On October 25, 2018, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a proposed rule to rescind and remove its regulations relating to the disclosure of financial and other information by FDIC-insured state nonmember banks. Upon the removal of the regulations, applicable FDIC-regulated banks would no longer be subject to the annual disclosure statement requirement found in those regulations. The financial and other information that has been subject to disclosure by individual banks pursuant to these regulations is publicly available through the FDIC's website.
This proposal comes 20 years after the Federal Reserve rescinded their similar regulations due to duplicate information being available on the internet. Comments must be received on or before November 26, 2018.
History of the FDIC Disclosure Statement Requirement
The FDIC disclosure statement requirements first went into effect on February 1, 1988 when the FDIC adopted part 350 of their rules. The purpose of the disclosure statement requirements was to improve public awareness and understanding of the financial condition of individual banks. Shortly after the FDIC implemented their requirements, both the Federal Reserve and the OCC implemented similar disclosure regulations that were substantially uniform. At this same time, the OTS had a similar, but not identical disclosure regulation.
In 1995, the OTS repealed their disclosure regulation as being unnecessary when they conducted a review of their regulations pursuant to a requirement to evaluate the necessity of applicable regulations. In 1998, the Federal Reserve also eliminated its disclosure regulation on the basis that Call Report information for banks had become available through the internet. As the OCC removed their disclosure statement regulations in 2017, the FDIC is the last regulator to have such rules.
Comments to Rescind the FDIC’s Annual Disclosure Statement Requirements
The proposed rule solicits comments on the FDIC’s proposal to eliminate their annual disclosure statement requirements. Comments may be submitted - identified by RIN 3064-AE65 - by any of the following methods:
Agency Website: https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal. Follow instructions for submitting comments on the Agency website.
Email: Comments@fdic.gov. Include the RIN 3064-AE65 on the subject line of the message.
Mail: Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary, Attention: Comments, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20429.
Hand Delivery: Comments may be hand-delivered to the guard station at the rear of the 550 17th Street NW, building (located on F Street) on business days between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
The full proposal can be found here.