State Auditor Tom Schweich (R) has announced an agreement with the Missouri Bankers Association over access to bank records.
The agreement comes after a nearly year-long battle which started when Schweich subpoenaed the state’s Division of Finance to determine whether bank regulators were doing their jobs properly. The division eventually agreed to allow some records to be examined, but the Bankers Association objected and filed suit, citing privacy concerns for their clients. Schweich says they’ve now resolved their differences.
“We will protect very, very carefully the information about individual banks and their depositors," Schweich said. "We don’t even really need to know the name of the bank we’re looking at or the particular account we’re looking at…all we’re trying to determine is if the Division of Finance is doing its job.”
Schweich also says the agreement includes support for potential legislation in the General Assembly that would insure his office has the right to review banking records.
