Call and Thrift Financial Reports

Issue

Uniform Call Reports for banks and savings associations.

Position Statement

ABA supports the development of an online, streamlined program of "Call Reports" for banks and savings associations, whether under the Consolidated Report of Condition and Income or the Thrift Financial Report—or some appropriate combination of the two. The required reporting items should generally be uniform for all insured depository institutions and should only include the items necessary for agency supervisory purposes and industry peer-group analysis, variations being limited only to those items necessary in recognition of essential charter differences.  The ABA supports the current review by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) of the costs and benefits of moving to a Call Report, modified as appropriate to reflect the differences in the business models and supervision of savings associations and banks.

Explanation

The federal banking agencies are continuing to work on developing a common core Call Report for banks and savings associations, as required by the American Home Ownership and Economic Opportunity Act of 2000. The agencies have issued a number of changes to the Call Report that will help in the adoption of a uniform form.  On November 14, 2007, the OTS issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that calls for comment on which elements of the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) would need to be carried over to the Call Report if the OTS were to convert savings associations to the Call Report.  Comments were due January 14, 2008.  ABA submitted a detailed list of information that we request that the OTS provide in order to assist our members in judging the merits of moving from the TFR to the Call Report.

ABA will urge the agencies to add new line items only when absolutely necessary until the core report project is completed. ABA's committees will help ABA to determine the extent to which a proposed core report would actually reduce the regulatory burden.  The OTS has initially identified several TFR schedules that will need to be retained, including the Consolidated Maturity/Rate Schedule (CMR) and thrift holding company data as found in the TFR Schedule HC.

Additionally, ABA supported the development of a Call Report filing system that is more readily accessible, employing the new Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format. The FDIC, the Federal Reserve, and the OCC have overhauled the procedures and data systems used to file Call Reports and created an online central data repository that has enabled banks and regulators to prepare, publish and exchange financial information more efficiently. This new system was launched with the September 2006 reports. Call Report data are now released two weeks earlier than under previous procedures, enabling bankers, regulators and investors to respond more quickly and more accurately to business environments and risks.

To involve the banking industry in the Call Report modernization project, the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and the OCC formed an industry focus group to aid in implementation. As a member of the focus group, ABA works to ensure that any new Call Report filing mechanisms are not overly burdensome for banks.  ABA is committed to similar close consultation with the OTS in its review of the TFR and related issues.

Further information contact: Donna Fisher (202) 663-5318.