FCA Info Memo - FY 2000 Regulatory Performance Plan

Informational Memorandum
Subject:	FY 2000 Regulatory Performance Plan
Date of Memorandum:	10/21/1999
Expiration Date:
Office:	OPA
Signed By:	McKenzie, Thomas
FCA Contact Person:	DiMuzio, Patricia
Contact Phone:	703-883-4463
List of Attachments:	FY 2000 Regulatory Performance Plan

INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM

October 19, 1999

To: Chairman, Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer

All Farm Credit System Institutions

From: Thomas G. McKenzie, Director

Office of Policy and Analysis

Subject: FY 2000 Regulatory Performance Plan

The FCA Board recently approved the FY 2000 Regulatory Performance Plan (Plan). The Plan identifies projected FCA Board regulatory actions and the quarter when these activities are anticipated for FCA action. As in the past, we place significant emphasis on input from and participation with our primary customers – our regulated entities.

We encourage your participation in the rulemaking process and hope you see several issues identified in the Plan that will help you meet the needs of your constituents. As agriculture and the System continually change, the FCA wants regulations and policies that remain useful without sacrificing safety and soundness. We invite you to provide comments during the next year on our planned regulatory actions through the Farm Credit Council, System Leadership Committees, and individual comment letters from your institutions.

To help you focus on areas of interest to your institution, plan your time and resources, and plan for collaboration with others, I am pleased to enclose a copy of the Plan. We identify planned activity by quarter. Typically, the FCA Board meets on the second Thursday of each month. We welcome you and other members of the public to attend, as the Board operates under provisions of the “Sunshine Act.”

In an effort to make the Agency's regulations and policies more accessible to the public, we made FCA regulations and important policy information more accessible through our web page on the Internet. Visit our site at

www.fca.gov

Also, we encourage you to send electronic correspondence on proposed regulations through the Pending Regulations section of our interactive web site or via electronic mail to

reg-comm@fca.gov

We hope you will follow our progress and participate with the FCA Board as it addresses the individual issues during 2000. If you have any questions about our schedule of activities, feel free to contact Patsy DiMuzio, Director, Regulation and Policy Division, Office of Policy and Analysis, at (703) 883-4498, or correspond on the Internet at

dimuziop@fca.gov

. Also, feel free to call me at (703) 883-4414, or send me an e-mail at

mckenziet@fca.gov

Attachment

FY 2000 Regulatory Performance Plan

Regulation Project/Date	Type of Action	Purpose
October – December 1999
Flood Insurance Amendment	Direct Final	To remove regulatory reference to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standard flood hazard determination form and make other technical amendments needed.
Stock Issuance	Proposed	To consider permitting Farm Credit System institutions, including service corporations, to issue additional amounts of certain classes of stock and allow service corporations to issue non-voting stock to non-System institutions.
January – March 2000
Mission-Related Investments	ANPRM Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking	To assist us in developing safety and soundness standards and other criteria for mission-related investment activity. We hope to gain valuable information in response to the ANPRM that will enable us to better address this issue through future regulatory initiatives. Mission-related investment activities are those that directly relate to agriculture, increase the flow of funds to farmers, ranchers, cooperatives, and rural areas, or otherwise support the ongoing mission of the FCS.
OFIs – Risk Weighting of Loans at FCBs	ANPRM	To consider revising the current risk-weighting requirements for OFI direct loans and other related changes necessary for the safety and soundness of Farm Credit Banks.
Customer Choice	Final	To provide additional flexibility for borrowers to obtain financing from System institutions of their choice and to otherwise de-regulate lending restrictions on FCS entities.
Regulatory Burden – Phase II	Notice	To address comments received from the Regulatory Burden Notice published in August 1998. Would specifically inform the public of the Agency’s rationale for retaining certain regulations due to statutory requirements or safety and soundness concerns.
April – June 2000
Loan Participations & Purchases	Proposed	To remove regulatory restrictions affecting the System’s ability to purchase interests in eligible loans and address any technical changes necessary.
Disclosure–Annual Report	Proposed	To consider eliminating the requirement that FCBs distribute their financial reports to the stockholders of their associations.
Standards of Conduct Plain Language Revision	Direct Final	To revise existing Standards of Conduct regulations so they are written in “Plain Language”.
July – September 2000
Borrower Rights	Proposed	To revise the borrower rights regulations to provide clarification and remove unnecessary burdens.
Termination Regulations	Final	To establish regulations under which a bank or large association within the Farm Credit System can terminate its charter as provided in the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended.
Mission-Related Investments	Proposed	To develop safety and soundness standards and other criteria for mission-related investment activity. Mission-related investment activities are those that directly relate to agriculture, increase the flow of funds to farmers, ranchers, cooperatives, and rural areas, or otherwise support the ongoing mission of the FCS. cc: Central Files-3/OPA Chron/RPD Chron/RPD Subject/DiMuzio/

DiMuzio: (Q:\Reg Development\Performance Measures\FY2000\2000InfoMemo.doc)

_____ Entered/OPA Chron