NEWS RELEASE

Banking Commissioner To Head
State Regulators' Organization

Connecticut Banking Commissioner John P. Burke took office as Chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) at the organization’s annual meeting earlier this month. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the CSBS is the professional association of state officials responsible for chartering, regulating and supervising the nation’s 6,876 state-chartered banks and 419 state-licensed branches and agencies of foreign banks.

Burke becomes the first banking commissioner from Connecticut to serve as chairman of the national group which was created in 1902 to advance and defend the state bank charter and to improve state bank supervision. The goal of the CSBS is to preserve the dual-banking system and the right of state supervisors to regulate financial institutions and to represent the state banking system within the banking industry, on Capitol Hill, before the federal regulatory agencies, and in the courts. For the past 96 years, CSBS has worked to ensure that the state bank charter remains a good business decision for all banks, and that banks keep their right to choose their corporate structure. It is also the primary source of examiner training for state banking departments.

Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland officially commended Commissioner Burke on the honor. "I take the utmost pleasure in honoring Jack Burke and urge our citizens to join me in thanking him for his strong dedication to the banking community of our state," the governor proclaimed in an official statement issued to mark the special occasion.

Burke became Chairman after serving a one year term as Chairman-Elect. He previously served as Vice Chairman and as a Member-at-Large of the Board of Directors. Others elected to serve with Burke as executive officers of the Board of Directors are Arizona Superintendent of Banks Richard C. Houseworth, Chairman-Elect; Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks Thomas J. Curry, Vice Chairman; and Texas Banking Commissioner Catherine A. Ghiglieri, Secretary-Treasurer of the association. G. Edward Leary, Utah’s Commissioner of Financial Institutions, will continue to serve on the Board as immediate Past Chairman.

"It is an honor to have been selected to serve with my banking colleagues from around the country as we attempt to champion the CSBS mission of assuring a safe and sound banking system that will provide bank products and services best suited to each diverse state," Burke said. "As federal law continues to encroach on state authority in areas that impact our local communities, its citizens and businesses, we cannot forget that our ultimate responsibility should be to protect the consumers who are the end users of the banking services we oversee."

Burke emphasized that the states have traditionally been the incubator of new ideas. "Whenever a state-chartered bank has been interested in introducing something new, all they had to do was convince us that offering such a service wouldn’t threaten the safety and soundness of the institution and we would do what we could to get it done," he said. "To advance the state banking system, CSBS must continue our work toward gaining new opportunities for state-chartered institutions," he added, emphasizing that unity among state bank regulators will provide the strength necessary to preserve the competitive equality that exists between state and federally chartered banks and for restoring the balance of power eroded by the arbitrary decisions of the federal regulators.

Other members of the 1998-99 CSBS Board of Directors are: