New Montana commissioner up to meeting challenges

Northwestern Financial Review, Jul 1, 2001 by Crews, Jennifer Goepfert

The state of Montana welcomed a new commissioner of banking and financial institutions on May 21. Annie M. Bartos, who most recently served as chief legal counsel of the Department of Commerce, brings with her more than 12 years of legal experience, a strong background in banking law and an understanding of Montana's diverse financial system.

A Helena native, Bartos has a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Carroll College in her hometown. She practiced nursing in Helena and Missoula hospitals while she pursued a law degree at the University of Montana, Missoula. Following her graduation in 1984, Bartos worked as a law clerk for the Montana Supreme Court. She practiced as a litigation attorney for the risk management tort defense division of the Department of Administration before she was selected as the chief legal counsel 13 years ago. It was in this position that her interest in banking began to bloom.

"One of my responsibilities was to represent the banking and financial institutions division as well as the state bank board," said Bartos. "During the course of my legal representation as well as representation of the board, I had developed a very strong interest in the banking arena and the financial institutions regulation and supervision aspects of the work that is done by the state of Montana."

Under a program sponsored by the American Bankers Association, Bartos graduated from the George Mason University of Law, Banking Law Section, Arlington, Va.

As commissioner of banking, Bartos said the challenges that she will be facing are the expansion and modernization of the bank activities and the financial institution activities that are provided by state and federal laws. Bartos cited the recently passed Gramm-Leach-- Bliley Act as an example.

"Essentially, congress has mandated a free market system for the banking industry which allows banks to expand their services in areas that are financial in nature or that are incidental to financial activities," she said. "It will be a challenge for the division to assure that our institutions are meeting the requirements under the law and assuring the safety and soundness of our state chartered banks in conducting the business and providing services to the customers of the banks."

Bartos cited an inherent competitive dynamic in a dual banking system as another challenge, and said state and federal regulators will have to be flexible and innovative.

Bartos is eager to meet those challenges. "The rewards will come with the development of this division so that we may be effective and provide the service to our banks and to our financial institutions in the state of Montana," she said. "The goal of our division will be to evaluate and to mitigate any risk that our financial institutions will be having, and to preserve our capital in the reserves."

In terms of personal goals, Bartos said as commissioner, she would like to enhance her ability in management in both banking and law, and to be the most effective public servant by "exhibiting confidence, integrity and a belief in our free market system. And to certainly learn each day to apply my skills and knowledge as effectively as I can."

When she is not busy in her new role as commissioner, Bartos is a classical violinist in the Helena symphony. And as a Montana native, Bartos tries to find time to fulfill her love of the outdoors by visiting her family's lake home on Flat Head Lake in northwestern Montana.

Bartos attributes much of her success, her work ethic and her confidence to her parents who are Polish immigrants. She said they are responsible in part for preparing her to meet her new challenges as commissioner--challenges which she is already planning to overcome.

"I believe that as a division, we can work with our banks to provide the necessary catalyst to reinvigorate our economy at a community level," she added. "That is how we have operated in Montana. We start at our communities and then work outward. It is through a partnership of trust and hard work and truthfulness that the banking division would be able to enhance this goal."