Proposed Collection; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Federal Reserve System

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Proposed Collection; Comment Request

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

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

Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: 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 need

not respond to, an information collection that has been extended,

revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays

a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

The Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) are

currently approved collections of information for the agencies. Under

the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council

(FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, the agencies are proposing

to no longer accept Call Reports that are filed directly with them in

hard copy (paper) form. The only Call Reports that the agencies would

accept would be those filed electronically or on computer diskette with

the agencies' electronic collection agent. A bank could either file its

reports directly with the agent or contract with a third party for the

conversion of its reports from hard copy (paper) to automated form and

the filing of the reports with the agent. The agencies would phase out

their acceptance of paper Call Report forms as of the June 30,

September 30, and December 31, 1997, report dates based on bank size.

Comments are invited on the use of this automated collection technique

from both users and nonusers of Call Report software and the electronic

filing method. In particular, respondents are requested to comment on

the automated collection process as a way to minimize the burden of

this information collection on banks, on any initial implementation

costs to banks, and on ongoing costs to banks after initial

implementation. At the end of the comment period, the comments received

will be evaluated to determine whether modifications should be made to

the proposal before the FFIEC gives its final approval. The agencies

will then submit the filing policy to OMB for review and approval.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before January 3, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to

any or all of the agencies. All comments, which should refer to the OMB

control number(s), will be shared among the agencies.

OCC: Written comments should be submitted to the Communications

Division, Ninth Floor, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 250 E

Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20219, Attention: OMB Control No. 1557-

0081 [FAX number (202) 874-5274; Internet address:

[email protected]]. Comments will be available for inspection

and photocopying at that address.

Board: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. William W.

Wiles, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,

20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551, Attention: OMB

Control No. 7100-0036, or delivered to the Board's mail room between

8:45 a.m. and 5:15 p.m., and to the security control room outside of

[[Page 56738]]

those hours. Both the mail room and the security control room are

accessible from the courtyard entrance on 20th Street between

Constitution Avenue and C Street, N.W. Comments received may be

inspected in room M-P-500 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., except as

provided in section 261.8 of the Board's Rules Regarding Availability

of Information, 12 CFR 261.8(a).

FDIC: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of the

Executive Secretary, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20429, Attention: OMB Control No. 3064-

0052. Comments may be hand-delivered to room F-402, 1776 F Street,

N.W., Washington, D.C. 20429, on business days between 8:30 a.m. and

5:00 p.m. Comments may be sent through facsimile to: (202) 898-3838 or

by the Internet to: [email protected]. Comments will be available for

inspection at the FDIC Public Information Center, room 100, 801 17th

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on

business days.

A copy of the comments may also be submitted to the OMB desk

officer for the agencies: Alexander Hunt, Office of Information and

Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive

Office Building, Room 3208, Washington, D.C. 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the proposed revisions to

the collections of information may be requested from any of the agency

clearance officers whose names appear below.

OCC: Jessie Gates, OCC Clearance Officer, (202) 874-5090, Office of

the Comptroller of the Currency, OMB Control No. 1557-0081, 250 E

Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20219.

Board: Mary M. McLaughlin, Board Clearance Officer, (202) 452-3829,

Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal

Reserve System, OMB Control No. 7100-0036, 20th and C Streets, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20551. For the hearing impaired only,

Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), Dorothea Thompson, (202)

452-3544, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C

Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551.

FDIC: Steven F. Hanft, FDIC Clearance Officer, (202) 898-3907,

Office of the Executive Secretary, Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation, OMB Control No. 3064-0052, 550 17th Street N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20429.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposal to Revise the Filing Method for the Following Currently

Approved Collections of Information

Title: Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report).

Form Number: FFIEC 031, 032, 033, 034.1

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\1\ The FFIEC 031 report form is filed by banks with domestic

and foreign offices. The FFIEC 032 report form is filed by banks

with domestic offices only and total assets of $300 million or more.

The FFIEC 033 report form is filed by banks with domestic offices

only and total assets of $100 million or more but less than $300

million. The FFIEC 034 report form is filed by banks with domestic

offices only and total assets of less than $100 million.

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Frequency of Response: Quarterly.

Affected Public: Business and other for-profit (Insured commercial

and FDIC-supervised savings banks).

For OCC:

OMB Number: 1557-0081.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,800 national banks.

Estimated Time per Response: 39.62 burden hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 443,744 burden hours.

For Board:

OMB Number: 7100-0036.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,002 state member banks.

Estimated Time per Response: 45.70 burden hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 183,166 burden hours.

For FDIC:

OMB Number: 3064-0052.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 6,668 insured state nonmember

commercial and savings banks.

Estimated Time per Response: 28.72 burden hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 765,900 burden hours.

Note Regarding Burden: The preceding burden estimates include the

time for reviewing the Call Report instructions, gathering and

maintaining data in the form required for the Call Report, and

completing the Call Report information collection, but exclude the time

for compiling and maintaining business records in the normal course of

a bank's activities. The estimated time per response varies by agency

because of differences in the composition of the banks under each

agency's supervision (e.g., size distribution of banks, types of

activities in which they are engaged, and number of banks with foreign

offices).

General Description of Report: This information collection is

mandatory: 12 U.S.C. 161 (for national banks), 12 U.S.C. 324 (for state

member banks), and 12 U.S.C. 1817 (for insured state nonmember

commercial and savings banks). Except for select sensitive items, this

information collection is not given confidential treatment. Small

businesses (i.e., small banks) are affected.

Abstract: Call Reports are filed quarterly with the agencies for

their use in monitoring the condition and performance of reporting

banks and the industry as a whole. The reports are also used to

calculate banks' deposit insurance assessments and for monetary policy

and other public policy purposes.

Current Actions: Under the auspices of the FFIEC, the agencies are

proposing to no longer accept Call Reports filed directly with them in

hard copy (paper) form. The only Call Reports that the agencies would

accept would be those filed electronically or on computer diskette with

the agencies' electronic collection agent. A bank could either file its

reports directly with the agent or arrange for a third party to convert

its reports from hard copy (paper) form to automated form and then file

them with the agent. The agencies' acceptance of paper Call Report

forms would be phased out as of the June 30, September 30, and December

31, 1997, report dates based on bank size.

Type of Review: Revision.

For the past eight years, a bank has been permitted to

electronically submit its Call Report to the agencies' electronic

collection agent over telephone lines using a computer and modem.2

Alternatively, a bank could mail a computer diskette containing its

Call Report to the agent. Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS) is

the electronic collection agent for the agencies. A bank submitting its

Call Report to EDS electronically or on diskette is not required to

mail a hard copy of its Call Report directly to any of the agencies

unless specifically requested to do so.3 Nevertheless, the bank

must maintain in its files a signed and attested printout of the data

submitted to EDS showing at least the title of each Call Report item

and the reported amount. To fulfill the Call Report's signature and

attestation requirement, the cover page of the Call Report forms that

the agencies mail to the bank each quarter must be signed by an officer

and bank directors and

[[Page 56739]]

attached to the printout placed in the bank's files.

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\2\ Since the June 30, 1989, report date, banks that have or

have had more than one foreign office, other than a ``shell'' branch

or an International Banking Facility, and that use any of the

additional 15 days allowed for the completion of their reports, have

been required to file their reports electronically with the

agencies' electronic collection agent. This requirement applies to

fewer than 200 banks.

\3\ Such requests rarely have been made.

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Electronic filing capability is available through the use of

computer software that supports this submission method. Software that

EDS has certified for electronic filing is available through certain

vendors that have completed a certification process. Currently, Call

Report preparation software products marketed by the American Bankers

Association/DBI Financial Systems, Inc.; DPSC Software, Inc.;

Information Technology, Inc.; and Sheshunoff Information Services,

Inc., have been certified for electronic submission by EDS.4

Information Technology's software operates on mainframe computers while

the other three vendors' software products run on personal computers.

The annual cost of Call Report software for personal computers starts

at approximately $200 for small banks and the software runs effectively

on any 286 or higher personal computer with a hard drive. No formal

computer training is necessary to operate Call Report software. Banks

generally have found that the instruction manuals for the Call Report

software and the customer support help desks operated by the software

vendors provide all the assistance necessary for their use of the

software.

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\4\ For further information on available Call Report preparation

software, contact:

American Bankers Assoc./DBI Financial Systems, Inc., P.O. Box

1249, Cannon Beach, Oregon 97110, Telephone: (800) 774-3279.

DPSC Software, Inc., 23501 Park, Sorrento, Suite 105, Calabasas,

California 91302, Telephone: (800) 825-3772.

Information Technology, Inc., 1345 Old Cheney Road, Lincoln,

Nebraska 68512, Telephone: (403) 423-2682. Sheshunoff Information

Services, Inc., P.O. Box 13203 Capitol Station, Austin, Texas 78711-

3203, Telephone: (800) 456-2340.

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As an alternative to purchasing software, a bank could develop its

own Call Report software and go through the certification process.

However, banks normally find that purchasing certified computer

software which is updated regularly by a vendor is more economical than

developing and maintaining their own software.

The agencies have provided the aforementioned software companies

with a significant number of edits that the agencies normally use for

validating the Call Report information submitted to them each quarter.

As a result, while each bank is responsible for the quality of its Call

Report data, a bank using a commercial software package can correct

errors identified by the software package prior to filing the Call

Report, and provide better quality data to the agencies. This procedure

saves a bank time by reducing agency inquiries for data correction

after the Call Report has been filed. The commercial software also

provides immediate confirmation to a bank that files electronically

that EDS has received its Call Report. Thus, electronic submission

promotes the accuracy of and speeds the receipt and processing of Call

Report data. This means that electronic submission also translates into

lower costs for the agencies and for the insurance funds administered

by the FDIC.

Over the past five years, the percentage of banks submitting Call

Reports to the electronic collection agent has climbed from 28 percent

to 54 percent. The number of banks using certified computer software to

file Call Reports in this manner has increased from 3,503 as of the

June 30, 1991, report date to 5,570 as of the June 30, 1996, report

date. This reflects the banking industry's growing recognition of the

benefits of this powerful tool for completing and filing reports.

Furthermore, some 2,400 additional banks, 23 percent of all

institutions, used computer software to prepare their June 30, 1996,

Call Report, but submitted a computer-generated hard copy (paper)

facsimile report to the agencies. The agencies believe that these banks

can change from their current paper-based filing method to the

electronic or computer diskette filing method with little difficulty.

Thus, about 77 percent of banks currently use computer software for

preparing and filing their Call Reports. The distribution of banks by

size and report preparation and filing method as of the June 30, 1996,

report date is as follows:

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Banks using Banks using Banks using Banks not using Total banks

computer software computer software computer software computer software -------------------

to file with to file computer- ----------------------------------------

electronic generated hard

Asset size collection agent copy (paper)

-------------------- reports Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

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

Number Percent Number Percent

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Less than $10 million............................... 90 29 48 16 138 45 170 55 308 100

$10-$25 million..................................... 507 34 403 27 910 61 575 39 1,485 100

$25-$50 million..................................... 926 39 724 30 1,650 69 734 31 2,384 100

$50-$100 million.................................... 1,371 53 681 27 2,052 80 515 20 2,567 100

Over $100 million................................... 2,676 74 542 15 3,218 89 376 11 3,594 100

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All banks....................................... 5,570 54 2,398 23 7,968 77 2,370 23 10,338 100

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The agencies are proposing to phase out their acceptance of hard

copy (paper) Call Reports filed directly with them according to the

following timetable:

Beginning with the Call Reports for June 30, 1997, banks

with assets of $50 million or more (as reported in the June 30, 1996,

Call Report) must file their Call Reports electronically or on computer

diskette with the agencies' electronic collection agent.

Beginning with the Call Reports for September 30, 1997,

banks with assets of $25 million or more (as reported in the June 30,

1996, Call Report) must file their Call Reports electronically or on

computer diskette with the collection agent.

Beginning with the Call Reports for December 31, 1997, all

banks must file their Call Reports electronically or on computer

diskette with the collection agent.

Once a bank's Call Reports must be filed electronically or on

computer diskette with EDS, the agencies' electronic collection agent,

the bank would have two ways to satisfy this filing requirement. The

bank could prepare its reports in automated form and file them directly

with EDS. Alternatively, it could complete its reports in hard copy

(paper) form and contract with a third party, such as one of the Call

Report software companies,

[[Page 56740]]

for the conversion of its paper reports to automated form and the

filing of the reports with EDS.

Under the proposed timetable, each bank would receive the

applicable set of Call Report forms at the end of each of the first

three quarters of 1997 (i.e., through the September 30, 1997, report

date) just as at present without regard to their eligibility to file

paper Call Report forms. For the December 31, 1997, report date, each

bank would receive a sample set of Call Report forms but could not file

a hard copy (paper) report with the agencies. In 1998 and subsequent

years, the agencies would send each bank a sample of the applicable set

of that year's Call Report forms only once during the year, i.e.,

before the end of the first quarter, rather than quarterly. The

agencies would monitor banks' need for annual sample forms and could

modify this procedure if deemed appropriate.

Request for Comment

Comments submitted in response to this Notice will be shared among

the agencies and will be summarized or included in the agencies'

requests for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public

record. Written comments are invited on the use of this automated

collection technique from both users and nonusers of Call Report

software and the electronic filing method. Respondents are requested to

comment on the automated collection process as a way to minimize the

burden of this information collection on banks. Commenters also are

requested to provide estimates of any initial costs that banks not

currently using Call Report preparation software will incur in

implementing this electronic filing method as well as estimates of the

ongoing costs to such banks from the use of this method after its

initial implementation. Similarly, commenters are requested to provide

estimates of any initial and ongoing costs that would not otherwise be

incurred by banks that currently use Call Report software, but submit

computer-generated hard copy (paper) reports to the agencies.

The agencies invite comment on the accuracy of their estimates of

the overall burden of the Call Report information collections as the

filing requirements are proposed to be revised. These burden estimates

include the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining

data in the required form for the Call Report, and completing the

report. In addition, comment is requested on whether this proposed

revision to the Call Report information collections is necessary for

the proper performance of the agencies' functions, including whether

the information has practical utility, and on ways to enhance the

quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected in the Call

Report.

The agencies also request comments on whether they should consider

discontinuing their acceptance of other hard copy (paper) reports (such

as the Annual Report of Trust Assets (form FFIEC 001), which is filed

annually as of each December 31 by insured banks and savings

associations with trust powers and nondeposit trust companies, and the

Summary of Deposits, which is filed annually as of each June 30 by each

bank with more than one office) and instead accept only reports that

are filed electronically or on computer diskette.

Dated: October 28, 1996.

Karen Solomon,

Director, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, Office of the

Comptroller of the Currency.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, October 28,

1996.

William W. Wiles,

Secretary of the Board.

Dated at Washington, D.C., this 29th day of October, 1996.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Jerry L. Langley,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96-28238 Filed 11-1-96; 8:45 am]

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