Then There Were 2: Illinois Eliminates Its Savings and Loan Agency

The Illinois thrift regulator was folded into that state's banking office on June 1, resulting in a newly renamed Office of Banks and Real Estate.

"The governor simply felt that it was a more efficient way to run our government and supervise financial institutions," said Assistant Commissioner Scott Clarke. Jack Shaffer, Illinois' former thrift regulator, has been tapped to head the newly consolidated agency.

Illinois' thrift office had been the largest remaining independent state savings and loan department. Currently, only Texas and North Carolina still have thrift regulators in addition to banking departments.

The decline of state thrift departments reflects the waning popularity of the state savings and loan charter, according to Ellen Lamb, vice president of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

She said the main culprit was the 1989 thrift rescue law, which brought state savings and loans under the jurisdiction of three regulators - the state agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Illinois' Office of Banks and Real Estate will oversee approximately 700 state-chartered banks, 66 thrifts, 350 trust companies, and 900 mortgage banks. Real estate appraisers, brokers, and salespeople also will fall under the regulator's jurisdiction.

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