2023 Tennessee Code › Title 45 - BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (§§ 45-1-101 — 45-20-111) › Chapter 1 - DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (§§ 45-1-101 — 45-1-209) › Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (§§ 45-1-101 — 45-1-130) › Section 45-1-118 - Charter application costs - Annual banking fee - Assessments - Recovering the costs of examination and supervision

(a)
Each state bank shall pay to the department the cost, as determined by the commissioner, of investigating an application by the bank for a charter as a new bank or for a branch bank.
(b)
(1)
The commissioner shall determine an annual budget for the department.
(2)
The amount of the budget attributable to the regulation and examination of state banks shall thereafter be divided among the state banks by the commissioner.
(c)
(1)
The assessment against each state bank, which shall be known as the banking fee, must be allocated in proportion to the total assets beneficially owned by each state bank.
(2)
(A)
The amount of the department's annual budget attributable to the regulation and examination of public trust companies must be allocated and assessed among all public trust companies in proportion to each public trust company's total assets under the public trust company's administration; provided, that in determining the allocation:
(i)
Safekeeping and custody agency assets, where the public trust company is neither acting as trustee nor responsible for managing the asset selection for account assets, must be weighted at fifty percent (50%) of their total amount and all other assets must be weighted at one hundred percent (100%) of their total amount; and
(ii)
The minimum amount assessed to any public trust company must be ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(B)
A company that is a public trust company on the first day of a fiscal year shall pay the full assessment for that fiscal year, and the public trust company's assessment must not be prorated for any reason. Unless public trust companies receive a different notification from the department, the department shall send each public trust company, or its successor, notice of the public trust company's assessment in December of the fiscal year in which the fee is being collected. Each public trust company's assessment will be calculated based on assets under the public trust company's administration as reported in the public trust company's report of financial condition as of June 30 of the prior fiscal year. If, for any reason, a company that was a public trust company on July 1 does not file a June 30 report of financial condition, then the commissioner must determine the public trust company's assets under administration for purposes of making the assessment from other sources of information. The assessment must be paid into the state treasury upon notice from the commissioner, and all moneys collected by the commissioner must be used solely by the department for administration expenses.
(3)
(A)
The amount of the department's annual budget attributable to the regulation and examination of private trust companies must be allocated and assessed among all private trust companies such that each private trust company is assessed an equal amount.
(B)
A company that is a private trust company on the first day of a fiscal year shall pay the full assessment for that fiscal year, and the private trust company's assessment must not be prorated for any reason. Unless private trust companies receive different notification by the department, the department shall send each private trust company, or its successor, notice of the private trust company's assessment in December of the fiscal year in which the fee is being collected. The assessment must be paid into the state treasury upon notice from the commissioner, and all moneys collected by the commissioner must be used for the administration of the department and for the department's sole use.
(d)
(1)
Assessments shall be paid into the state treasury upon notice from the commissioner, and all moneys collected by the commissioner shall be used for the administration of the department and for the department's sole use.
(2)
Any funds collected by the department but unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert or in any way be transferred to the general fund but shall be rebated to the state banks, within one hundred eighty (180) days, or shall be credited against the banking fee owed by the state banks for the current fiscal year.
(e)
If any state bank fails to make payment within thirty (30) days after notice from the commissioner of the amount of its assessment, the commissioner may issue an execution against its property for an amount equal to one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the delinquent payment.
(f)
(1)
The department may recover the costs of examination and supervision of a financial institution, subsidiary, or service corporation for supervision or examination that are in addition to the costs associated with the level of supervision ordinarily required for a financial institution in sound financial condition and that are in excess of the normal regulatory fees paid by the institution. The department may also recover the costs of any review of any affiliate of a financial institution determined by the department to have contributed to an unsafe or unsound practice at a financial institution, subsidiary, or service corporation.
(2)
The commissioner may issue orders and promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, for the purpose of establishing and defining costs associated with complying with this subsection (f) and for the purpose of enforcing the recovery of the costs.
(g)
(1)
The commissioner, in cooperation with the department of human resources, shall on an annual basis conduct a review of the salaries of employees in the department. The review shall include a comparative analysis of salaries of the departmental employees, employees in similar state positions in bank regulatory agencies of other states, employees in federal regulatory agencies, similar employees in other Tennessee state departments, and employees in similar positions in the private sector. Based on the review or other factors including, but not limited to, staff turnover, qualifications, or availability of qualified employees, the commissioner shall make recommendations for changes in classifications, salary improvements, or both.
(2)
The commissioner shall establish, maintain, and review on a periodic basis a method for assessing the staffing needs for the department. The method shall include, but not be limited to, assessment of the statutory requirements of the department, the number and type of institutions regulated within each regulatory category, and the size of the assets under the departmental supervision in each category.
(h)
The commissioner, in the commissioner's discretion, may, by regulation, establish the criteria and circumstances by which a credit toward the annual banking fee may be given to a Tennessee state-chartered bank for the annual banking fee assessment, if any, assessed against an out-of-state branch of the Tennessee state-chartered bank by the host state banking supervisory agency.
(i)
(1)
Persons regulated and supervised by the department's compliance division shall be assessed an annual supervision fee as described in this subsection (i).
(2)
Pursuant to subdivision (b)(1), the commissioner shall determine an annual budget for the department. The commissioner shall determine the amount of the budget attributable to the regulation and examination of the persons regulated by the compliance division.
(3)
Mortgage loan originators, as defined in §§
45-5-102
and
45-13-105
, as applicable, shall not be assessed the annual supervision fee, but mortgage loan originators shall continue to pay the licensing, renewal and any other fees required in chapters 5 and 13 of this title. The total number of mortgage loan originators licensed with the department at the end of the previous fiscal year shall be multiplied by the annual renewal fee for mortgage loan originators, and the product shall be deducted from the compliance division's budget. The remaining amount of the compliance division's budget shall be allocated as described in subdivision (i)(4).
(4)
(A)
The commissioner shall periodically determine the per diem costs of conducting a routine examination of persons regulated and supervised by the compliance division.
(B)
After deducting the amounts referenced in subdivision (i)(3), the remaining budget shall be assessed as a supervision fee among all licensed and registered locations based on the relative complexities of examining and regulating each industry.
(C)
Payment of the supervision fee calculated in this subsection (i) shall be a condition of licensure or registration renewal. The supervision fee shall be nonrefundable and no abatement of the supervision fee shall be made if the license or registration is surrendered, cancelled, revoked or suspended prior to the expiration of the period for which it was issued.
(D)
The supervision fee includes annual licensing and registration fees and the costs for a routine examination or investigation of a licensee or registrant regulated by the compliance division.
(5)
In addition to the supervision fee, a licensee or registrant shall pay the actual expenses incurred for out-of-state examinations and inspections of books, records, and papers maintained out-of-state.
(6)
In addition to the supervision fee, the commissioner may impose a special assessment upon a licensee or registrant for the purpose of recovering costs in excess of those costs normally incurred for conducting a routine examination.
(7)
A person who applies for a new license or registration shall pay, as a condition of licensure or registration, the same supervision fee for each licensed or registered location as a person holding the same license or registration type has paid as a supervision fee during that fiscal year. If the supervision fee for a fiscal year has not yet been determined, the person applying for a new license or registration shall pay, as a condition of licensure or registration, the supervision fee required to obtain the license or registration type in the previous fiscal year, except as designated in subdivision (i)(8).
(8)
A person submitting an application to the compliance division for a new license or registration from July 1, 2015 through September 30, 2015, shall pay a supervision fee of five hundred dollars ($500). Thereafter, the supervision fee shall be an amount determined by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision (i)(4).
(9)
All funds collected by the department's compliance division shall be used for the administration of that division.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 556,s 2, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 736, s 1, eff. 7/1/2015.
Acts 1969, ch. 36, § 1 (2.110); 1973, ch. 294, § 16; T.C.A., § 45-117; Acts 1988, ch. 655, § 1; 1992, ch. 628, § 1; 1993, ch. 233, § 1; 1995, ch. 451, §§ 1, 2; 1996, ch. 562, § 4; 1999, ch. 112, § 2.