Bush Eases Regulations on Banking : * Government: The move is part of an election-year effort to position the President as a foe of federal red tape.

President Bush on Friday eased a series of regulations affecting banks and other financial institutions as he mounted an aggressive new effort to portray his Administration as an enemy of burdensome federal red tape.

The announcement was the first of an expected blitz of new deregulation steps, which are to include extending the 90-day moratorium on new regulation that has served as a potent symbol of his election-year government reform campaign.

Bush made little effort to disguise the political motives of his moves as he strode into the White House press room to describe the moratorium as “a tremendous success” and to foreshadow more announcements ahead.

Contending that “excessive regulations” imposed an enormous tax on the economy, Bush claimed that the steps his Administration has already taken this year to ease regulatory burdens will save taxpayers and consumers “tens of billions of dollars.”

Bush aides said the President is also expected to approve a measure that will weaken a key provision of the 1990 Clean Air Act, a move that apparently will lead to a new clash with the environmental community. The officials said Bush had signaled that he would back the White House Competitiveness Council in a dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency over whether businesses must publicly disclose any violation of pollution standards.

In siding with business interests, Bush was expected to argue--as he did in easing restrictions on the financial services industry on Friday--that streamlining the regulations would remove obstacles to economic growth.

Advisers to Bush said the moves, and an announcement planned for Wednesday on prolonging the moratorium at least 30 days, were designed to maximize the political profile of the effort as the White House looks ahead to an election-year campaign.

Bush aides conceded that the steps trumpeted by Bush on Friday had been in the works long before he first imposed the moratorium in his State of the Union address Jan. 28. They acknowledged that the regulations could have been eased even without the moratorium.

At a briefing for reporters, other Administration officials sought to play down the political dimensions of the proposal. But their comments left little doubt that the White House expects deregulation to hold broad appeal.

“The only pandering going on here is to help American consumers, American workers and American taxpayers,” said Michael Boskin, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, who quickly added: “And it’s not pandering.”

Of the steps to unburden banks announced Friday, the most significant appears to ease the liability of financial institutions for pollution caused by borrowers. The change, which takes effect immediately, is intended to make it easier for borrowers to obtain loans for businesses that could cause pollution, such as gas stations, dry cleaners and factories.

Business owners had complained that the federal Superfund law made lenders skittish because they could not foreclose on properties without becoming liable for any environmental harm their borrowers had caused.

William K. Reilly, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the new interpretation of the Superfund law “will free lending institutions from fear of undue and unfair cleanup liability without impairing EPA’s ability to protect the public from mismanaged hazardous waste sites.”

Other measures would streamline regulatory authority by four federal agencies to avoid overlaps and conflicts in the rules they impose on banks and other institutions.

In addition, a step taken by the Federal Reserve Board would for the first time permit bank affiliates and holding companies to give advice to customers buying and selling securities and to provide certain investment banking services. Those institutions have been allowed to make securities transactions, but were barred from providing the sort of investment advice commonly available at brokerage houses.

The relaxation of the regulations was hailed by the banking community as welcome news but described by experts as unlikely to have an immediate effect in easing consumer credit. In addition, only a handful of the nation’s banks, notably New York’s J. P. Morgan & Co. and Bankers Trust Co., are expanding in any meaningful way into the securities and investment banking field.

The announcement by Bush and his advisers made no mention of the separate measure that has become the focus of the dispute between the EPA and the Council on Competitiveness, which is headed by Vice President Dan Quayle.

But White House officials said Bush was regarded as all but certain to sign off on a council proposal to significantly ease disclosure requirements imposed on businesses under the Clean Air Act.

Reilly, the EPA chief, had so vigorously opposed that step that he asked Bush to arbitrate the dispute personally. White House officials said Quayle was expected to tell Bush that the proposed measure would relieve businesses of a substantial financial burden without harming the environment.

Times staff writer James Bates in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

Unburdening the Banks

The Bush Administration announced several actions to reduce the regulatory burden on banks and other financial institutions:

Regulation

* The Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision will adopt uniform policies and regulations.

* The four federal agencies will coordinate examinations and application procedures to eliminate unnecessary overlap.

Diversification

* Bank affiliates and holding companies can advise customers on buying and selling securities and execute the transactions.

* Bank affiliates and holding companies can provide investment banking services in connection with mergers and acquisitions.

Lending

* Financial institutions will not be liable for environmental damage at properties obtained through foreclosure proceedings.

* Regulations involving property appraisals will be relaxed to reduce expenses for borrowers and to encourage more real estate lending.