Comments are due Oct. 21 on a proposal to establish data standards for the collection of information reported to federal financial institution regulators by financial entities under their jurisdiction, the federal financial institution and other regulators said Thursday.
The proposal, which would implement the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022 (FDTA), is aimed at promoting interoperability of financial regulatory data by regulated financial entities. The proposal was issued Aug. 9 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Department of Treasury.
The proposal was published Thursday in the Federal Register, which set the 60-day comment period.
According to the notice of proposed rulemaking from Aug. 9, the proposal would establish data standards to promote interoperability of financial regulatory data across the eight agencies. “Final standards established pursuant to this rulemaking will later be adopted for certain collections of information in separate rulemakings by the agencies or through other actions taken by the agencies,” the notice states.
The proposal was issued under the requirements of the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022, the agencies noted.
Under the FDTA, the agencies are required to adopt standards that must (to the extent possible):
- Render data fully searchable and machine-readable;
- Enable high-quality data through schemas, with accompanying metadata documented in machine-readable taxonomy or ontology models, which clearly define the semantic meaning of the data, as defined by the underlying regulatory information collection requirements;
- Ensure that a data element or data asset that exists to satisfy an underlying regulatory information collection requirement be consistently identified as such in associated machine-readable metadata;
- Be nonproprietary or made available under an open license;
- Incorporate standards developed and maintained by voluntary consensus standards bodies; and
- Use, be consistent with, and implement applicable accounting and reporting principles.
The law also requires the agencies to consult with other federal departments and agencies and multi-agency initiatives responsible for federal data standards and to seek to promote interoperability of financial regulatory data across members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).
Thursday’s Register notice stated that application of the joint standards to specific collections of information would take effect through an agency’s adoption by an agency-specific rulemaking or other action.
However, the notice stated, the joint proposed rule would not otherwise change an agency’s authority to collect information from the public.
Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking