The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is requesting comment on its collection of information regarding the minority and gender classification of individuals serving on the boards of directors of the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) and of the Office of Finance.
This data is collected under the agency’s regulations on minority and women inclusion (MWI), which the FHFA will soon be submitting for control number renewal to the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
According to the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (Safety and Soundness Act), the FHLBanks and the Office of Finance are required to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. This office is responsible for all matters relating to diversity in management, employment, and business activities in accordance with FHFA requirements.
The Safety and Soundness Act also requires these entities to put in place standards and procedures to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the inclusion and utilization of women and minorities at all levels of its business and activities and submit an annual report to the FHFA detailing the efforts taken to promote diversity at all levels of management and employment, and the results of those efforts.
Every year, FHLBanks and the Office of Finance report demographic data for employees in the EEO-1 form filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The FHFA’s MWI regulations also require each entity to submit information from these reports. However, because the EEO-1 form does not require information on board directors, the agency is not able to use that data alone to access the effectiveness of the FHLBank System’s effort to “encourage the consideration of diversity in nominating or soliciting nominees for positions on boards of directors.”
“Therefore, in order to enable FHFA to assess those efforts, the MWI regulations separately require that the annual reports set forth ‘[d]ata showing for the reporting year by minority and gender classification, the number of individuals on the board of directors of each [FHLBank] and the Office of Finance,’ using the same racial and ethnic classifications that are used on the EEO–1,” the request for comment stated.
For those interested in providing input, FHFA asks comments to be submitted by Sept. 13, 2021. The agency asks interested parties to consider the following topics:
- Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of FHFA functions, including whether the information has practical utility.
- The accuracy of FHFA’s estimate of the burden of the collection of information.
- Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected.
- Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.