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37 BOARD OF GOVERNORS CF' THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM WASHINGTON R-957 ADDRESS OF'F'ICIAL CORRESPONDENCE TO THE SOARD February 4, 1942 Dear Slr: Because of the Boa:·d' n responsibility in connection with the regulation of consumer credit, it has been decided to request the principH.l comme.ccial bank lenders in this field to report monthly statistics as to their operati-ons. Some 200 ba..'1.ks are now reporting St+Ch figures to the Consumer Credit Depa:ctment of t:r...3 Arnerican Bankers Association, but it is preferable 'Chat the Reserve System obtain data. d:trect}.:.r from the banks. We have discussed ·~he matter of Reserve System collection of such statistics with Mr. Vlalter B. F'rench of the American Bankers Association end he racognizes our need for such data. This letter is t,o infor~m yo~l of pla11s for the collection of' these data o.nd to obtain your view~J before making final a.r.rangen'ients. For the present, the plan is t.o use a form of report which has the same items as the condition report supplet:len·::. used in December 19/+l, but to request data on volume for the month as well as amounts outstandi;1g at the end of the month. Except for the addition of noninsured mode:-niza tion loa."'ls, this is the same as the present ABA report form. It is suggested thc..t you compile from condition report supplements of the member bra1ka and the regiGtration statements of nonmember banl:.:s rl. list of importru1t lenders in this field. Presumably the sa..11Jile of current ruporting banl~s should cover more than half of the total conc;umor instalment loans of all banks in your district. A larg3r proportion is desirable if obtainable from a rol.e.tively small number of banks. We expect to obtain from Mr. French at some later date a list of banks now reporting to him and shall send. you the list for your district. Mr. lt"rench would li.ke to continue to receive copies of the current sche<iul~s on individual banks, as they are Ut3edod in tho work that he is doing. He will v~ito to his reporting b~~ks explaining that the Reserve System plans to collect e..r;.d publish these data in the future, but requesting each bunk to subntit duplicate schedules--one to be retained by the Reserve Be..nk and the other to be for..-1arded b',r the Reserve -2- R-957 . Bru1k to the Americru1 Bankers Association. Under this arrangement it will be nec~ssary for the Reserve Banks to send out copies of the report schedule each month in triplicate, at least to the banks on the f.BA list, so that each such bank will be able to prepare a report for the ABA as well as for the aeserve Bank and also to retain a cop,y for its ovm files. ·This arrangement will relieve reporting banks of the burden cf mailing roports to. two differant addresses. Very truly yours, Chester Morrill, Secretar"J. TO THE PRESIDEUTS OF ALL l''ED&:U'\.1 RESERVE BANKS 38
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