FFIEC030_FFIEC030S_20211110_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Foreign Branch Report of Condition
(FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S; OMB No. 7100-0071)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) requests approval from
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to extend for three years, without revision, the
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Foreign Branch Report of Condition
(FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S; OMB No. 7100-0071). Insured domestically chartered
commercial banks and savings associations (U.S. banks) that have one or more branch offices in
a foreign country are required to report balance sheet information for each of their foreign
branches on either the FFIEC 030 or FFIEC 030S. The FFIEC 030 is collected annually as of
December 31 or quarterly for significant branches as of the last day of each calendar quarter; the
FFIEC 030S is an abbreviated reporting form filed annually by smaller institutions.
The Federal Reserve receives reports for all foreign branches of U.S. banks, regardless of
charter type, on behalf of the U.S. banks’ primary federal bank regulatory agency (Board,
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), or Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
(OCC) (collectively, the agencies)). The agencies use the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S reports to
fulfill their statutory obligation to supervise foreign operations of domestic banks. Each of the
agencies separately clears the reports pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act, including with
regard to estimating respondent burden, for U.S. banks under their supervision. The FDIC and
OCC have also submitted similar requests for OMB review for U.S. banks under their
supervision.
The estimated total annual burden for the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S with respect to
banks supervised by the Board is 317 hours. The form and instructions are available on the
FFIEC’s public website at https://www.ffiec.gov/ffiec_report_forms.htm.
Background and Justification
The FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S collect information on the structure and geographic
distribution of foreign branch assets and liabilities. The agencies use this information to plan
examinations and to analyze the foreign operations of U.S. banks, in connection with the
agencies’ statutory responsibility to assess the safety and soundness of the U.S. banks that they
supervise. The information collected by the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S allows the agencies to
measure growth trends by bank, by country, and by bank within country. Additionally, aggregate
data that is publicly released by the agencies are a useful source of information on U.S. bank
activities for the general public. This series of data collected by these reports is the oldest
statistical series that exists for foreign branches of U.S. banks and is an important source for
measuring the growth of these offices.
The FFIEC 030 is the only report through which the agencies collect balance sheet
information on foreign branches of U.S. banks. The Board uses another report, the Quarterly
Report of Assets and Liabilities of Large Foreign Offices of U.S. Banks (FR 2502q; OMB No.

7100-0079), to collect less detailed balance sheet information from parent institutions of foreign
branches or subsidiaries (specifically, those with total assets of $500 million or more). The
FR 2502q collects only gross assets and liabilities by the country of the principal address of the
customer, rather than the type of assets and liabilities of the branch. Although the FR 2502q does
not provide comparable information, the Board may check the FFIEC 030 to verify that
individual branches that report total assets greater than or equal to $500 million also report on the
FR 2502q.
Description of Information Collection
The FFIEC 030 is a two-page report that collects balance sheet information on foreign
branches of U.S. banks that meet certain size requirements. Each data item of the FFIEC 030
relates directly to one or more data items on the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income
for a Bank with Domestic and Foreign Offices (Call Report) (FFIEC 031; OMB No. 7100-0036);
no additional information is requested.
U.S. banks must file the report quarterly for foreign branches with total assets of at least
$2 billion or commitments to purchase foreign currencies and U.S. dollar exchange of at least
$5 billion (significant branches) and annually for all other foreign branches with total assets of
more than $250 million. Reporters may choose to file one consolidated report for all their
branches located in the same foreign country; however, reporters are not permitted to consolidate
data for significant branches with data for any other branches.
The FFIEC 030S is an abbreviated reporting form containing five data items that U.S.
banks must file with regard to foreign branches with total assets between $50 million and $250
million file annually. These data items are the minimum information needed to serve as
indicators of higher business volume, risk, and complexity in small-sized foreign branches. The
reported information also is used to monitor potential developments that may pose risks to the
overall operations of the parent bank. U.S. banks do not have to file an FFIEC 030 or
FFIEC 030S with respect to any foreign branch with total assets of less than $50 million and that
do not otherwise meet the requirements to file the FFIEC 030 quarterly.
Respondent Panel
The FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S panel comprises U.S. banks that have one or more
branch offices in a foreign country.
Time Schedule for Information Collection
The FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S are collected annually as of December 31 from
U.S. banks with one or more branch offices in a foreign country and quarterly from U.S. banks
with significant branches as of the last calendar day of March, June, September, and December.
The FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S must be submitted within forty-five days of the report date by
qualifying U.S. banks, regardless of charter type, to the Federal Reserve Bank in the district in
which the U.S. bank’s main office is located. The Federal Reserve then compiles the reported
information and makes it available to the FDIC and OCC four months after the as of date for

2

both quarterly and annual reporters.
Public Availability of Data
Aggregate data are published in the Federal Reserve Annual Report and the Department
of Commerce’s Annual Statistical Digest.
Legal Status
The Board is authorized to collect the information contained on the FFIEC 030 and
FFIEC 030S from state member banks by sections 9(3) and 9(6) of the Federal Reserve Act
(12 U.S.C. §§ 321 and 324). Section 9(6) requires state member banks to make “reports of
condition and of the payment of dividends” that “shall be in such form and shall contain such
information as the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may require.” Section
9(3) permits state member banks to establish and operate branches in “any foreign country, on
the same terms and conditions and subject to the same limitations as are applicable to the
establishment of branches by national banks except that the approval of the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System, instead of the Comptroller of the Currency, shall be obtained
before any State member bank may hereafter establish any branch.” Section 25(4) of the
Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. § 602) states that “every national banking association operating
foreign branches shall be required to furnish information concerning the condition of such
branches to the Comptroller of the Currency upon demand.” The obligation to respond is
mandatory for U.S. banks with a foreign branch that has $50 million or more in total assets.
The information that is required to be provided on the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S is
collected as part of the Board’s supervisory process. Accordingly, such information is afforded
confidential treatment under exemption 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which
protects information from disclosure that is contained in or related to the examination or
supervision of a financial institution (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(8)). In addition, the FFIEC 030 and
FFIEC 030S are likely to contain nonpublic commercial or financial information, which is both
customarily and actually treated as private by the respondent. Accordingly, such information
may be withheld under exemption 4 of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)). In limited
circumstances, aggregate data for multiple respondents, which does not reveal the identity of
any individual respondent, may be released to the public.
Consultation Outside the Agency
The Board coordinated and consulted with the FDIC and OCC with respect to this
proposal to extend the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S, without revision.
Public Comments
On August 13, 2021, the agencies, under the auspices of the FFIEC, published an initial
notice in the Federal Register (86 FR 44768) requesting public comment for 60 days on the
extension, without revision, of the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S. The comment period for this
notice expired on October 12, 2021. The agencies received one comment from a financial

3

institution. The commenter asked the agencies to clarify how to report equity securities with
readily determinable fair values not held for trading in the FFIEC 030. The commenter stated
that reporting these securities in line 4(b), “Other securities (debt and equity)” wou ld align the
FFIEC 030 with the Call Report classification. The agencies agree with the commenter’s
suggestions and will clarify the FFIEC 030 instructions accordingly. On November 10, 2021, the
agencies, under the auspices of the FFIEC, published a final notice in the Federal Register (86
FR 62599) requesting public comment for 30 days on the extension, without revision, of the
FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S. The comment period for this notice expires on December 10, 2021.
Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the FFIEC 030 and
FFIEC 030S with respect to banks supervised by the Board is 317 hours. These reporting
requirements represent less than 1 percent of the Board’s total paperwork burden.

FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S
FFIEC 030
Annual
Quarterly
FFIEC 030S

Estimated
number of
respondents1

Annual
frequency

12
20
7

1
4
1

Total

Estimated
Estimated
average hours annual burden
per response
hours
3.4
3.4
0.5

41
272
4
317

The estimated total annual cost to the public for the FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S is
$18,751.2
Sensitive Questions
This collection of information contains no questions of a sensitive nature, as defined by
OMB guidelines.
Estimated Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing the
FFIEC 030 and FFIEC 030S is $35,200. The Federal Reserve System collects and processes the
data for all three of the agencies.
1

Of these respondents, 6 for the FFIEC 030 Annual; 1 for the FFIEC 030 Quarterly; and 7 for the FFIEC 030S are
considered small entities as defined by the Small Business Administration (i.e., entities with less than $600 million
in total assets), https://www.sba.gov/document/support--table-size-standards.
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 $20, 45% Financial Managers at
$73, 15% Lawyers at $72, and 10% Chief Executives at $95). 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 2020, published March 31, 2021, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Occupations are defined
using the BLS Standard Occupational Classification System, https://www.bls.gov/soc/.

4