
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003091895
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BUSH PICKS NEW THRIFT REGULATOR

Facing the possibility of a crippling court ruling that the Office of Thrift Supervision has been operating illegally since the day it was created last August, the Bush administration Thursday named a new permanent director for the office to replace an acting director named only three days ago.

Timothy Ryan, a former top lawyer for the Labor Department, will be nominated for the post, administration sources said.

Salvatore Martoche, assistant secretary of Treasury for enforcement, was picked Tuesday to succeed M. Danny Wall temporarily. Wall quit in December but was still serving because no one had been named to the post.

Washington banking lawyers said Thursday the appointments of both Martoche and Ryan apparently are linked to a lawsuit by Olympic Federal Savings and Loan Association, Berwyn, Ill., charging that all the actions taken by the OTS under Wall are invalid because Wall was never confirmed by the Senate to head the agency.

Administration officials acknowledged they have already had some of Wall's decisions as OTS director "ratified" by Martoche in an effort to ensure the actions are legally defensible. - Washington Post

by CNB