Research


Scope and Content Note

The series consists of reports of examinations of various types of financial institutions.

B1638-99: Examinations vary in detail and frequency, depending upon the type of institution examined and the level of involvement by federal examiners. Generally, the examinations scrutinize the overall financial status of an institution and inspect details of daily operations and financial activity. The examinations are not audits, and many examination reports contain a disclaimer to that effect.

Subseries 1, Reports on Domestic Commercial Banks. These are reports on examinations conducted by the Domestic Commercial Banks Division for banks owned by U.S. citizens. They include information on "asset quality" (an evaluation of the soundness of loans and investments); lists of non-performing loans; evaluations of management and procedures; and examiner's comments. Also, the department assigns each bank a "CAMEL" rating based on its capital, assets, management, earnings, and liquidity. The report is in two sections: the first is mainly of a statistical summary of the banks' operations; the second contains examiners' confidential evaluations concerning the bank's investment trends, its relations with affiliate organizations, and its investments in "securities not readily marketable." It also lists large depositors and directors' connections to other banks and organizations.

Subseries 2, Reports on Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. These are reports on examinations conducted by the Thrift Division Unit for savings and loan banks, savings banks, and credit unions. Form and content of the reports are very similar to those conducted for domestic commercial banks.

Subseries 3, Reports for Foreign-Owned Domestic Banks and Investment Companies. These are reports on examination of domestic banks and investment companies, conducted by the Foreign Commercial Banks Unit. Reports pertain to foreign-owned banks that operate domestic subsidiaries in the state. Examinations conducted on foreign-owned domestic banks are nearly identical to those conducted on state-chartered banks and on savings and loan institutions and credit unions. Each report, arranged into two sections (statistical and evaluative), examines the same issues as those reports, and, in addition, provides information pertaining to the subsidiary's parent organization.

Subseries 4, Examination Reports of Foreign Branches and Agencies. These are reports of examinations of foreign branches and agencies, prepared by the Foreign Commercial Banks Unit, that pertain to foreign-owned banks with branches in New York State. Although these examinations are also divided into statistical and evaluative sections, they normally provide less information than other reports. For foreign branches, the Banking Department issues an AIM rating based on assets, internal controls, and management. Liquidity, equity, and capital are not examined because they are not applicable to a bank's branch operations. The confidential section addresses issues similar to those in other types of reports, as well as such topics as foreign exchange practices, a description of parent bank organization and operations, and lists of international banking facilities.

Subseries 5, Reports of Mortgage Banks and Brokers. These are reports on examinations of mortgage banks and brokers, prepared by the Mortgage Banking Division. They include examiner's comments; evaluation of current market position; volume of loans, including past due and foreclosed mortgage loans; lists of officers, partners, directors, 10% stockholders, employees, and branches; and loan document review. This information is collected on pre-printed schedules; thirteen schedules are compiled to form an examination report. When violations are discovered, follow-up correspondence detailing measures to be taken to eliminate infractions are included in the file.

B1638-99A: This accretion consists of a partial item list to B1638-99 that was originally accessioned as part of that accretion. However, in order to more accurately track the location of this listing, State Archives staff decided to accession it as a separate accretion to the reports.

B1638-00: This is an accretion to Subseries 4, Examination Reports of Foreign Branches and Agencies. It consists entirely of examination reports of branches of foreign banks operating in New York (1987, 1989-1992). Approximately 45 reports are included.

B1638-01: This is an accretion to sub-series 2, Reports on Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. It consists entirely of examination reports for savings banks in New York State. Six reports are included. These records are restricted pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding executed between the Banking Department and the State Education Department.

B1638-01A: This is an accretion to sub-series 2, Reports on Savings and Loan banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. It consists of approximately 170 examination reports for these types of financial institutions and encompasses the period from 1990 to 1993.

B1638-01B: This accretion consists of additions to the following subseries: Subseries 4, Examination Reports of Foreign Branches and Agencies, consisting of 104 examination reports of branches of foreign banks operating in New York (1985-1994); Subseries 1, Examination Reports for Domestic Commercial Banks, consisting of 13 reports for domestic commercial banks operating in New York (1988-1993).

B1638-02: This is an accretion to sub-series 5, Examination Reports of Mortgage Banks and Brokers. It consists of one special investigation report dated 1994 pertaining to the Community Home Mortgage Bank. Series is restricted pursuant to a MOU executed between the Banking and State Education Departments.

B1638-02A: This is an accretion to Subseries 4 (1986, 1989-1995 of approximately 110 reports.

B1638-11: This is an accretion to Subseries 2, Reports on Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions, which were conducted by the Banking Department's Thrift Division. The reports contain information on an institution's "asset quality"; lists of non-performing loans; management and procedures; and the examiner's comments. Reports consist of a statistical section and a narrative section that contains the examiner's confidential evaluation of the bank's investment trends, relations with affiliate organizations, investments in securities not readily marketable, large depositors, and directors' connections to other banks and organizations.

B1638-12: This is an accretion to Subseries 2, Reports on Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. These examination reports are dated from 1985-2006.

B1638-12A: This is an accretion to Subseries 3, Examination Reports for Foreign-Owned Domestic Banks and Investment Companies. These examination reports are dated from 1993-2002.

B1638-12B: This is an accretion to Subseries 1, Examination Reports for Domestic Commercial Banks. These examination reports are dated from 1994-2003.

B1638-12C: This is an accretion to Subseries 5, Examination Reports of Mortgage Banks and Brokers. These examination reports are dated from 1994-2006.

B1638-12D: This is an accretion to Subseries 4, Examination Reports of Foreign Branches and Agencies. These examination reports are dated from 1999-2006.

B1638-13: This is an accretion to Subseries 5, Examination Reports of Mortgage Banks and Brokers. These examination reports are dated from 2005-2006.

B1638-14: This is an accretion to Subseries 2, Examination Reports for Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. These examination reports are dated 2006.

B1638-14A: This is an accretion to Subseries 5, Examination Reports of Mortgage Banks and Brokers. These examination reports are dated 2006.

B1638-15: This is an accretion to Subseries 5, Examination Reports of Mortgage Banks and Brokers. These examination reports are dated 2007.

B1638-15A: This is an accretion to Subseries 4, Examination Reports of Foreign Branches and Agencies, covering the Swiss bank project. These examination reports are dated 2001.

B1638-20: This is an accretion to Subseries 2, Examination Reports for Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. These examination reports are dated 2012.

B1638-22: This is an accretion to Subseries 2, Examination Reports for Savings and Loan Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions. These examination reports are dated 2014.

B1638-23: This is an accretion to Subseries 4, Examination Reports of Foreign Branches and Agencies. These examination reports are dated from 2009-2015.