Fite Elected as State Liaison Committee Chairman, Reappointed to FFIEC State Liaison Committee

(May 3, 2021) – The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) State Liaison Committee (SLC) today announced the election of Thomas Fite as SLC Chairman. The SLC Chairman’s one-year term runs from May 1 until April 30 of the following year. The SLC can re-elect the chairman for additional terms.

Additionally, the FFIEC today announced the reappointment of Fite to the FFIEC’s SLC. Fite is an active member on the SLC, first confirmed by the Council to complete a partial-term vacancy in September 2017, and then reappointed to his first full two-year term in May 2019. Fite’s second full two-year term runs from May 1, 2021, through April 30, 2023.

“I want to congratulate Tom—a fellow Hoosier—on being named SLC Chairman and on his reappointment to the Committee,” said Todd M. Harper, FFIEC Chairman and Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration. “Tom’s examination and supervision acumen, along with his state regulatory experience and working knowledge of the SLC, make him an ideal choice for Chairman. I look forward to working with him on the important work of the Council.”

During Fite's tenure on the SLC, he has been the state regulatory agencies’ representative on the FFIEC Task Force on Supervision for more than four years. Additionally, Fite has served on the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. Fite served on the joint Interagency Supervisory Process Committee and in 2020 was named Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS).

Fite was named Director of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions in January 2016. Prior to that, he was appointed Deputy Director of the department’s Depository Division in 2013. Fite spent the 15 previous years in field examination and regional supervision roles.

The SLC is comprised of five members, and also includes:

• Kevin Allard, Superintendent, Ohio Division of Financial Institutions, designated by the American Council of State Savings Supervisors (ACSSS);
• Melanie Hall, Commissioner, Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions, confirmed by the Council;
• Susannah Marshall, Commissioner, Arkansas State Bank Department, designated by the CSBS; and
• Stephen Pleger, Senior Deputy Commissioner, State of Georgia, Department of Banking and Finance, designated by the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS).

The FFIEC was created by the federal Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 to “prescribe uniform principles and standards for the federal examination of financial institutions” and “make recommendations to promote uniformity” in the supervision of financial institutions. It also conducts schools for examiners employed by the five federal member agencies represented on the FFIEC and makes those schools available to employees of state agencies that supervise financial institutions.

The FFIEC consists of the following six voting members: a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; the Comptroller of the Currency; the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration; and the Chairman of the SLC.

The SLC consists of five representatives of state banking and credit union agencies that supervise financial institutions. Members are designated by the CSBS, ACSSS, NASCUS, and the FFIEC. An SLC member may have his or her two-year term extended by the appointing organization for an additional, two-year term.