COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 182
(By Senators Minard, Yoder
, Barnes and Kessler)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 14, 2007.]
____________
A BILL 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 at least once every twelve months, a thorough examination of all the books, accounts, records
and papers of every depository financial institution with: (1)
Assets of more than two hundred fifty million dollars; or (2) banks
with a composite rating of three, four or five under the federal
uniform financial institution rating system. For all other
depository financial institutions the commissioner of banking shall
make, at least once every eighteen months, a thorough examination
of all the books, accounts, records and papers 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 such 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 such an examination of any subsidiaries or affiliates of a financial institution as he or she
may deem 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 such 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 thereof
forthwith 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 the its
receipt thereof and the president, or other executive officer, of
the institution shall forthwith immediately notify the commissioner in writing of the presentation and reading of the communication and
of any action taken thereon 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 such 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 such the banking institutions; but nothing herein 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.