Department of Business Oversight: administration.

Existing law, the Financial Institutions Law, regulates the activities of various financial entities, including commercial banks, industrial banks, and trust companies. The Financial Institutions Law authorizes the Commissioner of Business Oversight to levy civil penalties against any specified financial institutions licensee, or any subsidiary of a licensee, for violations of law that apply to that particular category of financial institution, as defined. Existing law prohibits the commissioner and his or her designees from disclosing or permitting the disclosure of any record, record of any action, or information contained in a record of any action, taken by the commissioner, except as specified, to persons other than federal or state government employees who are authorized by statute to obtain the records in the performance of their official duties, unless the disclosure is authorized or requested by the affected licensee or the affected subsidiary of the licensee. This bill would delete that prohibition and would require the commissioner to make all final orders issued pursuant to those provisions public on the department's Internet Web site. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to adopt and implement a method of accepting electronic filings or applications, reports, or other matters, as specified. Existing law requires this method to include a way of verifying the identity of the person making the filing and provides that this verification satisfies other verifications required by the Financial Institutions Law. This bill would deem the verification described above to satisfy all other verifications required by the commissioner. The bill would also require a licensee subject to the commissioner's jurisdiction to establish and maintain an electronic service address, as specified, for receiving communications and documents from the commissioner, the address to be provided upon licensure. The bill would require a licensee to inform the commissioner of a change in the address prior to the change, would require the licensee to provide the commissioner the new address, and would authorize the commissioner to impose a fine of up to $50 a day, not to exceed $1,000, for a failure to do so. The bill would require the commissioner to provide specified licensees an electronic service address designated for receiving correspondence from them. The bill would provide that communications sent to these electronic service addresses do not satisfy notice requirements, or displace laws or regulations, that require notice to be served in a different manner, if a hearing right attaches to the notice.