Capital briefs: OTS Gets Mostly Sterling Grades - from Itself

Its grades were generally good. The report, based on surveys of the thrifts it examines, showed that OTS scored almost 90% in meeting its targets. For example, 91% of surveyed institutions said the thrift regulator had reached its goal of meeting with them at least twice a year between examinations. Ninety-eight percent said the agency's examiner-in-charge scheduled a meeting with the thrift's CEO on the day an examination started. "We are very pleased with the results of the survey," said John Downey, the agency's executive director of supervision. "It reflects a concerted effort by our regional staff to deliver a value-added quality examination process." Only 69% of thrifts, however, reported adequate continuity of examination staff from one exam to the next. OTS said the logistics of deploying examiners will make it hard to improve on this, but it pledged to try.