US FDIC Establishes Office of Supervisory Appeals

Last week, the Board of Directors of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved amendments to its “Guidelines for Appeals of Material Supervisory Determinations” which establish an Office of Supervisory Appeals.

A standalone office within the FDIC, the Office of Supervisory Appeals will replace the existing Supervision Appeals Review Committee (SARC). “The Office of Supervisory Appeals will be the final level of review of material supervisory determinations, independent of the Divisions that make supervisory determinations,” the FDIC wrote in its announcement. To maintain its independence, the Office will be staffed by reviewing officials who are hired externally. In addition, each review panel will be required to include at least one official with supervisory experience and one with industry experience.

“Establishing the office as a standalone entity within the FDIC whose sole function is to resolve appeals would ensure that reviewing officials have the capacity to review each case with the proper level of attention and diligence, and would be scalable should the volume of appeals increase,” then-Acting Chair Travis Hill said in a press release when the change was initially proposed last summer. Hill has since been confirmed as Chair of the FDIC.