45-1-105 - Commissioner, deputy and assistant commissioners Qualifications Vacancy.

45-1-105. Commissioner, deputy and assistant commissioners Qualifications Vacancy.

(a)  (1)  The department will have as its chief executive officer a commissioner who will be appointed by the governor as commissioner of financial institutions, and who shall have the same official status as all other commissioners. The commissioner shall hold office for the term of office of the governor except the commissioner may be removed from office by the governor for cause.

     (2)  The commissioner shall be a person of good character with at least five (5) years of experience in the theory and practice of bank management, three (3) years of which must have been in a full-time management or regulatory capacity. No person under thirty (30) years of age is eligible for appointment as commissioner.

(b)  (1)  With the consent of the governor, the commissioner has the power to appoint a deputy commissioner and one (1) assistant commissioner for each division within the department who shall serve at the will of the commissioner.

     (2)  The deputy commissioner and assistant commissioners shall be persons of good character and have a minimum of three (3) years experience in the theory and practice of banking, or in the function and operation of credit unions in the case of the assistant commissioner for the credit union division, or in the function and operation of a financial institution in the case of the assistant commissioner for the compliance division, all of which must have been in a full-time management or regulatory capacity. For the purpose of this subsection (b), “financial institution” means any institution subject to the commissioner's jurisdiction and includes similar entities regulated by any other state or federal regulatory agency.

     (3)  If the office of the commissioner is vacant, or if the commissioner is absent and unable to act, the governor may designate the deputy commissioner to be acting commissioner. If both the office of the commissioner and the office of the deputy commissioner are vacant or both are unable to act, the governor may designate one (1) of the assistant commissioners as acting commissioner.

[Acts 1913, ch. 20, § 1; Shan., § 3273a14; Code 1932, § 5940; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 45-102; Acts 1973, ch. 294, §§ 10, 13; modified; T.C.A., §§ 45-106, 45-125; Acts 1983, ch. 274, § 4; 1993, ch. 22, §§ 2, 3; 2004, ch. 747, § 17.]