SC Board of Financial Institutions Announces National Accreditation of Office of the Commissioner of Banking

State Treasurer Curtis Loftis is pictured with SC Banking Commissioner Kathy Bickham and NASCUS President and CEO Brian Knight during formal recognition of the state’s recent accreditation at Wednesday’s Board of Financial Institutions monthly meeting in Columbia.

The South Carolina Board of Financial Institutions announced that its Office of the Commissioner of Banking recently received accreditation from the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS).

NASCUS President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Knight and Senior Vice President John Kolhoff presented the Certificate of Accreditation to State Commissioner of Banking Kathy Bickham at the Board’s February meeting held in Columbia.  NASCUS Accreditation Program Administrator Mary Ellen O’Neill was also in attendance.  Mr. Kolhoff noted that the Banking Division deserved significant accolades in it’s very first review, specifically recognizing the office “for the strength of the agency’s strategic planning, processes, and effectiveness of the surveillance systems used to monitor the credit union industry.”

The accreditation process, which began in 2023, is the culmination of an effort by the Office of the Commissioner of Banking to ensure the agency’s policies, procedures, examination capabilities and operations meet the national best practices standards for credit unions as established by NASCUS. The agency received similar credentials from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) in 2018.

“This is a great honor to achieve accreditation from the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors,” said Commissioner Bickham.  "This significant accomplishment is the result of our team’s continued planning and hard work to ensure that we keep pace with the financial industry and institutions we supervise in South Carolina.”

The goal of the NASCUS Accreditation Program is to administer and ensure states’ credit union examination and supervision quality standards. The program, modeled on the university accreditation concept, applies national performance standards to a state’s credit union regulatory program. South Carolina regulates eight state-chartered credit unions.

“As Chairman of the Board of Financial Institutions, I want to congratulate Kathy and her team for their efforts to complete this accreditation process,” Treasurer Loftis explained. “The financial sector is constantly changing and evolving, so it’s important that we stay on top of the latest policies, regulations and best practices in the credit union space to ensure we are on par with our peers.”

About NASCUS
NASCUS, the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors, is the national association that advocates for a strong and healthy state credit union system, and whose members include state regulatory agencies, credit unions, credit union leagues, and organizations that support the state credit union system.

About the South Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banking
The Office of the Commissioner of Banking is responsible for the chartering, supervision and examination of all state-chartered banks, savings and loan associations, savings banks, credit unions and trust companies.

For more information on the Office of the Commissioner of Banking, please visit banking.sc.gov.