WASHINGTON — The Office of Thrift Supervision, under the direction of then James Gilleran, caused quite a stir a couple years back when it broke from the other regulators in reforming Community Reinvestment Act regulations. The OTS, under Director John Reich, who served at the FDIC at the time, is now ready to align its regulations with the other regulators. OTS cut back reporting requirements even further than the FDIC and OCC had done at the time.

OTS recently announced that it intends to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) to align its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations with those adopted by the other federal banking agencies finalized in August 2005. The change, the agency said, is to "best serve the interests of insured depository institutions and their communities by providing for consistency in regulation and compliance. In addition, the OTS notes that consistent standards for CRA public evaluations for all insured institutions would improve comparability in assessing the performance of all institutions in meeting the needs of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods."

"Since joining OTS," Reich said, "I have come to appreciate that, in addition to effective community lending, thrifts continue to make investments and offer services that promote community development in all markets, particularly low- and moderate-income areas. Regardless of the rules, thrifts will continue to be leaders in key CRA activities, such as providing financing for affordable housing–particularly affordable multifamily housing–and other initiatives that promote the public welfare."