UPDATE 1-U.S. OTS says acting chief replaced pending review

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - The acting director of the agency that regulates thrifts was placed on leave pending a review of actions related to backdating of capital at some institutions last year, the agency said on Thursday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appointed John Bowman, deputy director and chief counsel, as acting director effective immediately, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said.

The OTS is a unit of the Treasury Department.

Bowman replaces Scott Polakoff who was named acting director when John Reich, a former community banker hired by President George W. Bush, retired as director at the end of February.

Polakoff "is on leave pending a review by the Department of the Treasury of the OTS's August 2008 actions related to post-period capital contributions," the agency said in a statement.

The OTS, which largely regulates mortgage lenders, did not provide further details beyond the statement and a spokesman declined to comment.

The action comes in the wake of revelations the agency allowed several institutions last year to improperly backdate capital in their periodic regulatory reports.

Among the institutions caught backdating was IndyMac Bank, which recorded $18 million of a $50 million capital infusion from its holding company as first quarter capital, although the money was not received until the second quarter.

IndyMac was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp in July 2008 in a bank failure that cost the U.S. deposit insurance fund about $10.7 billion. The California-based thrift was one of five OTS-regulated lenders to be closed last year.

The backdating matter, which also involved four other unnamed OTS-regulated institutions, resulted in a stern reminder to examiners about rules for reporting capital infusions.

In three of the four cases, which involved institutions in the Northeast, Southeast and West regions, the institutions did not have a note recorded by the end of the period. (Reporting by John Poirier; editing by Richard Chang)