SESSION OF 2001


SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2149


As Recommended by House Committee on
Financial Institutions




Brief (1)



HB 2149 concerns the authority of the State Bank Commissioner to share certain information with other agencies.



The bill authorizes the Bank Commissioner to enter into information-sharing and exchange agreements with other functional regulatory agencies that have overlapping regulatory jurisdiction with the Bank Department. Parties to the agreements must maintain the confidentiality of information shared and exchanged as required by applicable state and federal law.



The term "functional regulatory agency" means an agency that charters, licenses, or registers persons engaged in activities that are financial in nature, incidental to financial activities, or complementary to financial activities as those terms are used in the federal P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. Examples of such agencies include those that regulate banking, insurance, and securities.





Background



HB 2149 was requested by the State Bank Commissioner whose Deputy Commissioner explained that the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act permits certain forms of financial institutions to engage in banking, insurance, and securities activities. The Act also delegates to the various regulators the responsibility for supervising a particular activity of the financial institution, e.g., insurance sales and underwriting by the Insurance Commissioner, securities offerings and sales by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Securities Commissioner, and banking activities by the Bank Commissioner and other federal agencies. This shared responsibility for supervision is referred to in the Act as "functional regulation." Because of the interrelationship of these various activities, the Bank Commissioner needs to be able to share information, when appropriate, with other functional regulators.



The Kansas Bankers Association supported the bill.



The fiscal note prepared by the Division of the Budget indicates passage of the bill will have no fiscal effect.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi