Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today's hearing. We had hoped to complete action on Mr. Gilleran's nomination to head up the Office of Thrift Supervision last Thursday, and while events conspired against us, I do appreciate the rapid rescheduling for today.
I am very pleased to welcome you, Mr. Gilleran, to Washington, and I look forward to working with you on a variety of issues. You bring a wealth of experience with you to this position, and I am particularly intrigued by your initiative in going to law school after an extremely distinguished business career.
I would be remiss if I did not thank you for your willingness to leave your private sector career behind and join us here in Washington, especially during these troubled times. I understand that you and your wife arrived in the District on September 10, and closed on your house on September 12. I'm sure that didn't feel like the most auspicious timing, and I just hope that you'll begin to feel at home as we continue to conduct the nation's business.
Mr. Gilleran, I don't want to spend too much time talking about issues that you will no doubt become familiar with in the near future, but I did want to touch on one matter briefly.
As many of my colleagues remember, during the financial modernization discussions, I introduced an amendment that ultimately closed the so-called unitary thrift loophole -- a loophole that permitted, in my view, an unacceptable mixing of banking and commerce.
Mr. Gilleran, as you know, the U.S. affiliate of Toronto-Dominion Bank has a proposal at the OTS to set up a joint venture offering its banking services in Wal-Mart stores. Representatives of these companies have made statements, including remarks to my staff, about the possible use of Wal-Mart employees and checkout terminals to perform bank functions.
While this "business modification plan" is not publicly available, I believe the plan must be scrutinized carefully to ensure that it does not circumvent Section 401 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act or the banking and commerce separation. I would be very pleased to work with you to ensure that both the letter and spirit of Gramm-Leach-Bliley is implemented properly.
Once again, thank you for your willingness to serve, Mr. Gilleran, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for working hard to ensure that we act as quickly as possible on banking nominations.