Ducrest, Pleger Appointed, Gonzales Re-Appointed, to FFIEC State Liaison Committee

WASHINGTON, April 1 -- The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, an interagency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, issued the following news release:

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) announced today the appointment of two new members of the State Liaison Committee (SLC), John Ducrest and Steve Pleger. Their two-year terms on the SLC begin today and continue through March 31, 2021.

John Ducrest was designated by the American Council of State Savings Supervisors (ACSSS) to serve on the five-member SLC. Ducrest serves as the Commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions (OFI), a position he was first appointed on June 8, 2004, and subsequently reappointed every four years since. Ducrest has served as Chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) from January 14, 2011, through May 21, 2012, having previously served in several leadership positions with that organization. Ducrest served on the Financial Stability Oversight Council from March 2012 through September 2016. Additionally, since May 2017 he has served as Chairman of the State Regulatory Registry, a subsidiary of CSBS which owns and operates the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System.

Ducrest has been with the Office of Financial Institutions for over 33 years. From 1985 to 1994, he was a Financial Examiner. In that role his duties included conducting safety and soundness examinations of financial institutions. In 1994, Ducrest was named Deputy Chief Examiner of OFI.

Steve Pleger was designated by the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS) to serve on the SLC. Pleger was appointed to the position of Senior Deputy Commissioner for the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance on May 1, 2010. Within goals and priorities established by the Commissioner, his areas of responsibility include general administration and oversight of the Department; development of policies and regulations; oversight of information technology, security, and project management; and liaison to government agencies (state and federal) as well as various trade groups.

Prior to his appointment at the Georgia agency, Pleger had responsibility for directing examination programs for large and unique financial institutions and has examination experience that covers holding companies, banks, credit unions, non-depository trust companies, agencies, and third-party service providers. Pleger has five years of industry experience working in community banking.

Pleger currently serves on the NASCUS board and had previously served as Chairman.

The Council also announces that the CSBS has reappointed Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions Greg Gonzales. Today marks the beginning of Gonzales' second two-year term, which will continue through March 31, 2021.

Gonzales is the 18th Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, serving in this position since 2005. Gonzales is an active member of the SLC since 2016. Gonzales also serves as the SLC Chairman, a position he has been elected to annually since 2017 by the SLC members.

The current members of the SLC also include

* Edward Joseph Face, Commissioner of Financial Institutions for the Virginia State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Financial Institutions, confirmed by the Council; and

* Tom Fite, Director, Indiana Department of Financial Institutions, confirmed by the Council.

The FFIEC was created by the Federal Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions, and to make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions. It also conducts schools for examiners employed by the five federal member agencies represented on the FFIEC and makes those schools available to employees of state agencies that supervise financial institutions.

The FFIEC currently consists of the following six voting members: a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; the Comptroller of the Currency; the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration; and the Chairman of the SLC.

The SLC consists of five representatives of state banking and credit union agencies that supervise financial institutions. Members are designated by the CSBS, ACSSS, NASCUS, and the FFIEC. An SLC member may have his or her two-year term extended by the appointing organization for an additional, two-year term.