S. 1947

One Hundred Eighth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the seventh day of January, two thousand and three

An Act

To prohibit the offer of credit by a financial institution to a financial institution

examiner, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Independence of

Financial Institution Examinations Act of 2003’’.

SEC. 2. OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE OF CREDIT.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Title 18, United States Code, is amended

by striking sections 212 and 213 and inserting the following:

‘‘§ 212. Offer of loan or gratuity to financial institution examiner

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (b), whoever, being an officer, director, or employee of a financial institution,

makes or grants any loan or gratuity, to any examiner or assistant

examiner who examines or has authority to examine such bank,

branch, agency, organization, corporation, association, or

institution—

‘‘(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more

than 1 year, or both; and

‘‘(2) may be fined a further sum equal to the money so

loaned or gratuity given.

‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—A Federal financial institution regulatory

agency may prescribe regulations establishing additional limitations

on the application for and receipt of credit under this section and

on the application and receipt of residential mortgage loans under

this section, after consulting with each other Federal financial

institution regulatory agency.

‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

‘‘(1) EXAMINER.—The term ‘examiner’ means any person—

‘‘(A) appointed by a Federal financial institution regulatory agency or pursuant to the laws of any State to

examine a financial institution; or

‘‘(B) elected under the law of any State to conduct

examinations of any financial institutions.

‘‘(2) FEDERAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION REGULATORY

AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal financial institution regulatory

agency’ means—

‘‘(A) the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency;

‘‘(B) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

System;
S. 1947—2

‘‘(C) the Office of Thrift Supervision;

‘‘(D) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;

‘‘(E) the Federal Housing Finance Board;

‘‘(F) the Farm Credit Administration;

‘‘(G) the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation;

and

‘‘(H) the Small Business Administration.

‘‘(3) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘financial institution’ does not include a credit union, a Federal Reserve Bank,

a Federal home loan bank, or a depository institution holding

company.

‘‘(4) LOAN.—The term ‘loan’ does not include any credit

card account established under an open end consumer credit

plan or a loan secured by residential real property that is

the principal residence of the examiner, if—

‘‘(A) the applicant satisfies any financial requirements

for the credit card account or residential real property

loan that are generally applicable to all applicants for

the same type of credit card account or residential real

property loan;

‘‘(B) the terms and conditions applicable with respect

to such account or residential real property loan, and any

credit extended to the examiner under such account or

residential real property loan, are no more favorable generally to the examiner than the terms and conditions that

are generally applicable to credit card accounts or residential real property loans offered by the same financial

institution to other borrowers cardholders in comparable

circumstances under open end consumer credit plans or

for residential real property loans; and

‘‘(C) with respect to residential real property loans,

the loan is with respect to the primary residence of the

applicant.

‘‘§ 213. Acceptance of loan or gratuity by financial institution

examiner

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, being an examiner or assistant

examiner, accepts a loan or gratuity from any bank, branch, agency,

organization, corporation, association, or institution examined by

the examiner or from any person connected with it, shall—

‘‘(1) be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than

1 year, or both;

‘‘(2) may be fined a further sum equal to the money so

loaned or gratuity given; and

‘‘(3) shall be disqualified from holding office as an examiner.

‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘examiner’, ‘Federal financial institution regulatory agency’, ‘financial institution’,

and ‘loan’ have the same meanings as in section 212.’’.

(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of

sections of chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is amended
S. 1947—3

by striking the matter relating to sections 212 and 213 and inserting

the following:

‘‘212. Offer of loan or gratuity to financial institution examiner.

‘‘213. Acceptance of loan or gratuity by financial institution examiner.’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.