[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12448-12464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04316]
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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
[No. 2021-N-3]
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.
ACTION: Federal Home Loan Bank Director--60-day notice of submission of
information collection for approval from Office of Management and
Budget.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA or the
Agency) is seeking public comments concerning an information collection
known as ``Federal Home Loan Bank Directors,'' which has been assigned
control number 2590-0006 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 February 28, 2021.
DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before May 3, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed
Collection; Comment Request: `Federal Home Loan Bank Directors, (No.
2021-N-3)''' by any of the following methods:
Agency Website: 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: ``Federal Home Loan Bank Directors, (No.
2021-N-3).''
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 website at
http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will
be available for examination by the public through the electronic
comment docket for this PRA Notice also located on the FHFA website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vickie Olafson, Assistant General
Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3025; or Angela
Supervielle, Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3973
(these are not toll-free numbers); Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400
Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device
for the Deaf is (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Need for and Use of the Information Collection
Section 7 of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) vests the
management of each Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) in its board of
directors.\1\ As required by section 7, each Bank's board comprises two
types of directors: (1) Member directors, who are drawn from the
officers and directors of member institutions located in the Bank's
district and who are elected to represent members in a particular state
in that district; and (2) independent directors, who are unaffiliated
with any of the Bank's member institutions, but who reside in the
Bank's district and are
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elected on an at-large basis.\2\ Both types of directors serve four-
year terms, which are staggered so that approximately one-quarter of a
Bank's total directorships are up for election every year.\3\ Section 7
and FHFA's implementing regulation, codified at 12 CFR part 1261,
establish the eligibility requirements for both types of Bank directors
and the professional qualifications for independent directors, and set
forth the procedures for their election.
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\1\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(1).
\2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(b) and (d).
\3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(d).
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Part 1261 of the regulations requires that each Bank administer its
own annual director election process. As part of this process, a Bank
must require each nominee for both types of directorship, including any
incumbent that may be a candidate for re-election, to complete and
return to the Bank a form that solicits information about the
candidate's statutory eligibility to serve and, in the case of
independent director candidates, about his or her professional
qualifications for the directorship being sought.\4\ Specifically,
member director candidates are required to complete the Federal Home
Loan Bank Member Director Eligibility Certification Form (Member
Director Eligibility Certification Form), while independent director
candidates must complete the Federal Home Loan Bank Independent
Director Application Form (Independent Director Application Form). Each
Bank must also require all of its incumbent directors to certify
annually that they continue to meet all eligibility requirements.\5\
Member directors do this by completing the Member Director Eligibility
Certification Form again every year, while independent directors
complete the abbreviated Federal Home Loan Bank Independent Director
Annual Certification Form (Independent Director Annual Certification
Form) to certify their ongoing eligibility.
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\4\ See 12 CFR 1261.7(c) and (f); 12 CFR 1261.14(b).
\5\ See 12 CFR 1261.12.
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The Banks use the information collection contained in the
Independent Director Application Form and part 1261 to determine
whether individuals who wish to stand for election or re-election as
independent directors satisfy the statutory eligibility requirements
and possess the professional qualifications required under the statute
and regulations. Only individuals meeting those requirements and
qualifications may serve as an independent director.\6\ On an annual
basis, the Banks use the information collection contained in the
Independent Director Annual Certification Form and part 1261 to
determine whether its incumbent independent directors continue to meet
the statutory eligibility requirements. The Banks use the information
collection contained in the Member Director Eligibility Certification
Form and part 1261 to determine whether individuals who wish to stand
for election or re-election as member directors satisfy the statutory
eligibility requirements. Only individuals meeting these requirements
may serve as a member director.\7\ On an annual basis, the Banks also
use the information collection contained in the Member Director
Eligibility Certification Form and part 1261 to determine whether its
incumbent member directors continue to meet the statutory eligibility
requirements.
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\6\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3).
\7\ See 12 U.S.C. 1427(a)(3) and (b)(1).
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The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0006. The current clearance for the information collection expired on
February 28, 2021. The likely respondents are individuals who are
prospective and incumbent Bank directors.
B. Revisions to the Existing Bank Director Forms
In advance of the 2021 Bank director election cycle, FHFA is
revising each of the three Bank Director Application and Certification
forms, all of which have existed in substantially their current form
since the current statutory requirements for Bank directors were
adopted in 2008.
The Independent Director Application Form, by far the longest of
the three forms at eight pages and requiring a number of essay-type
answers, is completed by all independent directorship nominees,
including incumbents seeking re-nomination. The information requested
on the form is intended to confirm that the nominee is legally eligible
to serve as an independent director, has the required professional
qualifications for the type of independent directorship being sought,
and is of high personal integrity and to identify any potential
conflicts of interest of which the Bank should be aware. The proposed
revisions would tie the questions more closely to statutory and
regulatory requirements, provide more structured answer choices so as
to ensure responses are relevant, solicit more comprehensive
information on issues about which the Bank must weigh facts to make a
legal judgment about the nominee's eligibility, and move most
instructions to a separate sheet and otherwise streamline the
questions. The revisions should allow nominees to complete the form
more quickly by providing preset answer choices for many questions,
permitting attachments in answer to certain questions, and eliminating
some superfluous questions. FHFA estimates that, in addition to
encouraging more accurate and complete answers, the revisions will
reduce the amount of time it takes a nominee to complete the form from
three to two hours.
The Independent Director Annual Certification Form, which runs two
pages including instruction, is completed by incumbent independent
directors annually to certify that they remain legally eligible to
serve. The existing form provides independent directors with the option
merely to check a box stating that ``no changes have occurred'' with
respect to the director's compliance with the statutory eligibility
requirements. In the Agency's view, providing this option has resulted
in some independent directors overlooking changes in residence or
employment that might render them ineligible to continue to serve. As
revised, the form would require independent directors to provide
current information on residence and employment to allow the Bank to
determine whether there may be new information leading to eligibility
concerns.
The Member Director Eligibility Certification Form, which includes
one-and-a-half pages of questions and two pages of instructions
(reflecting the fact that the form is used for multiple purposes), is
completed both by nominees running for a member directorship and
annually by incumbent member directors to certify their continuing
eligibility. The form is designed to confirm that member directors and
member directorship nominees are legally eligible to serve in the
directorship positions they occupy or are seeking. Although some
questions on the form will be revised to provide preset answers, the
substance of questions on the revised form will remain essentially the
same as those on the existing form. The Member Director Eligibility
Certification Form was most recently revised in August 2020 to remove a
notarization requirement (neither of the other two Bank director forms
had such a requirement).
The revised questions, including preset answer selections, and
instructions for each of the Bank director forms appear at the end of
this notice. The final formatting of the revised forms has yet to be
determined.
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C. Burden Estimate
FHFA estimates the total annual hour burden imposed upon
respondents by the three Bank director forms comprising this
information collection to be 119 hours (39 hours + 50 hours + 30 hours
= 119 hours, as detailed below).
The Agency estimates the total annual hour burden on all member
director candidates and incumbent member directors associated with
review and completion of the Member Director Eligibility Certification
Form to be 39 hours. This includes a total annual average of 72 member
director nominees (24 open seats per year with three nominees for each)
completing the form as an application, with 1 response per nominee
taking an average of 15 minutes (.25 hours) (72 respondents x .25 hours
= 18 hours). It also includes a total annual average of 84 incumbent
member directors not up for election completing the form as an annual
certification, with 1 response per individual taking an average of 15
minutes (.25 hours) (84 individuals x .25 hours = 21 hours).
The Agency estimates the total annual hour burden on all
independent director candidates associated with review and completion
of the Independent Director Application Form to be 50 hours. This
includes a total annual average of 25 independent director candidates
(22 open seats per year, plus three vacancies, with one nominee for
each), with 1 response per individual taking an average of 2.0 hours
(25 individuals x 2.0 hours = 50 hours).
The Agency estimates the total annual hour burden on all incumbent
independent directors associated with review and completion of the
Independent Director Annual Certification Form to be 30 hours. This
includes a total annual average of 60 incumbent independent directors
not up for election, with 1 response per individual taking an average
of 30 minutes (.5 hours) (60 individuals x .5 hours = 30 hours).
D. Comments Request
FHFA requests written comments on 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 respondents, including
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Kevin Smith,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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[FR Doc. 2021-04316 Filed 3-2-21; 8:45 am]
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