Safety and Soundness Certification

Objectives:

• To achieve recognition of the leadership, strategic oversight, and policy-level skills required to manage examination programs, ensure consistency and quality across supervisory work products, and align supervisory activities with agency objectives.
• To promote continuing education in managerial best practices, strategic risk oversight, policy development, and interagency coordination.
• To emphasize the need for professionalism, accountability, and ethical leadership in representing the agency and guiding the development of examination staff and processes.
• To enhance and maintain the quality of supervisory outcomes, risk monitoring, and institutional oversight achieved through effective leadership and departmental management.

The CEM certification is step 4 in the CSBS bank safety and soundness credentialing program for those who have managerial and/or supervisory responsibilities. Candidates for the CEM designation must provide evidence of the following:

• Completion of a minimum of five (5) years employment with a state regulatory agency including one (1) year of on-the-job service and training related to a management/supervisory role (e.g., Chief Examiner, Supervisor of Examinations, Review Examiner, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to review and approve examination reports for consistency and quality and oversee the agency’s examination program and requirements on a higher level.
• Satisfactory completion of the following course offerings or their equivalent:
  • Course requirements for the COE, CCE, and CEIC designations and
  • CSBS Leadership Effectiveness & Development (LEAD) or equivalent advanced management/leadership training including in-house programs or
  • Graduate School of Banking or relevant university graduate programs.

Applicants must ensure that they meet all certification requirements and will then complete an attestation of successful job performance and mastery of job-related skills, providing a thorough written response for each competency category. Their supervisor will then review and affirm the attestation to ensure accuracy and completeness. The core competencies are an integral part of the certification, and a high degree of reliance is placed on the attestation for determining compliance with these skill areas. The supervisor reviewing the application form should be familiar with the applicant’s experience, performance, and skills/abilities and be confident that the applicant meets all the requirements outlined in the form.

TECHNICAL - Provides effective leadership and organization to the department:

• Provides oversight and ensures consistency and quality of examination products.
• Monitors system-level risks, aligns outcomes with agency policy, and represents the agency with stakeholders
• Monitors senior examination personnel to ensure department mission, goals, and responsibilities are being met.
• Oversees the entire examination process (planning through issuance of the report of examination) and review workflows.
• Manages or is involved in budgeting, recruiting, training, team building, coaching/counseling, performance evaluation, and disciplinary actions, as appropriate.
• Participates in policy formulation and strategic planning; implements quality assurance/peer review protocols.
• Monitors risk trends and emerging issues across institutions (e.g., outlier monitoring, horizontal reviews) and recommends supervisory adjustments.
• Designs/tailors work programs at the framework level to address systemic risks.

CONCEPTUAL - Provides effective supervision of the overall activities of financial institutions:

• Determines condition from completed ROEs; reviews and ensures consistency with examination findings.
• Conducts horizontal analysis to identify cross-institution themes and systemic risk.
• Effectively determines financial institution condition from completed reports of examination.
• Understands how individual examinations inform agency-wide priorities; allocates resources accordingly.
• Demonstrates mastery of state and federal banking laws, rules, and regulatory guidance, including emerging or complex regulatory issues.
• Oversees review of corrective action plans and enforcement responses based on regulatory violations or deficiencies.
• Advises or participates in the development of agency policies to address evolving regulatory requirements as applicable.
• Coordinates with other state/federal authorities on complex or cross-jurisdictional matters.
• Evaluates enterprise-level risk exposures; ensures supervisory escalation pathways are followed.

LEGAL/COMPLIANCE - Effectively demonstrates knowledge of policies, procedures, laws, rules and regulations.

COMMUNICATIONS - Provides effective oral and written communications:

• Effectively and clearly communicates with other state agencies and the state legislature.
• Leads examiner development; establishes mentorship, coaching, and performance standards; contributes to policy that supports workforce development

RECERTIFICATION

Every three years, participants will be required to provide evidence of the successful completion of a minimum of 63 continuing education hours (CEH). If an examiner exceeds this requirement, up to 14 CEHs may be carried over into the new three-year term. Continuing education should be selected with the goal of maintaining, improving, or expanding the examiner’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Participants are also required to review and remain in compliance with updates to certifications. Should a material change related to the certification occur, additional training may be required to maintain certification.