ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 182
(Senators Minard, Yoder
, Barnes and Kessler, original sponsors)
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Passed March 5, 2007; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §31A-2-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing that the Division of
Banking shall employ the same frequency of examination
schedules of depository financial institutions as the primary
federal regulators of those institutions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §31A-2-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DIVISION OF BANKING.
§31A-2-6. Commissioner's examinations of financial institution;
reports; records; communications from commissioner to
institution; examination by federal or out-of-state
agency in lieu of commissioner's examination.
(a) The commissioner shall make a thorough examination of all the books, accounts, records and papers of every depository
financial institution using the same frequency of examination
schedule as the financial institution's primary federal regulator.
He or she shall carefully examine all of the assets of each
institution, including its notes, drafts, checks, mortgages,
securities deposited to assure the payment of debts unto it and all
papers, documents and records showing, or in any manner relating
to, its business affairs and shall ascertain the full amount and
the nature in detail of all of its assets and liabilities. The
commissioner may also, at his or her discretion, make or cause to
be made an annual or periodic examination of the books, accounts,
records and papers of other financial institutions under his or her
supervision for the purposes of determining compliance with
applicable consumer and credit lending laws and verifying
information provided in any license application or annual report
submitted to the commissioner. The commissioner may also make an
examination of any subsidiaries or affiliates of a financial
institution as he or she may consider necessary to ascertain the
financial condition of the financial institution, the relations
between the financial institution and its subsidiaries and
affiliates and the effect of the relations upon the affairs of the
financial institution. A full report of every examination shall be
made and filed and preserved in the office of the commissioner and a copy of it immediately mailed to the institution examined. Every
institution shall retain all of its records of final entry for the
period of time as required in section thirty-five, article four of
this chapter for banking institutions. Unless otherwise covered by
assessments or a specific provision of this code, the cost of
examinations made pursuant to this section shall be borne by the
financial institution at a rate of fifty dollars per each examiner
hour expended.
(b) Every official communication from the commissioner to any
institution, or to any officer thereof, relating to an examination
or an investigation of the affairs of the institution conducted by
the commissioner or containing suggestions or recommendations as to
the manner of conducting the business of the institution, shall be
read by the board of directors at the next meeting after its
receipt and the president, or other executive officer, of the
institution shall immediately notify the commissioner in writing of
the presentation and reading of the communication and of any action
taken on it by the institution.
(c) The Commissioner of Banking, in his or her discretion,
may: (i) Accept a copy of a reasonably current examination of any
banking institution made by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation or the Federal Reserve System in lieu of an examination
of the banking institution required or authorized to be made by the laws of this state and the commissioner may furnish to the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve System or to
any official or examiner thereof any copy or copies of the
commissioner's examinations of and reports on the banking
institutions; (ii) accept a copy of a reasonably current
examination of any out-of-state bank or any West Virginia state
bank's out-of-state activities made by another state's banking
regulatory authority in lieu of an examination of the banking
institution required or authorized to be made by the laws of this
state and the commissioner may furnish to the other state's banking
regulatory authority or to any official or examiner thereof any
copy or copies of the commissioner's examinations of and reports on
the banking institutions; but nothing in this subsection shall be
construed to limit the duty and responsibility of banking
institutions to comply with all provisions of law relating to
examinations and reports, nor to limit the powers and authority of
the commissioner of banking with reference to examinations and
reports under existing laws. The provision or exchange of
examination reports and other records of financial condition and
individuals pursuant to cooperative, coordinating or information-
sharing agreements with other bank supervisory agencies and persons
as permitted by this chapter under an agreement of confidentiality
shall not constitute a violation of section four of this article.