Realigning our supervision work
Today we’re announcing the reorganization of our Headquarters staff for Supervision. We will continue having two Supervision offices at Headquarters, but now we will have one focusing on examinations and one focusing on policy. This realignment is consistent with our mission to protect consumers across financial services markets without regard to the charter of the provider.
Until now, our Headquarters staff has been organized into offices for Nonbank and Large Bank Supervision. The previous arrangement made sense while the Bureau was starting its work, as we had two distinct supervisory mandates. In July 2011, we assumed the existing supervisory authority for consumer compliance from other federal regulators over large banks, thrifts, and credit unions. Our Large Bank Supervision team established the program that carries out this authority. Starting in January 2012, our Nonbank Supervision team built the first federal supervision program of its kind for nonbank entities, such as payday lenders and nonbank mortgage firms.
We have now successfully launched supervision programs for both nonbanks and large banks. Now our goal is to make these programs as efficient and effective as possible, and this reorganization will help us do that. We are reorganizing into two teams: the Supervision Examinations team and the Supervision Policy team.
The Examinations team will focus on many of the processes and work vital both to the team at Headquarters and to examiners throughout the country. The team will oversee our efforts to: recruit, train, and commission examiners; ensure policies and procedures are followed; and plan and execute examinations appropriately in light of our resources and priorities. The four regional offices will report to Supervision Examinations, and Paul Sanford will be the Acting Assistant Director of this Office.
The Policy team will ensure that policy decisions for supervision are consistent with both the law and our mission, and that they are consistent across markets, charters, and regions. We are organizing this office by product or service market rather than by the type of financial institution. Each of these teams will be responsible for developing supervision strategy and policy across both bank and nonbank markets. Peggy Twohig will be the Assistant Director of this Office.
Our goal has always been to have one cohesive supervision program, and this is another step in that process. All along, our regional examination staff has covered both nonbanks and large banks. This new organization will lead to a better and more coordinated approach to the markets we supervise and a sharper line of sight across both banks and nonbanks. Supervision is one of the Bureau’s key tools to ensure compliance with federal consumer financial law. Better coordination and visibility will help us better fulfill our mission.