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Nov 4 -- The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) invites comment by January 3, 2022 on a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, FR 2248-Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities.
 
Finance companies provide a significant share of short- and medium-term credit to businesses, and business investment, both for fixed capital and inventory, is one of the more cyclically sensitive components of GDP. Because of the significant effect monetary policy can have on business investment, in part via the availability of credit, monitoring the sources of funding to businesses is important for the conduct of monetary policy.   
 
The FR 2248 is collected monthly as of the last calendar day of the month from a stratified sample of 150 finance companies. Each monthly report collects balance sheet data on major categories of consumer and business credit receivables and on major short-term liabilities. For quarter-end months (March, June, September, and December), additional asset and liability items are collected to provide a full balance sheet. A supplemental section collects data on securitized assets. Board staff may ask either quantitative or qualitative questions through the use of a special addendum section no more than twice per year. The data are used to construct universe estimates of finance company holdings, which are published in the monthly statistical releases Finance Companies (G.20) and Consumer Credit (G.19) and in the quarterly statistical release Financial Accounts of the United States (Z.1).

Legal authorization and confidentiality: The FR 2248 is authorized by sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (FRA). Section Start Printed Page 60821 2A of the FRA requires that the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintain long-run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. Section 12A of the FRA further requires the FOMC to implement regulations relating to the open market operations conducted by Federal Reserve Banks with a view to accommodating commerce and business and with regard to their bearing upon the general credit situation of the country. The Board and FOMC use the information obtained through the FR 2248 to discharge these responsibilities. The FR 2248 is voluntary.

Although the Board releases aggregate data derived from the FR 2248 in the monthly G.20 and G.19 statistical releases, and in the quarterly Z.1 statistical release, individual finance company information provided by each respondent is generally treated as confidential. Information collected on the FR 2248 is likely to constitute nonpublic commercial or financial information, which is both customarily and actually treated as private by the respondent. Accordingly, such information may be kept confidential by the Board pursuant to exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act. If it should be determined that any information collected on the FR 2248 must be released, respondents would be notified.

FR 2248 form and instructions: https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/reportdetail.aspx?sOoYJ+5BzDbQtl7Utr131Q==
FF 2248 supporting statement: https://www.federalreserve.gov/reportforms/formsreview/FR%202248%20OMB%20SS.pdf  
FR notice inviting comment: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/04/2021-23803/proposed-agency-information-collection-activities-comment-request

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