The enclosed materials pertain to the Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for the December 31, 2003, report date. Please complete your fourth quarter Call Report, review it for accuracy, and submit the report electronically as soon as possible. Except for certain banks with foreign offices, your completed report must be received by January 30, 2004, in accordance with the filing requirements discussed below. No extensions of time for submitting reports are granted. 

If you complete the preparation, editing, and review of your Call Report before the submission deadline, please file the report immediately rather than waiting. Early submission aids the banking agencies in their editing, review, and analysis of the reports. If you later find that certain information needs to be revised, please make the appropriate changes to your Call Report and promptly submit the revised data.

In particular, please ensure that you correctly enter the Emergency Contact Information and USA PATRIOT Act Contact Information that you submit with your Call Report. The banking agencies have found numerous errors in the contact information submitted in recent quarters, particularly in e mail addresses, which have required revisions to the information to make it usable.

All banks are reminded to complete the item for preferred deposits (Memorandum item 1.e of Schedule RC-E). This information is collected only as of the December 31 report date each year.

Banks that have fiduciary or related activities (in the form of assets or accounts), either at the bank itself or in a trust company subsidiary, should ensure that they complete the appropriate items in Schedule RC T, Fiduciary and Related Services. The specific items that are to be completed are determined by a bank’s total fiduciary assets as of December 31, 2002, or its gross fiduciary and related services income in 2002.

As previously announced by the banking agencies, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has contracted with the Unisys Corporation and its development team to build a Central Data Repository (CDR) for the collection, validation, and distribution of Call Report data submitted by banks. Implementation of the new CDR system is expected to start with the Call Report for September 30, 2004. Under this new system, institutions will file their Call Reports via the Internet using software that contains the FFIEC’s edits for validating Call Report data prior to submission. Call Report software vendors are currently modifying their software to incorporate these edits. In preparation for the implementation of the new CDR system, banks will submit contact information for the authorized officer who signs their Call Report beginning with the reports for March 31, 2004. This information will be afforded confidential treatment. The agencies do not plan to add other new items to the Call Report for March 31, 2004.

A sample set of December 31, 2003, report forms is enclosed. The sample forms also are available on both the FFIEC’s Web site ( www.ffiec.gov/ffiec_report_forms.htm ) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Web site ( www.fdic.gov/regulations/resources/call/index.html ).

Each bank must file its December 31, 2003, Call Report in one of the following two ways:

• A bank may use computer software to prepare and edit its report and then file the report directly with the banking agencies’ electronic collection agent, Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS). The Call Report data file can be sent to EDS electronically by modem or on a computer diskette.
• A bank may complete its report in paper form and arrange with EDS, a Call Report software vendor, or another party to convert its paper report to electronic form. If a party other than EDS performs this service, that party must electronically transmit the bank's Call Report data file to EDS. (Please note that, after this quarter, EDS will no longer offer this service.)

The filing of a Call Report that is submitted electronically to EDS by modem will be considered timely if it is transmitted to EDS no later than January 30, 2004. A bank that submits its Call Report to EDS on a computer diskette must make sure that the diskette is properly addressed, mailed first class, and postmarked on or before January 27, 2004, to be considered filed on time. Alternatively, a bank may send the diskette to EDS using an overnight delivery system no later than January 29, 2004. However, a computer diskette that EDS cannot read will not be accepted and the bank must resubmit its report in readable form. This may result in EDS receiving the bank's Call Report data file after the submission deadline.

A bank that has or has had more than one foreign office, other than a “shell” branch or an International Banking Facility, currently is permitted an additional 15 days to complete its Call Report. Such a bank is required to electronically transmit its report to EDS no later than February 14, 2004. Please note that, pending approval by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, this 45 day filing period will be reduced to 40 calendar days effective June 30, 2004, and to 35 calendar days effective June 30, 2005.

For further information or assistance concerning the Call Report, state member banks should contact their Federal Reserve District Bank. National and FDIC-supervised banks should contact the FDIC’s Reports Analysis and Quality Control Section in Washington, D.C., by telephone at (800) 688 FDIC (3342), Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, or by e-mail at insurance research@fdic.gov . Thank you for your cooperation.

Enclosures 

Distribution: Insured Commercial Banks and FDIC-Supervised Savings Banks