S&L; Regulators May Close Some Regional Offices : Bailout: The possible cost-cutting move could lead to a merger of the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, observers say.

The federal Office of Thrift Supervision is considering a sweeping consolidation that would include closing as many as half of its 12 district offices, according to a letter sent this month to thrift executives by a senior agency official.

More important, the letter says, the “most likely scenario” of the cost-cutting move involves maintaining offices only in those six cities where the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees national banks, has district offices.

That disclosure is significant because it strongly suggests a possible merger of the two agencies, observers said. Thrift executives and some members of Congress have been urging that the agencies combine, arguing that there is no need for a separate thrift regulator. Such a move would need congressional approval.

The disclosures are contained in a letter sent June 1 to thrift chief executives by Michael Patriarca, district director of the OTS office in San Francisco. He sits on two OTS task forces studying ways to consolidate the agency and streamline its regulations. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Times.

Patriarca said in the letter that the 12 OTS district offices “will be consolidated,” adding that the probable result will be to keep offices in cities where the comptroller has district offices. The OTS office in San Francisco, which supervises thrifts in California, Arizona and Nevada, would not be affected because the comptroller already has an office there.

OTS spokesman William Fulwider declined to comment, saying it is too early to talk about specific proposals. Laurie Lavaroni, a spokeswoman for Patriarca, also declined comment but said that recommendations from task force members will be sent to OTS Director T. Timothy Ryan Jr. within the next 10 days.

The Washington-based OTS has district offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Chicago, Des Moines, Jersey City, N.J., and Topeka, Kan. The comptroller’s six district offices are in San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City.

The OTS, created by last year’s thrift bailout law as the successor agency to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, examines and supervises savings and loans. Its $298-million annual budget is paid by the industry through special assessments and fees for examinations.

The proposal is being considered in the wake of complaints from S&Ls; that fees they pay are too stiff and that the OTS is not doing enough to cut its costs. California’s largest thrifts, for example, pay from $1 million to $6 million a year. That does not include additional amounts for examination fees, which vary according to the time needed to complete a review.

Bert Ely, an Alexandria, Va., thrift consultant, said the proposal makes sense and doubted that supervision would suffer if it were done out of fewer offices. One concern, however, is that the agency could lose some experienced supervisors because employees may not want to move if their offices are closed, he said.