that was adopted by the agencies in connection with their emergency clearance request to OMB has been extended to April 1, 2012. Furthermore, the FDIC has decided to review the subprime and leveraged loan definitions in its February 2011 final rule on assessments (76 FR 10672) to determine whether changes to these definitions could alleviate concerns expressed by bankers without sacrificing accuracy in risk differentiation for deposit insurance pricing purposes. The instructions for reporting subprime and leveraged loans and securities for assessment purposes in the agencies' regulatory reports will be conformed to any revised definitions of these terms in the FDIC's assessment regulations that may result from the FDIC's review process, including any necessary rulemaking. In addition, the agencies have made certain other modifications to the assessment-related reporting revisions covered by OMB's emergency approval in response to comments received.