RFI seeks input on agency’s analysis of regulatory actions to establish structured approach

Input on how the federal insurer of bank deposits analyzes the effects of its regulatory actions is being sought by the agency, in what it says is a key part of its transparent and credible rulemaking process, according to filings posted Wednesday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said it seeking the input (for 60 days, scheduled to begin Friday) as part of a “request for information” (RFI) that the agency said will help it strengthen its analysis of regulatory actions. The agency posted the information in filings with the Federal Register, slated for publication Friday.

“In broad terms, the FDIC is considering a more structured approach to regulatory analysis and one that incorporates a number of analytical practices identified in standard references,” the agency said in its filings. “Comments received on this RFI will be of assistance to the FDIC in strengthening its analysis of the effects of regulatory actions.”

The FDIC said its intention to improve the quality of its analysis of regulatory actions is not in response to any specific statutory mandate, “but in the belief that robust analysis can enhance decision making and regulatory transparency.” It added that, while the RFI is primarily directed toward issues of analytical content, the agency also is considering improvements to its internal approaches to developing the analysis.

Issues under consideration, the FDIC said, include: procedures for inclusion of regulatory analysis staff on rule teams at a sufficiently early stage of the rulemaking process; procedures for reviewing the analysis; processes for seeking information from stakeholders, as appropriate, prior to the proposed rule stage; and processes for retrospective analysis of the effects of regulations.

In addition, the agency said the RFI describes a conceptual template for organizing issues typically arising in bank regulation and analyzing effects in a manner consistent with general principles for regulatory analysis. “The conceptual template is a guide to analysis only in the sense of discussing the types of issues that ought to be considered in any regulatory analysis: it is difficult to be more specific in advance given the diversity of regulatory actions the FDIC undertakes,” the agency said.

Request for Information on a Framework for Analyzing the Effects of FDIC Regulatory Actions