35 states file amicus brief in Wachovia V. Burke.THE CONFERENCE OF STATE BANK SUPERVIsors (CSBS CSBS Conference of State Bank SupervisorsCSBS Clinical Standards Board for Scotland CSBS Canadian Society of Biblical Studies CSBS California State Button Society CSBS CONUS Support Based Services CSBS Colorado State Button Society ), Washington, D.C., announced that 35 attorneys general, supported by 43 state bank commissioners, have filed an amicus brief in support of Connecticut Banking Commissioner John P. Burke in Wachovia Bank N.A. and Wachovia Mortgage Corporation v. John P. Burke. The suit is pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Signing on to the amicus brief are attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). , New Jersey, New Mexico, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. , South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia Washington is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wood County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,170 at the 2000 census. The CDP is home to the Washington Works, one of the largest single facilities of chemicals manufacturing giant DuPont. , Wisconsin and Wyoming. Wachovia has challenged Connecticut's authority to license and supervise Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia Mortgage Corporation, a state-chartered mortgage lender. The case raises the issue of whether states have authority to license and regulate state-chartered nonbank subsidiaries of national banks. Wachovia claims in its suit that federal law pre-empts the authority of state officials to regulate its mortgage subsidiary. The state group's amicus brief contends that state-chartered operating subsidiaries of national banks do not possess any blanket immunity from state regulation. "This case is part of a campaign by the comptroller of the currency Comptroller of the Currency A government official, appointed by the President of the United States, who keeps control over all national banks, and receives reports from the banks at least quarterly, to be published in newspapers. to craft through the courts a new body of law and a new regulatory structure to shield national banks and their non-banking subsidiaries from state law and state law enforcement. The comptroller's efforts are undermining our nation's long history of cooperative federalism in the regulation of financial services providers," said Mick Thompson, CSBS' chairman. The amicus curiae brief Noun 1. amicus curiae brief - a brief presented by someone interested in influencing the outcome of a lawsuit but who is not a party to it brief, legal brief - a document stating the facts and points of law of a client's case states: "Under our system of corporate governance Corporate Governance The relationship between all the stakeholders in a company. This includes the shareholders, directors, and management of a company, as defined by the corporate charter, bylaws, formal policy, and rule of law. , each state has the unquestioned authority to exercise comprehensive supervision over the corporations it charters and to license and regulate corporations chartered by other states that transact business within its borders. In addition the courts have repeatedly upheld the authority of state-chartered providers of financial services, particularly in the area of mortgage lending." In their amicus filing, the states also noted that in recently enacted federal banking laws, particularly the 1994 Riegle-Neal Banking and Branching Efficiency Act, Congress reaffirmed the states' authority to apply consumer-protection laws to all financial institutions engaging in business with their citizens. |
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