FRBB_20180427_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Disclosure Requirements Associated with Regulation BB
(FR BB; OMB No. 7100-0197)
Community Reinvestment Act Regulations
(Docket No. R-1574) (RIN 7100-AE84)
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 Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Disclosure Requirements Associated with
Regulation BB (FR BB; OMB No. 7100-0197). The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)1 was
enacted in 1977 and is implemented by Regulation BB - Community Reinvestment
(12 CFR 228). The CRA directs the Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the agencies) to evaluate
financial institutions’ records of helping to meet the credit needs of their entire communities,
including low- and moderate-income areas consistent with the safe and sound operation of the
institutions. The CRA is implemented through regulations issued by the agencies with
responsibility for CRA rulemaking.
The Board proposes to revise FR BB by (1) requiring financial institutions that collect
data under the CRA to collect data for open-end lines of credit in metropolitan statistical areas
(MSAs) and non-MSAs where they have no branch or home office and (2) revising the definition
of “home mortgage loan” to include home equity lines of credit and to exclude home
improvement loans that are not secured by a dwelling (i.e., home improvement loans that are
unsecured or that are secured by some other type of collateral), effective January 1, 2018. The
annual burden for this information collection is estimated to be 61,727 hours and would remain
unchanged.
Background and Justification
In 1995, the agencies issued substantially identical regulations under CRA to reduce
unnecessary compliance burden, promote consistency in CRA assessments, and encourage
improved performance.2 As a result, the current reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure
requirements under Regulation BB depend in part on a bank’s size, and are discussed below in
the description of information collection.
Under Regulation BB, large banks are defined as those with assets of $1.226 billion or
more for the past two consecutive year-ends; all other banks are considered small or intermediate

1
2

See 12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.
See 60 FR 22156 (May 4, 1995).

small.3 The agencies amend the definition of a small bank and an intermediate small bank in
their CRA regulations each year when the asset thresholds are adjusted for inflation pursuant to
Regulation BB, most recently in January 2017.4
Other than the information collections pursuant to the CRA, the Board has no information
collection that supplies data regarding the community reinvestment activities of state member
banks (SMBs).
Description of Information Collection
The reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements associated with Regulation BB
are summarized below and also listed in Attachment 1. An SMB that qualifies for evaluation
under the small bank performance standards but elects evaluation under the lending, investment,
and service tests will collect, maintain, and report the data required for large banks.
Reporting Requirements
Sections 228.41 and 228.42(g) - Assessment area delineation
Each SMB must delineate one or more assessment areas within which the Board evaluates
the bank’s record of helping to meet the credit needs of its community. Large banks must also
report the list of assessment areas to the Board by March 1 each year. The assessment area(s)
consists generally of one or more MSA or one or more contiguous political subdivisions, such as
counties, cities, or towns. The assessment area(s) includes the geographies in which the bank has
its main office, branches, and deposit-taking automated teller machines (ATMs), as well as the
surrounding geographies in which the bank has originated or purchased a substantial portion of
its loans. There are rules designed to prevent redlining (arbitrary exclusion of lower-income or
minority neighborhoods) in the drawing of assessment areas.
Section 228.42(b) - Loan information to be reported
Small business and small farm loan data. A large bank is required to report annually by
March 1 to the Board in machine-readable form the following data for the preceding calendar
year. For each geographical location in which the SMB originated or purchased a small business
or small farm loan, the SMB must report the aggregate number and amount of loans
 of $100,000 or less at origination
 of more than $100,000 at origination but less than or equal to $250,000 at origination
 of more than $250,000 at origination
 made to businesses and farms with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less (using the
revenues that the bank considered in making its credit decision)
3

Beginning January 18, 2017, banks and savings associations that, as of December 31 of either of the prior two
calendar years, had assets of less than $1.226 billion are small banks or small savings associations. Small banks or
small savings associations with assets of at least $307 million as of December 31 of both of the prior two calendar
years, and less than $1.226 billion as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, are intermediate small
banks or intermediate small savings associations.
4
See 82 FR 5354 (January 18, 2017).

2

Community development loan data. A large bank is also required to report annually by
March 1 to the Board in machine-readable form the aggregate number and aggregate amount of
community development loans originated or purchased in the preceding calendar year.
Home mortgage loan data. Reporting of mortgage loan data is governed by the Home
Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), which is implemented by Regulation C - Home Mortgage
Disclosure (12 CFR 1003). However, a large bank that is subject to reporting under
Regulation C, is also required under Regulation BB to report annually by March 1 to the Board in
machine-readable form the property location for each home mortgage loan application,
origination, or purchase outside the MSAs in which the SMB has a home or branch office (or
outside any MSA). The paperwork burden for providing property location information for loans
inside an MSA is associated with the HMDA Loan/Application Register (FR HMDA-LAR; OMB
No. 7100-0247 (Board) and OMB No. 3170-0008 (CFPB)).
Optional Reporting Requirements
Section 228.25(b) - Request for designation as a wholesale or limited purpose bank
The Board evaluates the performance of a wholesale or limited purpose bank under the
community development test specified in the regulation. An SMB wishing to be designated as a
wholesale or limited purpose bank must file a request, in writing, with the Board, at least three
months prior to the proposed effective date of the designation.
Section 228.27 - Strategic plan
An SMB may elect to be assessed under a strategic plan if the SMB has submitted the
plan to the Board, the Board has approved the plan, the plan is in effect, and the SMB has been
operating under an approved plan for at least one year. The Board’s approval of this plan does
not affect the SMB’s obligation, if any, to comply with the data collecting and reporting
requirements under section 228.42.5 The plan may have a term of no more than five years;
multi-year plans must include annual interim measurable goals. Before submitting a plan to the
Board, an SMB must seek suggestions from members of the public in its assessment area(s),
formally solicit public comment for at least 30 days, and during the period of formal public
comment make copies of the plan available for public review at its offices at no cost, and by mail
for a reasonable cost.
A strategic plan must include measurable goals for helping meet the credit needs of each
assessment area covered by the plan, addressing the lending, investment, and service tests. A
plan must specify goals that constitute satisfactory performance and also may specify goals that
constitute outstanding performance. If an institution fails to meet its own goals for satisfactory
performance, an SMB may elect in its plan to be evaluated under the alternate test(s) specified in
the regulation.

5

See 12 CFR 228.27(b).

3

Section 228.42(d) - Affiliate lending data
An SMB that elects to have the Board consider loans by an affiliate, for purposes of the
lending or community development test or an approved strategic plan, must collect, maintain, and
report for those loans the data that the SMB would have collected, maintained, and reported had
the loans been originated or purchased by the SMB. For home mortgage loans, the bank must
also be prepared to identify the home mortgage loans reported by the affiliate under HMDA and
Regulation C.
Section 228.42(e) - Data on lending by a consortium or a third party
An SMB may elect to have the Board consider community development loans made by a
consortium or third party, for purposes of the lending or community development tests or an
approved strategic plan. If so, the SMB must report for those loans the data that the bank would
have reported had the loans been originated or purchased by the SMB itself.
Recordkeeping Requirements
Section 228.42(a) - Loan information to be collected and maintained
A large bank is required to collect and maintain in machine-readable form until the
completion of its next CRA examination the following data for each small business or small farm
loan originated or purchased:
 a unique number or alpha-numeric symbol used to identify the relevant loan file
 the loan amount at origination
 the loan location
 an indicator whether the loan was made to a business or farm with gross annual revenues
of $1 million or less
Optional Recordkeeping Requirements
Section 228.42(c) - Consumer loan data
An SMB has the option to collect and maintain, in machine-readable form, data for
consumer loans originated or purchased by the bank for consideration under the lending test. An
SMB may maintain data for one or more of the following categories of consumer loans: motor
vehicle, credit card, home-equity, other secured, and other unsecured. If the SMB maintains data
for loans in a certain category, it must maintain data for all loans originated or purchased within
that category. The SMB must maintain data separately for each category and must include for
each loan
 a unique number or alpha-numeric symbol used to identify the relevant loan file
 the loan amount at origination or purchase
 the loan location
 the gross annual income of the borrower that the SMB considered in making its credit
decision

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At its option, an SMB may also provide other information concerning its lending
performance, including additional loan-distribution data.
Disclosure Requirements
Section 228.43 - Public file
All SMBs are required to maintain and make available to the public a file containing
comments received from the public for the current year and each of the prior two calendar years,
and any response to the comments from the bank. The file also must contain a copy of the public
section of the SMB’s most recent CRA performance evaluation prepared by the Board, a list of
the bank’s open branches with addresses and geographies, a list of branches opened or closed
during the current year and each of the prior two calendar years, a list of the services generally
offered by the bank, and a map of each assessment area. The bank may include in the file any
other information it chooses.
Large banks must also include in the public file the CRA Disclosure Statement (Section
228.42(h)) prepared by the Board for each of the prior two calendar years and, if applicable,
information about consumer loan data. SMBs required to report data under the HMDA must
include in the public file a copy of the HMDA Disclosure Statement prepared by the Federal
Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) for each of the prior two calendar years. In
addition, SMBs that elect to have mortgage lending of an affiliate of any of those years
considered in its CRA evaluation must include in the public file the affiliate’s HMDA disclosure
statement for those years.
A small bank or intermediate small bank must include in the public file the bank’s loanto-deposit ratio for each quarter of the prior calendar year and, if it elects to be evaluated under
the lending, service, and investment tests, the information required under the disclosure rules
applicable to large banks.
An SMB that has, in accordance with section 228.27, submitted and been approved by the
Board for assessment under a strategic plan must include a copy of the plan in the public file. An
SMB that received a rating worse than “Satisfactory” during its most recent examination, must
include in the public file a description of its efforts to improve its performance.
Section 228.44 - Public notice by banks
An SMB must provide in the public lobby of its main office and in each branch a
prescribed notice informing consumers of their rights to certain information about the SMB’s
operations and CRA performance as evaluated by the Board.
Proposed Revisions
The agencies adopted a final rule (82 FR 55734) on November 24, 2017, to amend their
regulations implementing the CRA. The agencies are modifying the existing definitions of
“home mortgage loan” and “consumer loan,” related cross references, and the public file content

5

requirements to conform to recent revisions made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(CFPB) to Regulation C, which implements HMDA. The final rule also removes obsolete
references to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The final rule is effective on
January 1, 2018.
Under the final rule, financial institutions required to collect data under the CRA would
also be required to collect data for open-end lines of credit in MSA and non-MSA areas where
they have no branch or home office. The agencies estimate that this change will not result in an
increase in burden under the currently approved CRA information collections because the burden
associated with the above-described requirement is accounted for under the HMDA information
collections.6 The agencies have determined that the revised definition of ‘‘home mortgage loan’’
to include home equity lines of credit and to exclude home improvement loans that are not
secured by a dwelling (i.e., home improvement loans that are unsecured or that are secured by
some other type of collateral) does not warrant a change to the current burden estimates.
Time Schedule for Information Collection and Publication
The reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements required by Regulation BB are
mandatory and depend on bank size and other factors. SMBs that are required to collect
assessment area information, small business and small farm data, community development data,
and home mortgage loan data must collect and report the data to the Board in machine-readable
form annually by March 1 for the prior calendar year.
The Board uses the data to examine and assess SMBs’ CRA records; to prepare the public
sections of CRA performance evaluations; and to help evaluate applications for acquisitions and
other transactions. The Board prepares annually for each SMB a public disclosure statement that
contains, on a state-by-state basis, information on small farm, small business, and community
development loans.
Together with the other agencies, the Board prepares annually for each MSA (including
an MSA that crosses a state boundary) and for each non-MSA portion of each state, an aggregate
disclosure statement of small business and small farm lending by all institutions subject to
reporting requirements under each agency’s CRA regulation. These disclosure statements
indicate, for each geography, the number and amount of all small business and small farm loans
originated or purchased by reporting institutions, except that the Board may adjust the form of the
disclosure if necessary to protect the privacy of a borrower or the competitive position of an
institution. The FFIEC also makes both statements available on the FFIEC CRA website
www.ffiec.gov/cra/. The statements are usually available at the SMBs and on the FFIEC website
in late July after the March 1 reporting date.
Any SMB electing to submit a strategic plan to the Board must do so at least three
months prior to the proposed effective date of the plan. The Board will act upon a plan within 60
calendar days after the Board receives the complete plan and other required material. If the Board
fails to act within this 60 days, the plan shall be deemed approved unless the Board extends the
review period for good cause. As indicated above, an SMB may not be evaluated under a
6

OMB Control Number 7100-0247 (Board), 3064-0046 (FDIC), and 1557-0159 (OCC).

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strategic plan unless it has been operating under an approved plan for at least one year.
Legal Status
The reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements of Regulation BB are
authorized by section 806 of the CRA which permits the Board to issue regulations to carry out
the purpose of the CRA (12 U.S.C. 2905), section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act which permits
the Board to require such statements and reports of state member banks as it deems necessary (12
U.S.C. 248(a)(1)), and section 9 of the Federal Reserve Act which permits the Board to examine
state member banks (12 U.S.C. 325). Most of the reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure
requirements of Regulation BB are mandatory. However, there are several limited parts of the
collection that aren’t mandatory but that are required to obtain a benefit, specifically, the request
for designation as a wholesale or limited purpose bank, the strategic plan, and the recordkeeping
and reporting requirements associated with data regarding consumer loans and lending
performance, affiliate lending data, and data on lending by a consortium or a third party.
Most of the information collected under Regulation BB is not considered confidential.
The only exception is for small business and small farm loan data at the census-tract level, which
can be held confidential under exemption 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which
protects information contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports
prepared by or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation and supervision of
financial institutions and exemption 4, which protects confidential commercial information and
trade secrets (5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(4) and (b)(8)).7
Consultation Outside the Agency
On September 20, 2017, the agencies published a joint notice of proposed rulemaking in
the Federal Register (82 FR 43910) for public comment. The comment period for this notice
expired October 20, 2017. The agencies received no comments on the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA). On November 24, 2017, the agencies published a final rule in the Federal Register
(82 FR 55734). The final rule is effective on January 1, 2018.
Estimates of Respondent Burden
The burden estimates for non-optional reporting requirements related to loan data, other
than community development loan data, include time estimates for geocoding easy- and hard-tofind loan geographies. The number of respondents for the non-optional reporting requirements
(loan data and assessment area delineation) and optional reporting requirements (third-party and
affiliate lending) are based on the number of CRA data respondents regulated by the Board using
2016 data reported March 1, 2017. Optional reporting requirements for requests for strategic
plan approvals and designations as a wholesale or limited purpose bank are based on previous
experience.8 Optional recordkeeping requirement burden estimates for consumer loan data and
For a more detailed explanation regarding the confidentiality of such data, see the Board’s response to the
Freedom of Information Act Request No. F-2016-00020.
8
On average, the Board receives requests for two strategic plan approvals a year and less than one designation as a
wholesale or limited purpose bank a year.
7

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other loan data are estimated based on a review of CRA performance evaluations.
The burden for the public file disclosure requirements includes estimates for both the
large and small bank requirements. The public file requirement also includes an estimate of the
time required for small banks, including intermediate small banks, to delineate an assessment
area.
The total annual burden for SMBs associated with complying with CRA is estimated to
be 61,727 hours for the 817 institutions supervised by the Board and would remain unchanged
with the proposed revisions. These reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements
represent less than 1 percent of the total Federal Reserve System annual paperwork burden.

8

Number of
respondents9

FR BB
Reporting
Sections 228.41 and 228.42(g)
Assessment area delineation
Section 228.42(b)
Loan data:
Small business and small farm
Community development
HMDA out of MSA

Annual
frequency

Estimated
Estimated
average hours annual burden
per response
hours

98

1

2

196

94
98
89

1
1
1

8
13
253

752
1,274
22,517

1

1

4

4

2

1

275

550

8

1

38

304

9

1

17

153

Recordkeeping
Section 228.42(a)
Small business and small farm
loan register

94

1

219

20,586

Optional Recordkeeping
Section 228.42(c):
Consumer loan data
Other loan data

21
15

1
1

326
25

6,846
375

817

1

10

8,170

Optional Reporting
Section 228.25(b)
Request for designation as a
wholesale or limited purpose
bank
Section 228.27
Request for strategic plan
approval
Section 228.42(d)
Affiliate lending data
Section 228.42(e)
Data on lending by a consortium
or third party

Disclosure
Sections 228.43 and 228.44
Public file
Total

61,727

9

Of these respondents, the reporting section 228.25(b) respondent and 575 of the 817 disclosure sections 228.43
and 228.44 respondents are considered small entities as defined by the Small Business Administration (i.e., entities
with less than $550 million in total assets). www.sba.gov/content/table-small-business-size-standards.

9

The total cost to the public is estimated to be $3,459,798.10
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 Board processes data for the agencies. The agencies’ 2017 annual cost was budgeted
to be $1,036,235.

10

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 $18, 45% Financial Managers at
$69, 15% Lawyers at $68, and 10% Chief Executives at $94). 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 2017, published March 30, 2018, www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Occupations are defined using
the BLS Occupational Classification System, www.bls.gov/soc/.

10

Attachment 1
Summary of annual Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Disclosure Requirements
Associated with Regulation BB
Requirements

Reporting

Recordkeeping

Disclosure

Assessment area (228.41(a), 228.42(g))
All banks

Delineate assessment
area
11
Large banks
Report this list
Collect list of
geographies in
assessment area(s)
Small business and small farm loan data (228.42(b)(1))
Large banks
Report aggregate number
and amount of loans:
 $100,000 or less at
origination
 $100,000 but less
than or equal to
$250,000 at
origination
 More than $250,000
at origination
 to business or farm
with gross annual
revenue of $1 million
or less
Community development loan data (228.42(b)(2))
Large banks
Aggregate number and
amount of community
development loans
originated or purchased
Home mortgage loan data (228.42(b)(3))
Large banks
If applicable:
Location of each loan
application, origination
or purchase outside
MSAs where bank has
offices (property
location)

11

For the purpose of this attachment large banks are defined as any bank other than a small bank or intermediate
small bank, as defined by Regulation BB, or any small bank or intermediate small bank electing not to employ the
reporting exemptions available to small lenders.

11

Requirements

Reporting

Recordkeeping

Disclosure

Request for designation as a wholesale or limited purpose bank (optional) (228.25(b))
All banks
Request in writing filed
with the Board 3 months
in advance of proposed
effective date of
designation
Strategic plan (optional) (228.27(a), 228.27(d)(3), 228.27(e), 228.27(f), and 228.27(h))
All banks
Submitted to and
approved by the Board
Affiliate lending data (optional) (228.42(d))
All banks
Loan data the bank
Loan data the bank
would have reported had would have collected
the loans been
and maintained had
originated or purchased the loans been
by the bank
originated or
purchased by the
bank12
Data on lending by a consortium or a third party (optional) (228.42(e))
All banks
Loan data the bank
would have reported had
the loans been
originated or purchased
by the bank
Small business and small farm loan register (228.42(a))
Large banks
Must collect and
maintain:
 unique symbol
 loan amount
 loan location
 indicator whether
loan was to
business or farm
with gross annual
revenues of $1
million or less

12

For home mortgage loans, the bank must be prepared to identify the home mortgage loans reported under
Regulation C by the affiliate.

12

Requirements

Reporting

Recordkeeping

Disclosure

Consumer loan data (optional) (228.42(c)(1))
All banks
Loans originated or
purchased:
 unique symbol to
identify loan file
 loan amount
 loan location
 borrower’s gross
income
considered in
making credit
decision
Other loan data (optional) (228.42(c)(2))
All banks
Other lending
performance
information
Public file (228.41(a), 228.43(a)(1), 228.43(a)(2), 228.43(a)(3), 228.43(a)(4), 228.43(a)(5),
228.43(a)(6), 228.43(a)(7), 228.43(b)(1), 228.43(b)(2), 228.43(b)(3), 228.43(b)(4),
228.43(b)(5), 228.43(c), and 228.43(d))
All banks
 comment letters
and responses
(current and
prior two years)
 public section of
most recent CRA
performance
evaluation
 list of bank
branches
 list of branch
openings and
closings
 list of services
offered
 map of each
assessment area
if applicable:
 strategic plan
 description of
current efforts to
improve its CRA
performance

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Requirements

Reporting

Recordkeeping

Disclosure


Large banks

CRA Disclosure
Statements
(prior two
years)
if applicable:
 consumer loan
data (prior two
years)
 HMDA
Disclosure
Statements
(prior two
years)
 loan-to-deposit
ratio; each
quarter prior year
if applicable:
 information
required under
disclosure rules
for large banks

Small banks and
intermediate
small banks

Public notice by banks (228.44)
All banks

Prescribed notices
informing
consumers of their
rights to certain
information

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