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Connecticut Department of Banking
Receives National Accreditation
May 15, 1997
In a ceremony held earlier this week, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) awarded a certificate of reaccreditation to the Connecticut Department of Banking. CSBS is the professional association of state officials responsible for chartering, regulating and supervising the nation's 6,802 state-chartered banks and 433 state-regulated branches and agencies of foreign banks.
The Connecticut Department of Banking supervises a total of 71 commercial and savings banks with total assets of $42.7 billion. The Department is headed by Commissioner of Banking John P. Burke, who oversees a staff of 140 employees.
Eleven years ago, Connecticut became the sixth state banking department to receive national accreditation from CSBS. Since that time, the Department's performance has been reviewed annually, in addition to full-scale reaccreditation reviews conducted by the CSBS in 1992 and again earlier this year. The Department is the first in the country to go through this rigorous process three times.
CSBS accreditation seeks to strengthen state banking departments and to demonstrate the high quality of state banking departments to the general public, the federal banking agencies, Congress and other state banking regulators. The process begins with a Self-Evaluation Questionnaire, which reviews all aspects of the Department's operations: its mission, policies, procedures, funding and statutory authority. Next a Review Team of veteran state and federal regulators visits the department to determine whether it can effectively fulfill its responsibility of chartering, regulating and supervising the state's banks and bank holding companies. The Review Team reports its findings and makes a recommendation to CSBS's Performance Standards Committee, which votes on the final accreditation decision.
"The Connecticut Department of Banking can take great pride in their high quality of bank supervision," said CSBS President and CEO Neil Milner at the ceremony where he presented a Certificate of Accreditation to Commissioner Burke and Joseph A. Pandiscia, the agency's administrator of depository institutions. "As the banking industry evolves, so must bank regulation. The Department has demonstrated that it is up to the challenge and I am confident that such dedication will lead the agency into the next century with the best possible foundation of professionalism and training."
In receiving the honor on behalf of all the bank examiners who were present for the ceremony, Burke acknowledged that it is a continual effort on the part of the entire bank examination staff which allows the Department to shine among its peers.
"The expertise of our leaders in the Bank Examination Division and the high level of competence and integrity demonstrated by our bank examiners are assets that serve not only the people of Connecticut, but the entire state banking system," Burke said. "I congratulate them for allowing me to share in this honor."
To date, forty-two state banking departments have received CSBS accreditation. These departments supervise more than 95% of all assets in the state banking system.