WASHINGTON -- The Office of Thrift Supervision said last week that a federal appeals court has upheld its authority to impose new capital standards on Far West Federal Bank of Portland, Ore.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the regulatory capital provisions of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 supersede capital forbearance agreements forged between thrifts and regulators before the act passed.
The appeals decision reversed a permanent injunction issued against the OTS in September 1990 by federal Judge Owen M. Panner in Portland. The Far West decision is the third in recent months to uphold the OTS's enforcement of tougher capital standards.
