Office of Thrift Supervision March 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The OCC, Board, FDIC, and OTS (the Agencies) are publishing an interpretation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the Interagency Guidelines Establishing Information Security Standards (Security Guidelines).\1\ This interpretive guidance, titled ``Interagency Guidance on Response Programs for Unauthorized Access to Customer Information and Customer Notice'' (final Guidance), is being published as a supplement to the Security Guidelines in the Code of Federal Regulations in order to make the interpretation more accessible to financial institutions and to the general public. The final Guidance will clarify the responsibilities of financial institutions under applicable Federal law. OTS is also making a conforming, technical change to its Security Procedures Rule.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, and OTS (the agencies) request comment on their proposal to revise the classification system for commercial credit exposures. The proposal will replace the current commercial loan classification system categories ``special mention,'' ``substandard,'' and ``doubtful'' with a two-dimensional based framework. The proposed framework would be used by institutions and supervisors for the uniform classification of commercial and industrial loans; leases; receivables; mortgages; and other extensions of credit made for business purposes by federally insured depository institutions and their subsidiaries (institutions), based on an assessment of borrower creditworthiness and estimated loss severity. The proposed framework would not modify the interagency classification of retail credit as stated in the ``Uniform Retail Credit Classification and Account Management Policy Statement,'' issued in February 2000. However, by creating a new treatment for commercial loan exposures, the proposed framework would modify Part I of the ``Revised Uniform Agreement on the Classification of Assets and Appraisal of Securities Held by Banks and Thrifts' issued in June 2004. This proposal is intended to enhance the methodology used to systematically assess the level of credit risk posed by individual commercial extensions of credit and the level of an institution's aggregate commercial credit risk.

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507. The Office of Thrift Supervision within the Department of the Treasury will submit the proposed information collection requirement described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. Today, OTS is soliciting public comments on its proposal to extend this information collection.

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is adding a new subpart to its Rules of Practice and Procedure in Adjudicatory Proceedings to provide for expedited processing of certain actions to determine if a company is exercising a controlling influence over the management or policies of a savings association or savings and loan holding company (collectively, savings association) for certain purposes under section 10 of the Home Owners' Loan Act, 12 U.S.C. 1467a (HOLA). The new proceedings will be used only to determine if a company has acquired a controlling influence over the management or policies of a savings association for purposes of those subsections of section 10 other than subsections (c), (d), (f), (h)(2), (m), (n), (q) and (s). Under the new procedure, a company that holds no more than ten percent of the stock of a savings association may be found to control that savings association, thereby becoming an OTS-regulated entity.

The proposed information collection requirement described below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. OTS is soliciting public comments on the proposal.