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Banking Department Seeks Fee Modernization; Committee Questions Small-Business Impacts
Summary
HB1207 would restructure how the Banking Department funds its operations by replacing hourly exam fees for chartered institutions with predictable annual flat fees and updating long-unused licensing fees. Department officials said changes smooth revenue and align practices with current workloads; senators pressed for protections for small businesses and clarification of fee calculations.
Representative John Hunt presented HB1207 as the Banking Department’s omnibus modernization and housekeeping bill. Commissioner Amelia Galeri explained the bill replaces hourly exam fees for state-chartered depository institutions with a fixed annual base fee and raises certain licensing fees that have not been updated in decades, with the aim of smoothing revenue collection for the self-funded department.
Seth Saraki, general counsel, described the Senate amendment extending the fixed-fee approach to state-chartered depository banks, credit unions and trust companies, and said the flat fees are designed not to increase overall revenue but to make costs predictable. The commissioners described averaging historical exam costs (exam frequency about every 18 months) to calculate a flat annual fee.
Senators questioned how the change affects small businesses, whether the department would revisit auditing and exam burdens (citing RSA 361A-related concerns), and how the department computed a roughly $23,000 average flat fee for some exams. Department officials said they excluded certain fee categories (e.g., RSA 361A-covered entities) from sweeping changes and aimed to “rightsize” fees to avoid end-of-year assessments.
The bill also includes provisions aligning the treatment of criminal-history reviews for mortgage loan originator licensing with federal SAFE Act standards.
The committee closed the hearing on HB1207.
