WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 13, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has issued a white paper discussing the importance and public benefit of state financial services supervision. In the white paper, titled “The Public Benefit of State Financial Services Supervision: State Regulators and Local Economic Development,” CSBS examines how state supervisors support a strong community banking system, lead in non-depository supervision, and promote local economic development.
“State regulators’ local perspective, authority, and focus requires them to find innovative solutions to a wide variety of issues that are often inherently local,” CSBS wrote. “Therefore, state regulators must be flexible to ensure both their bank and non-bank institutions are operating in a safe and sound manner, protecting consumers, and contributing to economic growth.”
Among several key points of the paper, CSBS discusses how:
State supervisors’ regulatory approach and proximity to their institutions makes them well suited to oversee local community banks;
State supervisors are well positioned to tailor the regulatory framework and supervision for community banks based on the risk and complexity of the institutions;
State regulators’ local licensing authority and regulatory agility allows them to effectively monitor and protect consumers in the constantly evolving non-bank financial services industry;
State regulators promote local economic development through their unique position within state government, knowledge of local economies, and their distinct approach to supervision; and
State supervisors’ local presence allows them to fine tune financial services policy and supervision in a way that benefits consumers, institutions, and local economies.
In the white paper, CSBS highlights several case studies that illustrate how state banking agencies provide value as they engage on a diverse range of local issues.
The white paper is available here.
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Media Contacts:
Catherine Woody, Vice President of Media and Industry Relations, 
Rockhelle Johnson, Senior Manager, Communications, 
Matt Longacre, Manager, Communications, 
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) is the nationwide organization of banking regulators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. State banking regulators supervise nearly 5,100 state?chartered financial institutions. Further, most state banking departments also regulate a variety of non-bank financial services providers, including mortgage lenders. For more than a century, CSBS has given state supervisors a national forum to coordinate supervision of their regulated entities and to develop regulatory policy. CSBS also provides training to state banking and financial regulators and represents its members before Congress and the federal financial regulatory agencies.
