Texas had 212 state-chartered banks at the end of 2024 and 200 a year later. The agency that supervises them brings a budget to a public hearing Thursday that cuts $2.9 million and fourteen jobs. Written comments on all three regulators’ budgets are due Monday, August 10.
The three agencies overseen by the Finance Commission of Texas — the Department of Banking, the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending, and the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner — do not run on tax money. Every dollar comes from fees and assessments paid by the industries they regulate. That is why the Legislature does not set their spending levels and an appointed eleven-member board does, at a hearing every August, weeks before the state fiscal year turns over on September 1.
Banking’s numbers follow the charter count down. Combined assets at state-chartered Texas banks fell $25.5 billion last year to $426.9 billion as fourteen institutions merged or converted away and two arrived. The department’s proposed budget drops from $43.0 million to $40.0 million, a cut of about seven percent, with staffing down from 236 positions to 222. A footnote says the plan leaves roughly $8 million in bank and trust assessments unlevied because the department does not expect to need the money. It has also reported continuing vacancies among its financial examiners.
Savings and Mortgage Lending moves the other way. Its plan spends $11.0 million against $10.4 million in revenue and says the gap will come out of cash reserves — the second straight year of that. It is budgeted for 77 positions and had 71 filled on June 1. The department oversees 21 state savings institutions and more than 43,000 individual mortgage loan originators.
The third budget is missing. The Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner’s proposal could not be located anywhere as of Thursday, although the hearing notice says all three were published on agency websites July 29, and the commission’s own link for it is a dead placeholder. That agency’s licensing base is also shrinking — payday and auto-title storefronts fell about a quarter in a single year — and it picks up new investigative authority over business cash-advance lenders in the fiscal year the budget covers.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 10:30 a.m. CT Thursday, August 6, 2026. Written comments on all three budgets are due Monday, August 10.
- Where
- William F. Aldridge Hearing Room, third floor, State Finance Commission Building, 2601 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin 78705.
- Governing body & chair
- Finance Commission of Texas — eleven members appointed by the Governor. Phillip A. Holt, chair; Laura Nassri Warren, vice chair. It oversees three agencies but is not one itself.
- Format
- One joint hearing, not three. The three agencies present their budgets and take comment; the commission’s own approval vote is expected at its August 21 regular meeting.
- Live video
- Webcast live; register at fc.texas.gov. Webinar ID 351-414-251. A recording is posted afterward.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · Finance Commission hearing page
Commission members
- Phillip A. Holt, Bonham — chair; consumer credit member. Term to 2028.
- Laura Nassri Warren, Palmhurst — vice chair; public member. Term to 2032.
- Robert “Bob” Borochoff, Houston — public member. Term to 2028.
- Kathleen K. Fields, San Antonio — public member. Term to 2028.
- Glen Martin “Marty” Green, Dallas — public member. Term to 2028.
- William “Chip” Jenkins, Rockport — banking member; appointed June 2026.
- Troy L. Lambden, Graham — savings member. Term to 2030.
- Bradford “Luke” Ledbetter, Austin — public member; appointed June 2026.
- Sharon McCormick, Frisco — mortgage loan originator member. Term to 2032.
- David W. Osborn, El Paso — banking member. Term to 2030.
- Miguel Romano, Jr., Austin — public member. Term to 2030.
Roster: Finance Commission Members. Agency heads: Charles G. Cooper, banking commissioner; Hector Retta, savings and mortgage lending commissioner; Leslie L. Pettijohn, consumer credit commissioner.