Fed Eliminates Certain Regulation O Requirements

The Federal Reserve Board has eliminated certain reporting and disclosure requirements under Regulation O. While the rule does not alter the substantive restrictions on loans made to executive officers and principal shareholders, it does eliminate the following disclosure requirements:

• Reports by executive officers filed with a member bank’s board of directors whenever the executive officer obtains certain extensions of credit from another bank.
• Member bank’s inclusion of a separate report with its Call Report on any extensions of credit the bank has made to its executive officers since its last Call Report.
• Reports and public disclosure of extensions of credit to executive officers and principal shareholders by correspondent banks.

Read the rule at www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/bcreg/2006/200612062.

Pre-Order Presidential One Dollar Coins

The U.S. Mint, working with the Federal Reserve, has provided an early ordering window for financial institutions for the new presidential dollar coins. The ordering window is designed to ensure that each new coin is available to the public on its official release date (and prevent an unauthorized, premature release of a coin). For coin release and program information, go to www.usmint.gov/$1coin; select Mailer for ordering information.

Fed Starts New Studies on Electronic Payments and Check Usage

How many checks are written in the United States each year? What is their collective worth, and how are they used? What is the total value of all the electronic payments made in the United States?

The Fed wants to know. The Federal Reserve System, in conjunction with two outside vendors, is conducting a new round of studies similar to ones performed in 2001 and 2004 to determine the composition of the retail payments market, which includes checks, credit and debit cards, as well as automated clearing house (ACH) transactions.

The information will be collected during the first half of 2007, with results released later in the year. The Fed hopes the data will help financial institutions make better-informed decisions about future investments in their payments technology. For more information, see www.frbservices.org/Retail/pdf/2007PRPaymentStudy.pdf.

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