Countrywide bankruptcy rumors in January wrong: OTS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wall Street rumors in January that Countrywide Financial Corp CFC.N might seek bankruptcy protection were wrong, senior U.S. banking regulators said on Thursday.

Office of Thrift Supervision Director John Reich, asked if he believed Wall Street jumped the gun on a potential Countrywide bankruptcy filing, said: "Yes."

OTS Deputy Director Scott Polakoff, also speaking at the Reuters Regulation Summit, said there was no formal enforcement action pending against the U.S. mortgage lender or against its holding company when Bank of America (BAC.N) said last month it would buy Countrywide.

"There was nothing sufficiently formal in an enforcement action capacity to suggest there were financial problems of a crisis nature at that institution," Polakoff.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by John Poirier and Emily Chasan; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)