Banking Department

Operation of Overseas Offices

The Banking Department, which regulates financial institutions licensed or chartered in New York State, maintains permanent offices in London and Tokyo. We examined the need for these offices and found that neither office could be adequately justified by the Department. We noted that only one of the 45 states we surveyed had considered opening an overseas office, and Federal banking regulators generally traveled to their overseas locations. In addition, at the Tokyo office, we found that excessive amounts were paid for office furniture and for tuition for the children of Department staff. We recommended that consideration be given to closing the two offices, at annual savings of about $800,000.

For a complete copy of Report 99-S-53 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.