FDIC Federal Register Citations

[Federal Register: August 11, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 154)]

[Proposed Rules]

[Page 46779-46785]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr11au05-26]

=======================================================================

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

12 CFR Chap. I

[Docket No. 05-15]

BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

12 CFR Chap. II

[Docket No. OP-1232]

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION

12 CFR Chap. III

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of Thrift Supervision

12 CFR Chap. V

[No. 2005-26]

Request for Burden Reduction Recommendations; Rules Relating to

Banking Operations; Directors, Officers and Employees; and Rules of

Procedure; Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of

1996 Review

AGENCIES: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury;

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board); Federal

Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); and Office of Thrift Supervision

(OTS), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of regulatory review; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The OCC, Board, FDIC, and OTS (``we'' or ``the Agencies'') are

reviewing our regulations to identify outdated, unnecessary, or unduly

burdensome regulatory requirements pursuant to the Economic Growth and

Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA). Today, we request

your comments and suggestions on ways to reduce burden in rules we have

categorized as Banking Operations; Directors, Officers and Employees;

and Rules of Procedure. All comments are welcome. We specifically

invite comment on the following issues: whether statutory changes are

needed; whether the regulations contain requirements that are not

needed to serve the purposes of the statutes they implement; the extent

to which the regulations may adversely affect competition; whether the

cost of compliance associated with reporting, recordkeeping, and

disclosure requirements, particularly on small institutions, is

justified; whether any regulatory requirements are inconsistent or

redundant; and whether any regulations are unclear.

We will analyze the comments received and propose burden-reducing

changes to our regulations where appropriate. Some of your suggestions

for burden reduction might require legislative changes. Where

legislative changes would be required, we will consider your

suggestions in recommending appropriate changes to Congress.

DATES: Written comments must be received no later than November 9,

2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

EGRPRA Web site: http://www.egrpra.gov/.

Comments submitted at the Agencies' joint Web site will

automatically be distributed to all the Agencies. Comments received at

the EGRPRA Web site and by other means will be posted on the Web site

to the extent possible.

[[Page 46780]]

Individual agency addresses: You are also welcome to submit

comments to the Agencies at the following contact points (due to delays

in paper mail delivery in the Washington area, commenters may prefer to

submit their comments by alternative means):

OCC: You may submit comments, identified by [docket

], by any of the following methods:

E-mail: regs.comments@occ.treas.gov. Include [docket

] in the subject line of the message. Please include

your name and address.

Fax: (202) 874-4448.

Mail: Public Information Room, Office of the Comptroller

of the Currency, 250 E Street, SW., Mailstop 1-5, Washington, DC 20219.

Attention: Docket .

Public Inspection: You may inspect and photocopy comments at the

Public Information Room. You can make an appointment to inspect the

comments by calling (202) 874-5043.

Board: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number

, by any of the following methods:

Agency Web site: http://www.federalreserve.gov/ Follow the instructions for submitting comments at

http://www.federalreserve.gov/.

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/.

Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

E-mail: v. Include docket

number in the subject line of the message.regs.comments@federalreserve.gov

Fax: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.

Mail: Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary, Board of Governors

of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue,

NW., Washington, DC 20551.

All public comments are available from the Board's Web site at

http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ProposedRegs.cfm, as

submitted, except as necessary for technical reasons. Accordingly, your

comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact

information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically or in

paper in Room MP-500 of the Board's Martin Building (20th and C

Streets, NW.) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.

FDIC: You may submit comments, identified as EGRPRA burden

reduction comments, by any of the following methods:

Agency Web site: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/propose.html.

. E-mail: comments@fdic.gov. Include ``EGRPRA burden

reduction comment'' in the subject line of the message.

Mail: Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary, Federal

Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC

20429.

Hand Delivery: Comments may be hand delivered to the guard

station at the rear of the 550 17th Street Building (located on F

Street) on business days between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Public Inspection: You may inspect comments at the FDIC Public

Information Center, Room 100, 801 17th Street, NW., between 9 a.m. and

4:30 p.m. on business days.

OTS: You may submit comments, identified by ``No.

.'' by any of the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/.

Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

E-Mail: regs.comments@ots.treas.gov. Include ``No.

'' in the subject line of the message, and provide

your name and telephone number.

Fax: (202) 906-6518.

Mail: Regulation Comments, Chief Counsel's Office, Office

of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20552.

Hand Delivery: Comments may be hand delivered to the

Guard's Desk, East Lobby Entrance, 1700 G Street, NW., from 9 a.m. to 4

p.m. on business days, Attention: Regulation Comments, Chief Counsel's

Office.

Public Inspection: OTS will post comments and the related index on

the OTS Internet Site at mailto:http://www.ots.treas.gov/pagehtml.cfm?catNumber=67&an=.

In addition, you may inspect comments at the Public Reading Room, 1700 G Street, NW.,

by appointment. To make an appointment for access, call (202) 906-5922, send an e-mail to

public.info@ots.treas.gov, or send a fax to (202) 906-7755. (Please

identify the material you would like to inspect to assist us in serving

you.) OTS schedules appointments on business days between 10 a.m. and 4

p.m. In most cases, appointments will be available the next business

day following the date OTS receives a request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

OCC

Heidi Thomas, Special Counsel, Legislative and Regulatory

Activities Division, (202) 874-5090.

Lee Walzer, Counsel, Legislative and Regulatory Activities

Division, (202) 874-5090.

Board:

Patricia A. Robinson, Assistant General Counsel, Legal

Division, (202) 452-3005.

Michael J. O'Rourke, Counsel, Legal Division, (202) 452-3288.

John C. Wood, Counsel, Division of Consumer and Community

Affairs, (202) 452-2412.

Kevin H. Wilson, Supervisory Financial Analyst, Division

of Banking Supervision and Regulation, (202) 452-2362.

For users of Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD)

only, contact (202) 263-4869.

FDIC

Claude A. Rollin, Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman,

(202) 898-8741.

Steven D. Fritts, Associate Director, Division of

Supervision and Consumer Protection, (202) 898-3723.

Ruth R. Amberg, Senior Counsel, Legal Division, (202) 898-3736.

Susan van den Toorn, Counsel, Legal Division, (202) 898-8707.

OTS

Glenn Gimble, Senior Project Manager, Thrift Policy,

Supervision Policy, (202) 906-7158.

Josephine Battle, Program Analyst, Thrift Policy,

Supervision Policy, (202) 906-6870.

Karen Osterloh, Special Counsel, Regulations and

Legislation Division, Chief Counsel's Office, (202) 906-6639.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Overview of the EGRPRA Review and the Steps Taken So Far

The Agencies \1\ are asking for your comments and suggestions on

ways in which we can reduce regulatory burden consistent with our

statutory obligations. Today, we request your input to help us identify

which regulatory requirements in three categories--Banking Operations;

Directors, Officers and Employees; and Rules of Procedure--are

outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome. We list the rules in these

categories in a chart at the end of this notice. Please send us your

recommendations at our Web site, http://www.EGRPRA.gov, or to one of

the listed addresses.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\1\ The National Credit Union Administration has participated in

planning the EGRPRA review but has issued, and will issue, requests

for comment separately.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today's request for comment is the fifth notice in our multi-year

review of regulations for burden reduction required by section 2222 of

EGRPRA.\2\ We described the EGRPRA review's requirements in our first

EGRPRA notice. In summary, EGRPRA requires us to:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\2\ Public Law 104-208, Sept. 30, 1996, 12 U.S.C. 3311. We

published our first notice in the Federal Register on June 16, 2003,

at 68 FR 35589; our second notice on January 21, 2004, at 69 FR

2852; our third notice on July 20, 2004, at 69 FR 43347; and our

fourth notice on February 3, 2005, at 70 FR 5571. You may view the

notices at our Web site, http://www.egrpra.gov/.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 46781]]

Categorize our regulations by type.

Publish the regulations by category to request comments on

which regulations contain requirements that are: outdated, unnecessary,

or unduly burdensome.

Publish a summary of those comments.

Eliminate unnecessary regulations to the extent

appropriate.

Report to Congress: summarizing the significant issues

raised and their relative merits and analyzing whether legislative

change is required to reduce burden.

The first publication and review cycle must be completed by

September 2006. The regulatory response and report to Congress will

occur after the publication cycle is finished.

We have identified 13 categories of rules to implement our EGRPRA

review. The categories are: Applications and Reporting; Banking

Operations; Capital; Community Reinvestment Act; Consumer Protection:

Lending Related Rules; Consumer Protection: Account/Deposit

Relationships and Miscellaneous Consumer Rules; Directors, Officers and

Employees; International Operations; Money Laundering; Powers and

Activities; Rules of Procedure; Safety and Soundness; and Securities.

You may see the categories and the rules placed within them at our Web

site, http://www.EGRPRA.gov.

We previously requested public comment about possible burden

reduction in eight categories of rules. Our June 16, 2003, notice

requested comment on three categories: Applications and Reporting;

Powers and Activities; and International Operations. Our January 21,

2004, notice requested comment on Consumer Protection: Lending Related

Rules. Our July 20, 2004, notice requested comment on Consumer

Protection: Account/Deposit Relationships and Miscellaneous Consumer

Rules. Our February 3, 2005, notice requested comment about three

categories: Money Laundering, Safety and Soundness, and Securities.

Today, we request comment on rules related to Banking Operations;

Directors, Officers and Employees; and Rules of Procedure.

In addition to soliciting written comments, we held banker outreach

meetings in Orlando, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco, New York City,

Nashville, Seattle, Chicago, Phoenix, and New Orleans to hear directly

from the industry about ways the Agencies could reduce regulatory

burden. More than 450 representatives from the industry have attended

the outreach meetings. The Agencies also have held three outreach

meetings with over 100 participants for representatives of consumer and

community groups to obtain their input on regulatory burden reduction.

The consumer meetings were held in Arlington, Virginia, San Francisco,

and Chicago. Another consumer meeting is scheduled for September, 2005

in Boston. These meetings have helped focus our regulatory burden

reduction efforts. We anticipate holding additional outreach events

this year. You may learn more about the meetings and related

recommendations at our EGRPRA Web site, http://www.EGRPRA.gov.

We received 19 comments in response to the first notice, about 560

to the second notice, over 100 to the third notice, and 123 to the

fourth notice. The Agencies appreciate the response to our notices and

outreach meetings. The written comments and remarks at the meetings

came from individuals, banks, savings associations, holding companies,

industry trade groups, and consumer and community groups. You may view

the comments at our EGRPRA Web site, http://www.EGRPRA.gov. We are

actively reviewing the feedback received about specific ways to reduce

regulatory burden, as well as conducting our own analyses.

In addition, Congress has considered various legislative proposals

to reduce burden on the financial services industry. In 2004 and 2005,

representatives of the Agencies and industry leaders testified before

congressional committees about these legislative reform proposals and

other ideas for reducing burden on the financial services industry. We

will continue to post information about legislative and regulatory

reform efforts on our Web site.

II. Request for Comment on Rules Related to: Banking Operations;

Directors, Officers and Employees; and Rules of Procedure

Today, we are asking the public to identify ways in which the rules

related to Banking Operations; Directors, Officers and Employees; and

Rules of Procedure may be outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome.

As shown on the chart at the end of this notice, there are 28

regulations in these categories.

Specific issues to consider. While all comments are welcome, we

specifically invite comment on the following issues:

A. Need for statutory change. (1) Do any statutory requirements

underlying the rules impose unnecessary, redundant, conflicting or

unduly burdensome requirements? (2) Are there less burdensome

alternatives?

B. Need and purpose of the regulations. (1) Are the regulations

consistent with the purposes of the statutes that they implement? (2)

Have circumstances changed so that a rule is no longer necessary or

needs revision? (3) Do changes in the financial products and services

offered to consumers and businesses suggest a need to revise certain

regulations (or statutes)? (4) Do any of the regulations impose

compliance burdens not required by the statutes they implement?

C. General approach/flexibility. (1) Would a different general

approach to regulating achieve statutory goals with less burden? (2) Do

any of these rules impose unnecessarily inflexible requirements?

D. Effect of the regulations on competition. Do any of the

regulations or statutes create competitive disadvantages for insured

depository institutions compared to the rest of the financial services

industry or competitive disadvantages for one type of insured

depository institution over another?

E. Reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements. (1) Which

reporting, recordkeeping, or disclosure requirements impose the most

compliance burdens? (2) Are any of the reporting or recordkeeping

requirements unnecessary to demonstrate compliance with the law?

F. Consistency and redundancy. (1) Are any of the requirements

under one regulation inconsistent with or duplicative of requirements

under another regulation? (2) If so, are the inconsistencies not

warranted by the purposes of the regulations?

G. Clarity. Are any of the regulations drafted unclearly?

H. Burden on small insured institutions. We have particular

interest in minimizing burden on small insured institutions (those with

assets of $150 million or less). Are there appropriate ways to amend

these rules to minimize adverse economic impact on small insured

institutions?

The Agencies appreciate the efforts of all interested parties to

help us eliminate outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome

regulatory requirements.

BILLING CODE 4810-33; 6210-01; 6714-01; 6720-01-P

________________________________

3 Foreign banking organizations that conduct banking operations in the U.S. either directly through branches and agencies or indirectly

through U.S. bank subsidiaries or commercial lending company subsidiaries, generally are subject to the same regulatory regime as domestic

bank holding companies.