Regulators Urged to Refine Strategic Plans by Sept. 30

Financial regulators need to bolster their strategic plans before sending them to Congress in two months, a government auditor testified Tuesday.

The 1993 Government Performance and Results Act requires all federal agencies to submit by Sept. 30 five-year strategic plans establishing their objectives and annual performance tests.

Drafts of plans by bank, thrift, and credit union regulators generally complied with the law's requirements, said Thomas J. McCool, associate director of financial institutions and markets issues at the General Accounting Office. However, most of them lacked detailed goals and specific ways to measure execution, Mr. McCool told the House Banking Committee.

Goals set by the Federal Reserve Board and Office of Thrift Supervision were sometimes vague and would be hard to assess, he said. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency need to elaborate on resources to accomplish their plans.