Testimony by Mariano J. Mier Permanent United States Senate Subcommittee on Investigations Page 13 of 27 July 25, 1985 Federal Savings Bank, had survived the ordeal untarnished. I, after all, had been entrusted, just two months before, with the presidency of the Puerto Rico League of Savings Institutions, and had far greater responsibilities than those of my institution. I now was custodian of the trust, the welfare and well-being not just for First Federal Savings Bank, but for the entire industry. The scandal, which was prominently displayed by both the local and national media, was unprecedented in Puerto Rico's history. Until that day the only precedents we had were those of similar violations found in a host of financial institutions in the mainland United States. In my new position as Testimony by Mariano J. Mier president of the Puerto Rico League of Savings Institutions, a post almost as new as my initiation as a thrifter, for prior to December 1982 I had been a commercial banker for almost all my professional life, it was of paramount importance to leave aside competitive considerations and address the problem from the vantage point of how to stop whatever erosion in the people's confidence in our industry had resulted from the arrests. On June 13th, after chairing a board meeting of our League, in a prepared statement released to the local media, I reaffirmed, as I had done following the arrests of June 6th, our full cooperation with the continuing federal investigation and welcomed the Testimony by Mariano J. Mier Permanent United States Senate Subcommittee on Investigations Page 15 of 27 July 25, 1985 opportunity to get rid of any unscrupulous member of our financial community found in violation of the law and/or the regulations. At the same time, I offered my fellow thrifters the services of our own compliance officer at First Federal Savings Bank, who personally headed an in-depth compliance seminar for all member institutions last June 22nd. As I cannot be fully conversant about the compliance procedures that have been followed or that are now being followed by all the thrift institutions on the island and since my participation in this industry is of recent vintage I beg that you allow me to share with you the experiences that I have had at First Federal Savings Bank with matters of Testimony by Mariano J. Mier Permanent United States Senate Subcommittee on Investigations Page 17 of 27 July 25, 1985 result, the bank has turned around dramatically, showing net profits for the last thirty months and is well on its way to recovery. Yet the overhaul we began in 1983 continues. One area to which I personally devoted special attention, for it is an area that I feel should be addressed to by the chief executive officer, was the matter of compliance with all the laws and regulations. A compliance officer with extensive commercial compliance banking experience was hired. A compliance office was created and has subsequently been revamped and expanded. All compliance procedures, manuals and trainings were examined and restructured. |