US regulator wants more fair lending data from banks

WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The regulator of some of the largest U.S. banks said on Wednesday he wants institutions to collect more data earlier in their fair lending process.

Banks are required to disclose detailed lending data under the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) by March 1 of each year. The information is aimed at helping officials to identify possible discriminatory lending patterns involving race and gender.

John Dugan, who heads the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said his agency will launch a pilot program at some of the largest national banks to gather additional data such as loan-to-value ratios, credit scores, or debt service ratios.

"We need additional factors that aren't part of regular HMDA reporting ... to do a more targeted analysis of each lender's underwriting and pricing decisions," Dugan said in a prepared speech delivered at a fair lending conference in New Orleans.

The OCC regulates some of the biggest lenders like Bank of America (BAC.N), Wells Fargo (WFC.N) and Wachovia WB.N.

He said technological improvements will allow banks to report the additional information earlier in the supervisory process.

Past analyses by the financial sector regulators called the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council have found that black and Hispanic borrowers were more likely, and Asian borrowers less likely, to be offered higher-priced loans, and that was also true for both refinancings and home-purchase loans.

The OCC is a member of the FFIEC as well as the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration.

"Getting this information -- call it "HMDA Plus" -- early enough to use in screening could help us do an even better job," Dugan said. (Reporting by John Poirier; Editing by Brian Moss)