Office of Thrift Supervision 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) regulations, at 12 CFR 551.150(a), currently require certain officers and employees of savings associations to file reports of their personal securities transactions with the savings association within ten business days after the end of each calendar quarter. In this interim final rule, OTS is amending 12 CFR 551.150(a) to provide that such reports must be filed no later than 30 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter. As a result of this amendment, the time period for officers and employees of savings associations to file the report will be consistent with the time period for persons in similar positions at investment companies to file such reports under regulations promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

OTS is adopting an interim final rule implementing section 710(a) of the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006, which added a new section 19(e) to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA). Section 19(e) of the FDIA prohibits any person who has been convicted of any criminal offense involving dishonesty or a breach of trust, or money laundering or has agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion or similar program in connection with a prosecution for such an offense from holding certain positions with respect to a savings and loan holding company (SLHC). The interim final rule describes the actions that are prohibited under the new statute and describes procedures for applying for an OTS order granting a case-by-case exemption. The rule also provides two regulatory exemptions: An exemption for certain SLHC employees whose activities and responsibilities are limited solely to agriculture, forestry, retail merchandising, manufacturing, or public utilities operations, and a temporary exemption for certain persons who held positions with respect to a SLHC as of the date of enactment of section 19(e) of the FDIA.

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

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.

OTS is correcting an inadvertent omission and incorrect word in a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of March 22, 2007 (72 FR 13429). That final rule reestablishes uniformity between OTS's Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations and those of the other federal banking agencies.

Changes in the environment in which depository institutions and their holding companies operate have had a substantial impact on the way they are managed and necessitate changes in the way they are supervised. OTS supervises a diverse population of holding companies ranging from non-complex companies with limited activities to large, internationally active conglomerates that engage in a variety of activities. OTS has a well-established program for meeting its statutory responsibilities with respect to savings and loan holding companies (SLHCs or holding companies) and the thrift industry. Holding company supervision is an integral part of this oversight program, and OTS routinely takes steps to enhance its risk-focused supervision of holding companies. While OTS has emphasized risk management in its supervisory processes for SLHCs of all sizes and complexities, this emphasis is not readily apparent in the primary components of the current SLHC supervisory rating system, CORE (Capital, Organizational Structure, Relationship, and Earnings). Therefore, OTS is considering making changes to the component descriptions and rating scale used to evaluate the condition of SLHCs. All SLHCs are assigned a rating, although the degree of supervisory scrutiny varies based on a risk-focused evaluation of their size, complexity, business activities, and risk exposures. OTS is committed to maintaining a common CORE component framework and a rating system that is flexible and applies to all SLHCs. After reviewing public comments, OTS intends to make any necessary changes to the proposal and adopt a final SLHC rating system.

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is proposing to revise its regulations, at 12 CFR 584.2 and 584.2-2, to expand the permissible activities of savings and loan holding companies (SLHCs) to the full extent permitted under the Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA). In addition, OTS proposes to amend 12 CFR 584.4 to conform the regulation to the statute that it is intended to implement by replacing the absolute prohibition on certain SLHC transactions that is currently in the regulation with a prior approval requirement. The proposed regulation sets forth standards that OTS will use to evaluate applications submitted pursuant to the application requirement.

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

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

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, and NCUA (the Agencies) request comment on this proposed Statement on Subprime Mortgage Lending. The proposed statement addresses emerging issues and questions relating to certain subprime mortgage lending practices, and it discusses risk management and consumer compliance processes, policies, and procedures that institutions should implement to respond to these concerns.

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

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (the ``agencies'') may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication for public comment of a proposal to revise the reporting of risk-based capital information in the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for banks and the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) for savings associations, which are currently approved collections of information for the agencies. These proposed reporting revisions are based on the agencies' joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) on proposed revisions to their existing risk-based capital framework, an approach known as Basel IA (71 FR 77445, December 26, 2006), the comment period for which ends on March 26, 2007. At the end of the comment periods for the Basel IA NPR and this reporting proposal, the agencies will review all comments and recommendations they receive on both proposals, which may result in modifications of the proposed Basel IA risk-based capital rules and these related proposed reporting revisions. Before any proposed Basel IA reporting revisions are implemented, the agencies will submit them to OMB for review and approval.

This final rule updates OTS regulations that require a savings association to obtain approval (or non-objection) before it may include subordinated debt securities or mandatorily redeemable preferred stock in supplementary (tier 2) capital. The final rule removes several unnecessary or outdated requirements and conforms certain provisions, such as maturity period requirements and purchaser restrictions, to the rules issued by the other federal banking agencies. The final rule also reconciles conflicting rules, adds appropriate statutory cross- references, and rewrites the rule in plain language.

The Agencies are adopting an Interagency Statement on Sound Practices Concerning Elevated Risk Complex Structured Finance Activities (``Final Statement''). The Final Statement pertains to national banks, state banks, bank holding companies (other than foreign banks), federal and state savings associations, savings and loan holding companies, U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, and SEC-registered broker-dealers and investment advisers (collectively, ``financial institutions'' or ``institutions'') engaged in complex structured finance transactions (``CSFTs''). In May 2004, the Agencies issued and requested comment on a proposed interagency statement (``Initial Proposed Statement''). After reviewing the comments received on the Initial Proposed Statement, the Agencies in May 2006 issued and requested comment on a revised proposed interagency statement (``Revised Proposed Statement''). The modifications to the Revised Proposed Statement, among other things, made the statement more principles-based and focused on the identification, review and approval process for those CSFTs that may pose heightened levels of legal or reputational risk to the relevant institution (referred to as ``elevated risk CSFTs''). After carefully reviewing the comments on the Revised Proposed Statement, the Agencies have adopted the Final Statement with minor modifications designed to clarify, but not alter, the principles set forth in the Revised Proposed Statement. The Final Statement describes some of the internal controls and risk management procedures that may help financial institutions identify, manage, and address the heightened reputational and legal risks that may arise from elevated risk CSFTs. As discussed further below, the Final Statement will not affect or apply to the vast majority of financial institutions, including most small institutions, nor does it create any private rights of action.