Thrift Lending Rules Face Major Overhaul

About two weeks after a milestone in the savings and loan cleanup, the closure of the Resolution Trust Corp., thrift regulators on Wednesday proposed the first major overhaul of lending rules for the S&Ls that survived the crisis.

The proposals would allow expansion of commercial lending by certain thrift subsidiaries and relax some investment restrictions, but would not weaken major reforms passed by Congress in the 1980s.

The agency said the proposal was the first major overhaul of OTS’ lending rules since the early 1980s, when the Reagan administration and Congress teamed up to aggressively cut thrift regulations.