81 FR 95593 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 249 (December 28, 2016)

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA or the Agency) is seeking public comments concerning the 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 December 31, 2016.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 95593-95595]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31383]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2016-N-15]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 30-Day notice of submission of information collection for 
approval from Office of Management and Budget.

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[[Page 95594]]

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA or the Agency) is 
seeking public comments concerning the 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 
December 31, 2016.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before January 27, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer 
for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 
(202) 395-3047, Email: [email protected]. Please also submit 
comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed Collection; Comment Request: 
`Members of the Banks, (No. 2016-N-##)' '' by any of the following 
methods:
     Agency Web site: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://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: ``Members of the Banks, (No. 
2016-N-15)''.
     U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or 
Other Mail Service: The mailing address for comments is: Alfred M. 
Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/2016-N-15, Federal 
Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Eighth Floor, 
Washington, DC 20219.
    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 Web site at 
http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will 
be available for examination by the public on business days between the 
hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, 
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. To make an 
appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of General 
Counsel at (202) 649-3804.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan F. Curtis, Financial Analyst, 
Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at (202) 649-3321; or Eric 
Raudenbush, Associate General Counsel, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at (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 
Hearing Impaired is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection

    The Federal Home Loan Bank System consists of eleven regional 
Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) and the Office of Finance (a joint 
office that issues and services the Banks' debt securities). The Banks 
are wholesale financial institutions, organized under the 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 certain eligible nonmembers. Each Bank is 
structured as a regional cooperative that is owned and controlled by 
member institutions located within its district, which are also its 
primary customers. The Banks carry out their public policy functions 
primarily by providing low cost loans, known as advances, to their 
members. With limited exceptions, an institution may obtain advances 
and access other products and services provided by a Bank only if it is 
a member of that Bank.
    The Bank Act limits membership in any Bank to specific types of 
financial institutions located within the Bank's district that meet 
specific eligibility requirements. Section 4 of the Bank Act specifies 
the types of institutions that may be eligible for membership and 
establishes eligibility requirements that each type of applicant must 
meet in order to become a Bank member.\1\ That provision also specifies 
that (with limited exceptions) an eligible institution may become a 
member only of the Bank of the district in which the institution's 
``principal place of business'' is located.\2\ With respect to the 
termination of Bank membership, section 6(d) of the Bank Act sets forth 
requirements pursuant to which an institution may voluntarily withdraw 
from membership or a Bank may terminate an institution's membership for 
cause.\3\
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    \1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1424(a).
    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1424(b).
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1426(d).
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    FHFA's regulation entitled ``Members of the Banks,'' located at 12 
CFR part 1263, implements those statutory provisions and otherwise 
establishes substantive and procedural requirements relating to the 
initiation and termination of Bank membership. Many of the provisions 
in the membership regulation require that an institution submit 
information to a Bank or to FHFA, in most cases to demonstrate 
compliance with statutory or regulatory requirements or to request 
action by the Bank or Agency.
    In total, there are four types of information collections that may 
occur under part 1263. First, the regulation provides that (with 
limited exceptions) no institution may become a member of a Bank unless 
it has submitted to that Bank an application that documents the 
applicant's compliance with the statutory and regulatory membership 
eligibility requirements and that otherwise includes all required 
information and materials.\4\ Second, the regulation provides 
applicants that have been denied membership by a Bank the option of 
appealing the decision to FHFA. To file such an appeal, an applicant 
must submit to FHFA a copy of the Bank's decision resolution denying 
its membership application and a statement of the basis for the appeal 
containing sufficient facts, information, and analysis to support the 
applicant's position.\5\ Third, the regulation provides that, in order 
to initiate a voluntary withdrawal from Bank membership, a member 
submit to its Bank a written notice of intent to withdraw.\6\ Fourth, 
under certain circumstances, the regulation permits a member of one 
Bank to transfer its membership to a second Bank ``automatically'' 
without either initiating a voluntary withdrawal from the first Bank or 
submitting a membership application to the second Bank. Despite the 
regulatory reference to such a transfer as being ``automatic,'' a 
member meeting the criteria for an automatic transfer must initiate the 
transfer process by filing a request with its current Bank, which will 
then arrange the details of the transfer with the second Bank.\7\
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    \4\ See 12 CFR 1263.2(a), 1263.6-1263.9, 1263.11-1263.18.
    \5\ See 12 CFR 1263.5.
    \6\ See 12 CFR 1263.26.
    \7\ See 12 CFR 1263.4(b), 1263.18(d), (e).

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[[Page 95595]]

    The Banks use most of the information collected under part 1263 to 
determine whether an applicant satisfies the statutory and regulatory 
requirements for Bank membership and should be approved as a Bank 
member. The Banks may use some of the information collected under part 
1263 as a means of learning that a member wishes to withdraw or to 
transfer its membership to a different Bank so that the Bank can begin 
to process those requests. In rare cases, FHFA may use the collected 
information to determine whether an institution that has been denied 
membership by a Bank should be permitted to become a member of that 
Bank.
    The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0003, which is due to expire on December 31, 2016. The likely 
respondents are financial institutions that are, or are applying to 
become, Bank members.

B. Burden Estimate

    FHFA has analyzed the time burden imposed on respondents by the 
four collections under this control number and estimates that the 
average annual burden imposed on all respondents by those collections 
over the next three years will be 2,351 hours. This estimate is derived 
from the following calculations:

I. Membership Applications

    FHFA estimates that the average number of applications for Bank 
membership submitted annually will be 151 and that the average time to 
prepare and submit an application and supporting materials will be 15 
hours. Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour burden associated 
with preparation and submission of applications for Bank membership is 
(151 applications x 15 hours per application) = 2,265 hours.

II. Appeals of Membership Denials

    FHFA estimates that the average number of applicants that have been 
denied membership by a Bank that will appeal such a denial to FHFA will 
be 1 and that the average time to prepare and submit an application for 
appeal will be 10 hours. Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour 
burden associated with the preparation and submission of membership 
appeals is (1 appellants x 10 hours per application) = 10 hours.

III. Notices of Intent To Withdraw From Membership

    FHFA estimates that the average number of Bank members submitting a 
notice of intent to withdraw from membership annually will be 4 and 
that the average time to prepare and submit a notice will be 1.5 hours. 
Accordingly, the estimate for the annual hour burden associated with 
preparation and submission of notices of intent to withdraw is (4 
withdrawing members x 1.5 hours per application) = 6 hours.

IV. Requests for Transfer of Membership to Another Bank District

    FHFA estimates that the average number of Bank members submitting a 
request for transfer to another Bank will be 35 and that the average 
time to prepare and submit a request will be 2 hours. Accordingly, the 
estimate for the annual hour burden associated with preparation and 
submission of requests for automatic transfer is (35 transferring 
members x 2 hours per request) = 70 hours.

C. Comment Request

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA 
published an initial notice requesting comments regarding this 
information collection in the Federal Register on October 7, 2016.\8\ 
The 60-day comment period closed on December 6, 2016. No comments were 
received. However, during the pendency of the comment period, FHFA 
consulted with several of the Banks regarding the burden estimates for 
this information collection. As a result of the Banks' input, FHFA has 
made some revisions to the burden estimates, so that those appearing 
above are somewhat different than those that appeared in the 60-day 
notice.
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    \8\ See 81 FR 69820 (Oct. 7, 2016).
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    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.10(a), FHFA is 
publishing this second notice to request comments regarding 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 members 
and project sponsors, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments should be 
submitted in writing to both OMB and FHFA as instructed above in the 
COMMENTS section.

    Dated: December 22, 2016.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2016-31383 Filed 12-27-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-P