Financial Services Alert

The OTS withdrew a proposed rule (the "Proposed Rule"), discussed in the November 13, 2001 issue of the Alert, that had described the authority of certain "nongrandfathered" savings and loan holding companies ("SLHCs") to engage in the same financial activities authorized for financial holding companies ("FHCs") by the FRB under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, as amended (the "GLBA"). Currently, more than 85% of SLHCs are "grandfathered" and thereby are permitted to engage in a broader range of activities than those authorized under the GLBA for FHCs. The Proposed Rule received heavy criticism from thrifts and thrift trade associations that said that the Proposed Rule was both unnecessary and represented, and as stated by one major trade association, America’s Community Bankers, an unfortunate "significant departure from the OTS’s longstanding policy of supervising holding