Mississippi Banking Department asks for modest budget increase, stresses staffing, travel costs and crypto oversight readiness

Jackson — The Mississippi Department of Banking asked the Senate appropriations committee on Nov. 1 to approve a modest FY2026 budget increase while emphasizing staffing and operational challenges tied to travel costs and emerging payment technologies.

Commissioner Roshanda Kelly told the committee the department’s FY2026 request is about $83,691 above the current year — a 0.65% increase — to cover in-range salary adjustments, travel and other inflationary costs while asking the Legislature to retain existing positions rather than fund new head count. “We are proposing using that 2025 authority as part of our 2026 budget request,” Kelly said.

Why it matters: The department regulates banks and a large and growing nonbank sector and said rising reimbursement rates and travel costs materially affect its operating budget. It also signaled the agency expects to take on more regulatory responsibility if state lawmakers act on money-transmitter and cryptocurrency bills this session.

What the department told lawmakers

- Scope and scale: Kelly said the department licenses about 9,000 nonbank financial-service providers representing roughly 7,900 mortgage companies, branches and individuals; its consumer finance portfolio includes about 2,100 licensees; and the state-chartered banking division supervises 54 state-chartered banks and one state-chartered credit union. She told the committee Mississippi ranks 14th nationally for state-chartered banking assets, with year-end 2024 assets of about $151,000,000,000.

- Budget request and drivers: The agency is operating on roughly a $12.8 million budget and is asking for an $84,000 increase in FY2026 (presented in materials as approximately $12.88–$12.90 million). That request includes a 5% travel-line increase and a 4% salary increase; officials said they are not requesting new permanent positions but want to keep existing position authority available to fill vacancies.

- Staffing and retention: Kelly and Deputy Commissioner Sam Hubbard described examiner recruitment and retention as ongoing problems. Kelly said the department had reached 99% utilization of authorized positions in June before losing several staff, and that onboarding and retention remain fragile despite recent hires. Hubbard described bank examiner training as lengthy and specialized: “...the bank examiner takes 5 years to train,” he said, and added that anti-money-laundering/BSA examiners are especially difficult and costly to recruit.

- Expense pressure: Director of Finance and Administration Jennifer Head told the committee the department’s FY2026 request includes $83,691 for in-range salary adjustments and $63,000 for travel increases to address reimbursement and inflationary pressures. Officials pointed to a roughly 20% increase in meal-reimbursement line items since 2020 and recent mileage-reimbursement changes from the Department of Finance and Administration that raise costs for a largely field-based staff.

- Technology and one-time items: The agency said it used one-time authority in FY2025 for lease-space expansion, audio-visual improvements and server upgrades; contractors and capital outlays decline in FY2026 primarily because those were one-time expenditures.

- Licensing and regulatory developments: Officials said nonbank renewal season runs November through January and that they have renewed most licensees to operate in Mississippi. On money transmission and newer payment platforms, Head said the agency currently licenses services such as PayPal and Venmo and “look[s] at the transactions and the volume of transactions.” Hubbard said state-level cryptocurrency regulation is unsettled but the department expects future bills could assign oversight responsibilities to them: “...we do know that a lot of people are and a lot is going on ... we do know that that will fall on ... us, and we need to be prepared for that.”

- Building accessibility and security: Committee members pressed the department about ADA access and security at its leased office. Kelly said the department has contacted the leaseholder repeatedly, has pursued suggested fixes and will send a formal letter documenting outstanding accessibility and security issues.

Nut graf: The Banking Department’s budget request is small in dollar terms, but officials told lawmakers the agency faces larger operational stress from specialized staffing needs, rising per‑diem/mileage costs and potential future regulatory duties over money-transmission and cryptocurrency activities. Lawmakers pressing on accessibility and oversight signaled interest in holding the department to operational standards beyond pure budget figures.

Additional details

- Positions and recruiting: Kelly said five positions were added in the prior budget cycle; the department has recently onboarded three examiners and expects to make additional offers to recent graduates.

- Flexibility request: The department emphasized it remains a special-fund agency and prefers a lump-sum budget so it can move authority among line items as operational needs change.

Ending: Committee members thanked the agency for the briefing and moved on to other agencies. The department did not receive a vote or formal committee action during the hearing; lawmakers pressed for continued updates on staffing, ADA access and preparations for potential legislative action on money-transmission modernization.