Eye on the States: Texas Commissioner Creates Bankers Panel To Advise

Seeking to increase industry input, Texas Banking Commissioner Catherine A. Ghiglieri has appointed 11 state bankers to a new commissioner's council.

Members of the council will advise Ms. Ghiglieri on policy formation at the Texas Department of Banking and help the Conference of State Bank Supervisors on policy formation, legislative stances, and membership issues.

The supervisors group "is our eyes and ears for what's going on in Washington," Ms. Ghiglieri said. "This is something I've been thinking about doing for a long time to increase input from bankers."

Councilmember Cecil Wimberly, president and chief executive of Bosque County Bank in Meridian, said the group "will give Texas bankers a little more voice in the state's banking policy and what happens to the banks."

The move comes less than a year after an overhaul of the state's banking code, the first wholesale revision in 50 years, which Ms. Ghiglieri shepherded though the state legislature. She said the changes present a daunting task.

"We have a huge rulemaking process under way," she said. "This group will help in that process. I've been seeking assistance from them.

Ms. Ghiglieri said the council will encourage state banks to join the Conference of State Bank Supervisors in support of the dual banking system and states'-rights issues, and in recognition of the group's efforts to protect the state banking system.

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