A final rule clarifying Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) procedures and rule changes on the disclosure of confidential supervisory information (CSI) – removing some previous restrictions – was issued Friday by the Federal Reserve Board and is set to take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The Fed said the final rule is “generally similar” to the proposal from June 2019, but some changes were made in response to public comments. “For example, the final rule allows supervised financial institutions to share CSI with all affiliates, rather than only with their parent bank holding companies,” the Fed said in its release Friday. “In a change from the proposal, the final rule will allow financial institutions to share CSI with service providers without obtaining Reserve Bank approval.”
CSI is supervisory information that belongs to the Fed Board that may include proprietary financial institution-specific information, the central bank noted. The Fed said its final rule provides clarifying revisions to the definition of CSI, and, like the proposal, does not expand or reduce the information that falls within the current definition of CSI.
Additionally, the final rule updates the board’s FOIA regulation to be consistent with current practices and to incorporate recent changes in law and guidance. The Fed said it updates definitions for expedited processing and the different categories of requesters, clarifies terms, and helps users more easily navigate the process of filing a FOIA request.
RR: Proposal would expand banks’ ability to share confidential supervisory info internally, with other regulators (June 17, 2019)