Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

AGENCY:

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

SUMMARY:

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) is adopting a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, the Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities (FR 2248; OMB No. 7100-0005).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer—Nuha Elmaghrabi—Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551, (202) 452-3829.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Desk Officer for the Federal Reserve Board, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On June 15, 1984, OMB delegated to the Board authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to approve and assign OMB control numbers to collections of information conducted or sponsored by the Board. Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. The OMB inventory, as well as copies of the PRA Submission, supporting statements, and approved collection of information instrument(s) are available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. These documents are also available on the Federal Reserve Board's public website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears above.

Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for Three Years, Without Revision, of the Following Information Collection

Report title: Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities.

Agency form number: FR 2248.

OMB control number: 7100-0005.

Frequency: Monthly, quarterly, as needed.

Respondents: Finance companies.

Estimated number of respondents: Monthly, 150; Quarterly, 150; Addendum; 150.

Estimated average minutes per response: Monthly, 20; Quarterly, 30; Addendum, 10.

Estimated annual burden hours: Monthly, 400; Quarterly, 300; Addendum; 50.

General description of report: The FR 2248 is collected monthly as of the last calendar day of the month from a stratified sample of finance companies. Each monthly report collects balance sheet data on major categories of consumer and business credit receivables and on major short-term liabilities. For quarter-end months (March, June, September, and December), additional asset and liability items are collected to provide a full balance sheet. A supplemental section collects data on securitized assets. Board staff may ask either quantitative or qualitative questions through the use of a special addendum section no more than twice per year. The data are used to construct universe estimates of finance company holdings, which are published in the monthly statistical releases Finance Companies (G.20) and Consumer Credit (G.19) and in the quarterly statistical release Financial Accounts of the United States (Z.1).

Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2248 is authorized by sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (FRA). Section 2A of the FRA requires that the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) “maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” Section 12A of the FRA further requires the FOMC to implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted by Federal Reserve Banks “with a view to accommodating commerce and business and with regard to their bearing upon the general credit situation of the country.” The Board and FOMC use the information obtained through the FR 2248 to discharge these responsibilities. The FR 2248 is voluntary.

Although the Board releases aggregate data derived from the FR 2248 in the monthly G.20 and G.19 statistical releases, and in the quarterly Z.1 statistical release, individual finance company information provided by each respondent is generally treated as confidential. Information collected on the FR 2248 is likely to constitute nonpublic commercial or financial information, which is both customarily and actually treated as private by the respondent. Accordingly, such information may be kept confidential by the Board pursuant to exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act. If it should be determined that any information collected on the FR 2248 must be released, respondents would be notified.

Current Actions: On November 4, 2021, the Board published a notice in the Federal Register (86 FR 608019) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, without revision, of the Domestic Branch Application. The comment period for this notice expired on January 3, 2022. The Board did not receive any comments.