[Federal Register: July 1, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 125)]
[Notices]
[Page 31441]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01jy09-53]
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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board
Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB
SUMMARY:
Background
Notice is hereby given of the final approval of a proposed
information collection 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 Paperwork Reduction Act Submission, 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Acting Federal Reserve Board Clearance
Officer--Cynthia Ayouch--Division of Research and Statistics, Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202-452-
3829).
OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive
Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503.
Final approval under OMB delegated authority of the extension for
three years, without revision, of the following report:
Report title: Suspicious Activity Report by Depository Institutions
(SAR).
Agency form number: FR 2230.
OMB Control number: 7100-0212.
Frequency: On occasion.
Reporters: State member banks, bank holding companies and their
nonbank subsidiaries, Edge and agreement corporations, and the U.S.
branches and agencies, representative offices, and nonbank subsidiaries
of foreign banks supervised by the Federal Reserve.
Annual reporting hours: 86,404 hours.
Estimated average hours per response: 1 hour.
Number of respondents: 7,000.
General description of report: This information collection is
mandatory, pursuant to authority contained in the following statutes:
12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1), 625, 1818, 1844(c), 3105(c)(2), and 3106(a). The
obligation to file a SAR is set forth in the Board's rules, and is
mandatory: 12 CFR 208.62(c) (state member banks); 12 CFR 225.4(f)
(entities subject to the Bank Holding Company Act and their nonbank
subsidiaries); 12 CFR 211.5(k) (Edge and agreement corporations); and
12 CFR 211.24(f) (U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices
of foreign banks).
Section 5318(g)(2)(A)(ii) of Title 31 generally prohibits an
officer or employee of the Federal Government from disclosing the
existence of a SAR to anyone involved in the transaction, and section
5319 of Title 31 provides that SARs are exempt from disclosure under
FOIA. The information collected on a SAR is covered by, among other
things, exemptions 3 and 7 of the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C.
552(b)(3)&(7)) and exemption 2 of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2))
Abstract: Since 1996, the federal banking agencies (the Federal
Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the
Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration) and the
Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
(FinCEN) (collectively, the agencies) have required certain types of
financial institutions to report known or suspected violations of law
and suspicious transactions. To fulfill these requirements, supervised
banking organizations file SARs. Law enforcement agencies use the
information submitted on the reporting form to initiate investigations
and the Federal Reserve uses the information in the examination and
oversight of supervised institutions.
Current Actions: On April 1, 2009, the agencies published a notice
in the Federal Register (74 FR 14863) requesting public comment for 60
days on the extension, without revision, of the interagency Suspicious
Activities Report by Depository Institutions. The comment period for
this notice expired on June 1, 2009. The Federal Reserve did not
receive any comments on this proposal. However, three comment letters
were received by FinCEN. Two of the comment letters were from banking
institutions and one was from a credit union association. The other
agencies will publish a separate Federal Register notice addressing the
comments and each agency will separately submit their SAR information
collection to OMB.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, June 25, 2009.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. E9-15479 Filed 6-30-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P