A federal statute that provides for the chartering and regulation of thrifts and thrift holding companies (12 U.S.C. §§ 1461 to 1470). The HOLA specifies that one of its primary regulatory goals is to encourage thrifts to provide credit for housing and other goods and services in a safe and sound manner. In addition, the HOLA prescribes for thrifts a "qualified thrift lender test," which means that thrifts must generally maintain at least 65% of their portfolio assets in "qualified thrift investments" (primarily residential mortgages and consumer related investments, including some mortgage-backed securities) in at least nine months out of each 12-month period.

Although with the passing of the Dodd-Frank Act the primary federal regulator of thrifts, the Office of Thrift Supervision, will be dissolved and regulatory responsibility shared among the other federal banking agencies, the Dodd-Frank Act preserves the HOLA.

For more information on the regulation of thrifts, see Practice Note, US Banking Law: Overview: Thrift Institutions.

For more information on how the Dodd-Frank Act affects the regulation of thrifts, see Practice Note, Summary of the Dodd-Frank Act: Regulatory Structure.