As part of its efforts to reduce Call Report burden, the banking agencies today advanced changes to the Call Report — proposing to eliminate or revise several Call Report entries and signaling further action down the road. The action came in response to ABA engagement with the agencies and strong advocacy to make the Call Report reporting process less onerous.
“We have long encouraged the banking agencies to review and improve the Call Report and we appreciate that they have responded to our concerns about how unwieldy it is,” said ABA President and CEO Frank Keating. “With more than 1,900 line items, the Call Report is due for review and we look forward to continuing to work with the agencies in this process.”
The proposed Call Report changes would delete certain existing entries, increase the reporting thresholds for other entries and revise reporting instructions for certain entries. It would also add or revise generally applicable entries, including — for example — raising the time deposit size threshold to correspond with higher FDIC insurance limits. The agencies specifically highlighted ABA’s advocacy on this issue. If finalized, the proposed reporting changes would take effect in December 2015 or March 2016.
The agencies also announced that they will accelerate the next review of Call Report items, originally scheduled for 2017. They also said that by the end of 2015 they will review the feasibility of a short-form Call Report for smaller institutions. They also pledged to engage more closely with financial institutions to understand Call Report burdens and better train the industry on handling the report. Comments on the proposal are due 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. For more information, contact ABA’s Alison Touhey.
