Federal Reserve System – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) has adopted a final rule to require Edge and Agreement corporations and U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks supervised by the Board to establish and maintain procedures reasonably designed to assure and monitor compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the regulations issued thereunder.

The Board is publishing technical amendments to Regulation AA (Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices) to update the addresses of the Federal Reserve Banks where consumer complaints regarding a state member bank may be sent.

Background. Notice is hereby given of the final approval of proposed information collections by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, as per 5 CFR 1320.16 (OMB Regulations on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies of the OMB 83-Is and supporting statements and approved collection of information instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal Reserve 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.

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 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) is amending the asset size threshold and other criteria for determining whether a bank holding company (BHC) qualifies for the Board's Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement (Regulation Y, Appendix C) (Policy Statement) and an exemption from the Board's consolidated risk- based and leverage capital adequacy guidelines for BHCs (Regulation Y, Appendices A and D) (Capital Guidelines). The Board is adopting this final rule to address the effects of inflation, industry consolidation, and normal asset growth of BHCs since the Board introduced the Policy Statement in 1980. The final rule increases the asset size threshold from $150 million to $500 million in consolidated assets for determining whether a BHC may qualify for the Policy Statement and an exemption from the Capital Guidelines; modifies the qualitative criteria used in determining whether a BHC that is under the asset size threshold nevertheless would not qualify for the Policy Statement or the exemption from the Capital Guidelines; and clarifies the treatment under the Policy Statement of subordinated debt associated with trust preferred securities.

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 August 23, 2005, the Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the Agencies are members, requested public comment for 60 days on proposed revisions to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report), which are currently approved collections of information. After considering the comments, the FFIEC has modified some of the proposed changes and will stagger the effective dates of the revisions from March 31, 2006, through March 31, 2008. The burden-reducing revisions included in the proposal will be implemented March 31, 2006, as proposed.