FR2100_20170210_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Joint Standards for Assessing the Diversity Policies and Practices
(FR 2100; OMB No. 7100-0368)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under delegated
authority from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), proposes to extend for three years,
with revision, the voluntary interagency Joint Standards for Assessing Diversity Policies and
Practices (Policy Statement) (FR 2100; OMB No. 7100-0368). Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) requires the Office
of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection (CFPB), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (the agencies) each to
establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) to be responsible for all matters
of the agency relating to diversity in management, employment, and business activities. Section
342 requires each OMWI director to develop standards for “assessing the diversity policies and
practices of entities regulated by the agency.” The Policy Statement, published jointly by the
agencies in June 2015, contain those standards.
The Policy Statement includes Joint Standards that cover “Practices to Promote
Transparency of Organizational Diversity and Inclusion.” These Joint Standards expect a
regulated entity to be transparent about its diversity and inclusion activities by making certain
information available to the public annually on its websites or through other appropriate
communications methods, in a manner reflective of the entity’s size and other characteristics. In
addition, the Policy Statement includes Joint Standards that address “Entities’ Self-Assessment”
and that a regulated entity, in a manner reflective of its size and other characteristics, is
encouraged to publish information pertaining to its efforts with respect to the Joint Standards.
The Federal Reserve proposes to reduce paperwork and respondent burden by revising
the information collection to include a reporting tool entitled “Diversity Self-Assessment
Template” that entities regulated by the Federal Reserve may use to record the results of their
self-assessment. The Federal Reserve’s share of the annual reporting burden is estimated to be
reduced from 5,856 hours to 3,904 based on use of the proposed self-assessment template.
Background and Justification
Section 342(b)(2)(C) of the Dodd-Frank Act requires each OMWI Director to develop
standards for assessing the diversity policies and practices of entities regulated by the agency.
The agencies would use the information provided to them to monitor progress and trends in the
financial services industry with regard to diversity and inclusion in employment and contracting
activities, as well as to identify and highlight those policies and practices that have been
successful. The primary federal financial regulator will share information with other agencies,
when appropriate, to support coordination of efforts and to avoid duplication. The agencies may
publish information disclosed to them, such as best practices, in any form that does not identify a
particular entity or individual or disclose confidential business information.

Description of Information Collection
The Policy Statement includes Joint Standards that cover “Practices to Promote
Transparency of Organizational Diversity and Inclusion.” These Joint Standards contemplate
that a regulated entity is transparent about its diversity and inclusion activities by making certain
information available to the public annually on its websites or through other appropriate
communications methods, in a manner reflective of the entity’s size and other characteristics.
The specific information referenced in these standards is (1) the entity’s diversity and inclusion
strategic plan; (2) its policy on its commitment to diversity and inclusion; (3) its progress toward
achieving diversity and inclusion in its workforce and procurement activities (which may include
the entity’s current workforce and supplier diversity demographic profiles); and (4) opportunities
available at the entity that promote diversity. The individual entity would determine the type and
extent of information that demonstrates its progress toward achieving diversity and inclusion.
The information supplied would be commensurate with the size and complexity of the entity. No
specific information is required by the agencies. In addition, opportunities that promote diversity
would vary by entity and, therefore, would not be specified by the agencies. Examples of such
opportunities could be current employment and procurement opportunities; forecasts of potential
employment and procurement opportunities; and the availability of mentorship and
developmental programs for employees and contractors.
In addition, the Policy Statement includes Joint Standards that address “Entities’ SelfAssessment.” The Joint Standards for Entities’ Self-Assessment envision that a regulated entity,
in a manner reflective of its size and other characteristics, (1) conducts annually a voluntary selfassessment of its diversity policies and practices; (2) monitors and evaluates its performance
under its diversity policies and practices on an ongoing basis; (3) provides information pertaining
to its self-assessment to the OMWI Director of its primary federal financial regulator; and (4)
publishes information pertaining to its efforts with respect to the Joint Standards.
Proposed Revision
The Federal Reserve previously received OMB approval for a voluntary information
collection with respect to the Policy Statement, pursuant to which entities regulated by the Federal
Reserve voluntarily self-assess their diversity policies and practices.1 This proposed revision to that
collection would add the Template to assist with the self-assessment. The Template (1) asks for
general information about a respondent; (2) includes a checklist of the standards set forth in the
Policy Statement; (3) seeks additional diversity data; and (4) provides an opportunity for a
respondent to provide other information regarding or comment on the self-assessment of its diversity
policies and practices. The Board estimates that use of the Template would reduce the average
response time for this collection per respondent from 12 hours to 8 hours.
The Federal Reserve may use the information submitted by the entities it regulates to monitor
progress and trends in the financial services industry with regard to diversity and inclusion in
employment and contracting activities and to identify and highlight those policies and practices that
have been successful. The Federal Reserve will continue to reach out to the regulated entities and
other interested parties to discuss diversity and inclusion in the financial services industry and share
1

See 80 FR 33016 (June 10, 2015).

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leading practices. The Federal Reserve may also publish information disclosed by the entity, such as
any identified leading practices, in any form that does not identify a particular institution or
individual or disclose confidential business information.
Time Schedule for Information Collection and Publication
The agencies may publish information disclosed to them, such as best practices, in any
form that does not identify a particular entity or individual or disclose confidential business
information.
Legal Status
The Board’s Legal Division has determined that the FR 2100 is authorized by section 342
of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the Board’s OMWI director to develop standards for
assessing regulated entities’ diversity policies and practices and is voluntary.
The Standard regarding transparency, and a portion of the self-assessment Standard, call
for regulated entities to provide information to the public, so confidentiality is not an issue with
respect to those aspects of the Policy. A regulated entity may provide self-assessment material to
the Board that contains confidential commercial information protectable under exemption 4 of
the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)) and may request that the information be
kept confidential on a case-by-case basis. The Board will determine whether the information is
entitled to confidential treatment on an ad hoc basis in connection with such a request. As noted
in the Policy Statement, an entity’s primary federal regulator may share information obtained
from regulated entities with other agencies, but will publish information disclosed to them only
in a form that does not identify a particular entity or individual or disclose confidential business
information.
Consultation Outside the Agency
On September 27, 2016, the Board published a notice in the Federal Register (81 FR
66275) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, with revision, of the FR 2100.
The comment period for this notice expired on November 28, 2016. The Board did not receive
any comments. The reporting template will be implemented as proposed. On December 12,
2016, the Board published a final notice in the Federal Register (81 FR 89463).
Estimate of Respondent Burden
The current annual burden is estimated to be 5,856 hours, as shown in the following
table. The Federal Reserve estimates that use of the Template would reduce the total annual
burden from 5,856 hours to 3,904 hours, a reduction of 1,952 hours. The collection of
information contemplated by the Joint Standards imposes no new recordkeeping burdens as
regulated entities will only publish or provide information pertaining to diversity policies and
practices that they maintain during the normal course of business. The total annual burden for
the FR 2100 represents less than 1 percent of total Federal Reserve System paperwork burden.

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Number of
Annual
respondents frequency

FR 2100
Current

488

1

Proposed

488

1

Estimated
average hours
per response
12

Change

8

Estimated
annual burden
hours
5,856
3,904
(1,952)

The total cost to the public for this information collection is estimated to decrease from
$311,246 to $207,498 with the proposed revision.2
Sensitive Questions
This collection of information contains no questions of a sensitive nature, as defined by
OMB guidelines.
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The cost to the Federal Reserve System is negligible.

2

Total cost to the public was estimated using the following formula: percent of staff time, multiplied by annual
burden hours, multiplied by hourly rates (30% Office & Administrative Support at $17, 45% Financial Managers at
$65, 15% Lawyers at $66, and 10% Chief Executives at $89). Hourly rates for each occupational group are the
(rounded) mean hourly wages from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), Occupational Employment and Wages
May 2015, published March 30, 2016 www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Occupations are defined using
the BLS Occupational Classification System, www.bls.gov/soc/.

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