Capital briefs: OCC Streamlining Small-Bank Exams

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is planning to come out with streamlined exam procedures to evaluate small banks' compliance with consumer laws.

"We've learned . . . that in our smaller banks, we don't need to look at the bank's formal policies and processes," Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig said Wednesday in a speech in New York. "We can do just as good a job of assessing compliance by focusing mainly on transactions."

Mr. Ludwig said the new examination procedures dealing with fair-lending laws, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and the Truth-in-Savings law will go into effect on Oct. 1. They are tentatively set to apply only to banks with assets of $250 million or less.

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