Capital Briefs: 10 Home Loan Banks Support Overhaul Bill

Rep. Richard Baker's bill to overhaul the Federal Home Loan Bank system received support Monday from 10 of the 12 bank presidents.

However, the presidents asked the Louisiana Republican to make six changes in the legislation, which is to come up for a vote Thursday in House Banking's capital markets subcommittee.

In a March 25 letter to Rep. Baker, the presidents suggested a number of changes to "strengthen the draft bill without altering its basic objectives." The presidents want changes in the bill's provisions affecting the system's capital structure; membership eligibility; authority and bureaucracy of the Federal Housing Finance Board, which oversees the system; ownership of retained earnings; and merger approvals of smaller home loan banks.

The two officials who did not sign the letter are Dean M. Schultz, president of the San Francisco bank, and Alex J. Pollock, president of the Chicago bank. While agreement was not 100%, the 10 presidents wrote, "We are confident a majority of the banks is generally supportive of the draft."

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