AGENCY:

Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

This final rule amends regulations of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to renew reporting requirements for the mandatory BE-180 Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons. This survey applies to the 2019 fiscal reporting year. This mandatory benchmark survey, conducted under the authority of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act, covers the universe of transactions in financial services and is BEA's most comprehensive survey of such transactions. For the 2019 benchmark survey, BEA is making several changes in the data items collected and the design of the survey form.

DATES:

This final rule is effective June 12, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Christopher Stein, Chief, Services Surveys Branch (BE-50), Balance of Payments Division, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, 4600 Silver Hill Rd., Washington, DC 20233; email christopher.stein@bea.gov or phone (301) 278-9189.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On February 25, 2020, BEA published a notice of proposed rulemaking that set forth the revised reporting criteria for the BE-180 Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons (85 FR 10628). This final rule amends 15 CFR part 801 to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-180 Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons.

The BE-180 Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons is a mandatory survey and is conducted once every five years by BEA under the authority provided by the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. L. 94-472, 90 Stat. 2059, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108, as amended) (the Act), and by Section 5408 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4908(b)). The Act provides that data reported to BEA on this survey are confidential and may be used only for analytical and statistical purposes. Without prior written permission from the survey respondent, the data collected cannot be presented in a manner that allows individual responses to be identified. An individual respondent's report cannot be used for purposes of taxation, investigation, or regulation. Copies retained by BEA are exempt from legal process. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (Division N, Title II, Subtitle B, Pub. L. 114-113), a respondent's data are protected from cybersecurity risks through security monitoring of the BEA information systems.

A response is required from persons subject to the reporting requirements of the BE-180, whether or not they are contacted by BEA, to ensure complete coverage of transactions in financial services between U.S. persons (any individual or organization subject to the jurisdiction of the United States) and foreign persons.

In 2012, BEA established regulatory guidelines for collecting data on international trade in services and direct investment (77 FR 24373; April 24, 2012). This final rule, as published, would amend those regulations to require a response from persons subject to the reporting requirements of the BE-180, whether or not they are contacted by BEA.

The BE-180 benchmark survey is intended to cover the universe of financial services transactions of U.S. financial services companies with foreign persons and is BEA's most comprehensive survey of such transactions. In nonbenchmark years, the universe of estimates covering these transactions are derived from the sample data reported on BEA's BE-185 Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons. The BE-185 and the BE-180 collect similar information. BEA uses cutoff sampling for the BE-185, meaning that respondents must report on the BE-185 only if they had combined sales to foreign persons that exceeded $20 million or combined purchases from foreign persons that exceeded $15 million in any one of the 10 covered financial services transaction categories during fiscal year 2019. The sample of respondents that file on a quarterly basis throughout fiscal year 2019 will also be required to report on the 2019 BE-180 survey. BEA reconciles the annual data from the BE-180 survey with the quarterly data reported on the BE-185 survey by comparing quarterly to annual submissions that are typically completed using audited information.

The benchmark data, which includes data from respondents not subject to filing on an ongoing quarterly basis, will be used, in conjunction with quarterly data collected on the companion BE-185 survey, to produce quarterly estimates of financial services transactions for BEA's international transactions accounts, national income and product accounts, and industry accounts. The data collected through the BE-180 are also used to monitor U.S. trade in financial services, to analyze the impact of U.S. trade in financial services on the U.S. economy and on foreign economies, to compile and improve the U.S. economic accounts, to support U.S. commercial policy on trade in services, to conduct trade promotion activities, and to improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities.

A full list of the financial services transactions covered by the BE-180 survey can be found in the regulatory text of this final rule in new § 801.13(g). This includes brokerage services, underwriting and private placement services related to equity transactions and debt transactions, financial management services, credit-related services, credit card services, financial advisory and custody services, securities lending services, electronic funds transfer services, and other financial services.

Description of Changes

This final rule amends the regulations at 15 CFR part 801 by adding new § 801.13 to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-180 benchmark survey, and amends the survey form for the BE-180 benchmark survey to satisfy changing data needs and to improve data quality and the effectiveness and efficiency of data collections. These amendments include several changes in data items collected and the design of the survey form relative to the 2014 benchmark survey.

BEA changes the reporting requirements for respondents with transactions in covered services below the threshold for mandatory reporting on the schedule(s) of the survey ($3 million in combined sales and/or purchases for fiscal year 2019). For the 2019 BE-180, all respondents, regardless of the amount of their transactions in covered services are required to provide a total dollar amount for their sales and purchases, as applicable, by transaction type.

BEA adds the following items to the benchmark survey form:

(1) Question to request the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) of the survey respondent. Respondents will be asked to provide their 20‐digit LEI, if they have one. Obtaining an LEI is not required for the purpose of filing the survey.

(2) Questions to collect financial management transactions by type of account. Respondents who had financial management transactions during the fiscal year will be required to disaggregate these transactions, for both sales and purchases, as applicable, by type of account (for example, mutual funds; pension funds; exchange-traded funds; private equity funds; corporate portfolio; individual portfolio; hedge funds; and trusts).

(3) Questions about the timing of performance fees. Respondents who had financial management transactions during fiscal year 2019 will be required to provide additional information about whether these transactions included fees that are tied to performance and, if so, about the timing of those performance fees. Respondents with performance fees (receipts and/or payments) during fiscal year 2019 will be required to distribute them, in a table, based on the quarter(s) in which they were received and/or paid.

(4) Mandatory questions to collect information on financial services that were conducted remotely, e.g., where both the supplier and the consumer were in different territories when the service was delivered. This information will be collected for both sales of services performed remotely for foreign persons and for purchases of services performed remotely by foreign persons. For transactions in the financial services categories covered by the survey, respondents will be required to check one of several boxes identifying the percentage of their transactions that were conducted remotely, and to identify if this information was sourced from their accounting records or from recall/general knowledge. Respondents will also be required to check one of two boxes identifying how the remainder of the services not reported as 100% remotely transacted were typically performed (e.g., by the provider traveling to the consumer or by the consumer traveling to the provider).

(5) A question to identify respondents engaged in transactions related to cryptocurrency. BEA adds a single question asking respondents to identify, of their 2019 cross-border financial services reported in the required transaction categories, if any were related to cryptocurrency activities.

In addition, BEA has redesigned the format and wording of the survey. The new survey design incorporates improvements that have been made to other BEA surveys. Some improvements are the result of a recent review conducted with selected survey respondents during the planning for the 2017 BE-120 Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons. BE-180 Benchmark Survey instructions and data item descriptions have been changed to improve clarity and ensure that the survey form is consistent with other BEA surveys.

Change to the Regulatory Text of the Proposed Rule

BEA received one comment on the proposed rule which was generally supportive of the rule. The commenter made one suggestion which was outside of the scope of this rulemaking which may be considered for future applications.

We note that we have made a change to paragraph (h), entitled “Due date”, in new § 801.13, as found in the regulatory text of the proposed rule. The phrase “July 31, 2020 (or by August 31, 2020 for respondents that use BEA's eFile system)” has been replaced with “September 30, 2020 (or by October 30, 2020 for respondents that use BEA's eFile system).” BEA made this change in this final rule to provide respondents additional time to comply with the requirements of the new section.

Executive Order 12866

This final rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866. This rule is not an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because this rule is not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 13132

This final rule does not contain policies with Federalism implications sufficient to warrant preparation of a Federalism assessment under Executive Order 13132.

Paperwork Reduction Act

The collection-of-information in this final rule was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520 (PRA). OMB approved the reinstatement, with change, of the information collection under OMB control number 0608-0062.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless that collection displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The BE-180 survey is expected to result in the filing of reports from approximately 7,000 respondents. Approximately 5,500 respondents would report mandatory data on the survey, and approximately 1,500 would file exemption claims. The respondent burden for this collection of information would vary from one respondent to another, but is estimated to average (1) 11 hours for the 1,875 respondents that file mandatory or voluntary data by country and affiliation for relevant transaction types on the mandatory schedules; (2) 2 hours for the 3,625 respondents that file mandatory data by transaction type but not by country or affiliation; and (3) 1 hour for the 1,500 exemption claims. These burden-hour estimates consider time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Thus, the total respondent burden for this survey is estimated at 29,375 hours, or approximately 4 hours per response (29,375 hours/7,000 respondents), compared to 27,500 hours, or about 3 hours per response (27,500 hours/8,750 respondents) for the 2014 BE-180 benchmark survey. The increase in burden hours is due to estimated changes in the expected response composition of the respondent universe from 2014 to 2019, as well as changes in the content of the survey.

Written comments regarding the burden-hour estimates or other aspects of the collection-of-information requirements contained in the final rule should be sent to both BEA via email at Christopher.Stein@bea.gov and to OMB, O.I.R.A., Paperwork Reduction Project 0608-0073, Attention PRA Desk Officer for BEA, Kerrie Leslie, via email at OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Chief Counsel for Regulation, Department of Commerce, certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration, at the proposed rule stage that this action will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. No comments were received on that certification or on the economic impacts of this rule more generally. Therefore, no regulatory flexibility analysis is required and none has been prepared.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801

• Economic statistics
• Foreign trade
• International transactions
• Penalties
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements

For reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA amends 15 CFR part 801 as follows:

PART 801—SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SERVICES BETWEEN U.S. AND FOREIGN PERSONS AND SURVEYS OF DIRECT INVESTMENT

1. The authority citation for 15 CFR part 801 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 15 U.S.C. 4908; 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108; E.O. 11961 (3 CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 86), as amended by E.O. 12318 (3 CFR, 1981 Comp. p. 173); and E.O. 12518 (3 CFR, 1985 Comp. p. 348).

2. Revise § 801.3 to read as follows:

3. Add § 801.13 to read as follows: