Department of Banking and Finance

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance (Department) is the state agency that regulates and examines Georgia state-chartered banks, state-chartered credit unions, and state-chartered trust companies. The Department also has responsibility for the supervision, regulation, and examination of bank holding companies and Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Banks (MALPBs) chartered in Georgia.  In addition, the Department has regulatory and licensing authority over mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, mortgage processors, mortgage loan originators, check cashers, sellers/issuers of payment instruments, money transmitters, consumer installment lenders, and international banking organizations, conducting business in Georgia.

Financial Institutions and financial service providers are subject to strong statutory and regulatory requirements at both the federal and state levels. We share regulatory responsibility for Georgia state-chartered financial institutions with our federal counterparts (FDIC, FRB, NCUA). For activities taking place within Georgia, we are the sole regulatory agency for mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, consumer installment lenders, and money service businesses, which includes sellers/issuers of payment instruments, money transmitters, and check cashers (with the exception of the CFPB, which enforces federal consumer financial laws, and FinCEN and the IRS, which supervise the Bank Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act and other Anti-Money-Laundering efforts).

The Department does not regulate national banks (e.g.: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, PNC) or federal credit unions, whether operating in Georgia or elsewhere.  The Department also does not regulate out-of-state chartered banks (e.g. Truist, Regions) or credit unions, regardless of where they are operating.