Discover Report Details Held

The Federal Reserve Board will not release details from regulatory reports Discover Financial Services filed with the central bank for the first quarter.

The card company became a bank holding company in December and is required to file quarterly reports on its condition with the Fed. But Discover convinced the central bank that its filing — the first since its conversion — would contain information that is not already publicly available.

"The Federal Reserve is aware of the of the magnitude and complexity of the work that DFS must perform to develop the reporting systems that comply with the board's regulatory requirements for bank holding companies," the central bank wrote in a letter to Discover dated May 19 and released publicly on Wednesday. "In this light, DFS has been granted confidential treatment of its first quarter 2009 reports to ensure that your organization will continue to devote the necessary resources to become fully compliant with the board's regulatory reporting requirements as soon as possible."

The Fed has already granted a similar exemption for the auto lender GMAC LLC.

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