The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation takes seriously its
obligation to carry out its duties with the least possible burden on financial
institutions. We currently have several efforts underway to build a cultural sensitivity
to the issue at the Corporation and reduce regulatory burdens on the financial services
industry. These initiatives include:
- Establishing a special, corporate-wide working group of senior FDIC executives to
actively solicit and explore ideas to further reduce burden.
- Designating the Office of the Ombudsman as the central
point of contact at the FDIC to ensure that information and feedback received regarding
ways to reduce burden receives appropriate attention and follow-up.
- Establishing a special link on the FDIC Homepage (www.fdic.gov) to facilitate contact by bankers
and the public for them to provide input and feedback regarding methods to reduce burden.
- Streamlining the safety and soundness examination process and report of examination for
small, well-run banks. The streamlining is also expected to reduce examination hours at
such banks by at least 20%
- Revising the compliance examination process to strengthen the focus on compliance
management. The revision is expected to reduce examination hours at well-managed
institutions.
- Establishing applications subject matter experts to serve as a centralized resource for
bankers, particularly those who have more complex applications or those who file
infrequently. This effort promotes greater consistency and more timely processing of
applications.
- Increasing banker outreach between examinations to discuss issues such as new business
activities, local economic conditions, changes in bank management or key personnel as well
as to solicit any concerns the bank may have about the FDIC's supervisory program. We hope
these sessions will help the FDIC better understand the issues faced by individual banks
and will help our examinations be more focused and efficient.
- Hosting a specifically focused meeting of the banking trade association representatives
to solicit ideas for reducing regulatory burden.
- Actively discussing and soliciting information and feedback regarding regulatory burden
at scheduled industry outreach events.
- Developing a monthly index to FDIC information (FILs, press releases, etc.) with
hyperlinks to documents to facilitate use.
The FDIC has long been the symbol of confidence in the banking industry. We take
seriously our responsibility to fairly enforce laws and ensure the safety and soundness of
the institutions we supervise. We look forward to a productive dialogue with all of our
stakeholders to ensure we are effective in carrying out our mission. I hope you will join
us in this effort.
Return to the
Chairman's message on Reducing Regulatory Burden |
