TCA § 45-1-118 — Charter application costs — Annual banking fee — Assessments — Recovering the costs of examination and supervision

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. The commissioner shall determine an annual budget for the department. 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. The assessment against each state bank, which shall be known as the banking fee, shall be allocated in proportion to the total assets beneficially owned by each state bank; provided, that: The commissioner may establish a minimum assessment in lieu of any pro rata assessment, which shall not exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000); and The maximum assessment shall not exceed the annualized fee that a state bank would pay if it were a national bank of equivalent asset size. Nondepository trust companies that are regulated by the department shall, in lieu of a banking fee based on asset size, pay to the commissioner, by July 1 of each year, the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each office operated by the trust company. In addition, nondepository trust companies shall pay the actual expenses of examination at the time of examination. The fees are payable in addition to other fees and taxes now required by law and are expendable receipts for the use of the commissioner in defraying a portion of the cost of administration of this chapter. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Persons regulated and supervised by the department's compliance division shall be assessed an annual supervision fee as described in this subsection (i). 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. 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). The commissioner shall periodically determine the per diem costs of conducting a routine examination of persons regulated and supervised by the compliance division. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). 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). All funds collected by the department's compliance division shall be used for the administration of that division.