ABA Banking Journal
Under a major new transparency initiative, the FDIC is publishing key performance metrics on its website, agency chairman Jelena McWilliams said today. These metrics include application approvals, denials and withdrawals (including for de novo banks); time to process applications and exam reports; responses to consumer calls and emails; deposit insurance assessments and appeals; Freedom of Information Act requests; and failed bank resolution statistics.
The metrics are published on the FDIC homepage. They showed that in the first half of 2018, the FDIC approved 86 percent of substantially complete applications within the agency’s own target timeframes. Meanwhile, the average time for a bank to receive a favorable safety and soundness exam report was 24 days. Unfavorable reports took on average 34.5 days.
Speaking at a community banking research conference in St. Louis, McWilliams emphasized the importance of transparency in building trust with the banks the FDIC regulates. “The trust between bank and examiner is unlikely to survive a process that is opaque, poorly communicated, and riddled with inconsistencies,” she said. The stakes are higher for smaller banks, she added. “If the chief compliance officer is also the CFO, the chief loan officer, and a bank teller in her spare time, she needs to be able to allocate her limited time effectively. Understanding clearly what the institution’s supervisory obligations are makes this possible.”
McWilliams said the FDIC will add to its transparency section over time and that the agency is reviewing what information it will deem confidential. On Monday, the agency issued a request for information seeking feedback on the agency’s communications and transparency efforts. McWilliams also said she intends to visit with banks and other FDIC stakeholders in every state, “revers[ing] the long-standing trend of having those affected by our regulations come to Washington to be heard. It is long overdue that we come to them instead.”