Farewell Session for Board of RTC Regulator

WASHINGTON - The Thrift Depositor Protection Oversight Board met for the last time Monday as the regulator of the Resolution Trust Corp.

Board members praised the RTC for resolving 747 failed thrifts, selling $450 billion in assets, and protecting more than 25 million deposit accounts.

"It's an extraordinary accomplishment ... because of all the things that could have gone wrong but didn't," said Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan. "It's clearly been an extraordinary success."

The only fanfare during the meeting was a certificate of appreciation presented to Robert C. Lawson, chairman of Traubman Realty Group. Mr. Traubman, one of two presidential appointees on the seven-member panel, heads the board's audit committee.

While the RTC closes up shop Dec. 31, the oversight board will live on, albeit in a limited form. As of next year, its membership will be pared to three: Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Mr. Greenspan, and Henry Cisneros, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The new board's duties will include final reports on the government's resolution of the thrift crisis. The board also will oversee the Resolution Funding Corp., which floated long-term bonds between 1989 and 1991 to finance the thrift industry's bailout.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER