Washington, D.C.—The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) announced that the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, Bureau of Financial Institutions (the Bureau), has received a certificate of accreditation, certifying that the Bureau maintains the standards and practices in state banking supervision set by the organization’s accreditation program.

“Congratulations to Superintendent Lloyd P. LaFountain III and his staff on achieving reaccreditation,” said John W. Ryan, CSBS president and CEO.  "This reaccreditation is confirmation that Maine’s Bureau of Financial Institutions is committed to achieving and maintaining the highest levels of quality bank supervision in the country, which provides tremendous benefits to Maine’s citizens and banks.”

The Bureau was first accredited by CSBS in October 1996 and has maintained its accreditation for 15 years. It is responsible for the regulation of 20 state-chartered banks, 12 state-chartered credit unions, and 11 non-depository trust companies.

CSBS accreditation seeks to strengthen state banking departments and to demonstrate the high quality of state banking departments to the general public, the federal banking agencies, Congress, and other state banking departments.

The accreditation process begins with the completion of an extensive self-evaluation questionnaire on all department operations: administration and finance, personnel, training, examination, supervision, and legislative powers. Next, an external review team comprised of veteran state and federal regulators performs an on-site review and presents its findings to an audit team and to the Performance Standards Committee, the members of which vote on the reports of the review team and the audit team.