Dialogue
Karsky, Timothy J
Article disappointing
It was with great interest that I read your March 15-31 article regarding the change of control transaction with respect to the Stutsman County State Bank, Jamestown, N.D. In particular, I find your comment that this Department “approved the acquisition routinely” to be an irresponsible comment. For the record, representatives of this office made numerous requests for more information from the applicant and the Federal Reserve prior to granting approval. Not once did you or your organization contact the Department of Financial Institutions for any comments regarding this transaction.
You should also know that at the time of the application our agency was performing a safety and soundness examination of the Stutsman County State Bank. The Federal Reserve Bank was aware that the examination was in progress, and their concerns were communicated to this office with respect to this application. I take offense to your inference that state regulators are unable to analyze complex situations, such as the one submitted to our office regarding the change of control with Stutsman County State Bank.
State regulators are every bit as competent as our federal counterparts and have the responsibility to uphold state law regarding these transactions. I know our Department did a very good job reviewing the application before approval was recommended to the State Banking Board.
I find your comments and lack of research in writing this article to be disappointing.
Finally, the agency name is “Department of Financial Institutions,” not the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions, as indicated in your article.
Timothy J. Karsky
Commissioner
State of North Dakota
Department of Financial Institutions
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