OTS rules to be wiped off books – six years after agency was abolished by Congress

Although it was abolished by an act of Congress nearly six years ago, the regulations of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) – the federal agency that once supervised federally insured savings and loans and other mutual savings institutions across the nation – have remained on the books.

That is, until Wednesday.

On Oct. 11, the Treasury Department will remove chapter V of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which contains regulations of the OTS. The rules are being removed, Treasury states in a notice scheduled to appear in the Wednesday Federal Register, because the OTS was abolished Oct. 19, 2011 “and its rulemaking authority and operative rules were transferred to other agencies pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.” Among the agencies the authority and rules were transferred to are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The Treasury notice states flatly: Because those agencies have issued regulations that supersede chapter V, chapter V is no longer necessary.

Before 1989, the supervision of federally insured savings and loans and savings banks was performed by the independent Federal Home Loan Bank Board. However, following the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s, the agency was placed under the Treasury Department and renamed the OTS.

Federal Register notice: Removal of Office of Thrift Supervision Regulations