FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 1996

Citing operational efficiencies that saved the Financial Institutions Bureau money this year, together with a restructuring of the formula for establishing fees, Commissioner Patrick M. McQueen announced substantial across the board reductions in bank corporate fees for the coming year.

In aggregate, the new application rates are 40% lower than rates in effect since 1992, and some fees were eliminated entirely. The new, realigned fee schedule is "more reflective of cost to deliver a service and more equitable and fair," Commissioner McQueen stated. Even more striking, corporate fees for state-chartered banks are now 68% lower than the fees charged national banks by the OCC.

The lower fee schedule also reflects regulatory improvements that occurred with the recent passage of amendments to the Michigan Banking Code. Commissioner McQueen credited Governor Engler and the Legislature for acting to eliminate the requirement that banks formally apply to the FIB to establish bank branches. Under PA 405, a bank simply notifies the commissioner of its intent to establish a branch and no publication requirement or fee is involved. Additionally, principal office and branch office relocation process were streamlined, and the attendant fees reduced or eliminated.

"This Administration is committed to reducing unnecessary regulatory burden," McQueen said and he assured that the bureau "will continue to seek opportunities, both in regulatory decisions and legislatively, to get impediments to fair competition out of the way."