Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.
For the first time since May, the ranks of state banking and lending regulators are at full staff.
The Nevada Department of Business and Industry on Monday named commissioners for the Financial Institutions Division and the newly created Mortgage Lending Division.
Also named was a new deputy FID commissioner.
Carol Tidd, who is currently serving as Finance Division president and technical controller for Nationwide Insurance of Ohio, was named FID commissioner.
Scott Bice, branch chief for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Quality Assurance Division in Santa Ana, Calif., will lead the Mortgage Lending Division.
Sue Eckhardt, an investigator for the Nevada Secretary of State's Securities Division, was named deputy FID commissioner.
Business and Industry Director Sydney Wickliffe was out of town on Tuesday and unable to comment on the appointments, but department spokeswoman Amanda Getzoff said the appointments will be good for the affected industries.
"(Wickliffe) is incredibly happy with about the options she had and the choices she made," Getzoff said. "We have a very high caliber of people coming in."
Tidd has 19 years of experience in financial and business analysis, controls and operations.
She will replace Scott Walshaw, who resigned in July as FID commissioner after 20 years in the position. His last day was Oct. 15.
Bice has 14 years of compliance and management experience in the mortgage lending and banking industries. He will lead the Mortgage Lending Division, which was created in the last legislative session after a series of high-profile problems with lenders.
Eckhardt will replace Lyndon Evans, who retired from the position in May.
Tidd, Bice and Eckhardt are expected to start in mid-November.
That means Bice could be in place in time to witness a pair of hearings into alleged violations by two mortgage lenders.
On Nov. 12, the state is scheduled to begin hearings into Las Vegas-based Vestin Mortgage Co.'s handling of loans to developer Howard Bulloch.
In April, a Clark County District Court judge sharply criticized the FID for its failure to act on complaints Bulloch brought against Vestin. After the division found no violations, Judge Sally Loehrer ordered a new investigation, and three possible violations were found.
In March, Bulloch won a $5 million judgment against Vestin in separate U.S. District Court case. The company plans to appeal, and Vestin has denied wrongdoing in the Bulloch court case and the FID complaint.
The state was ordered to pay Bulloch $187,000 in attorney's fees for the complaint brought against the FID.
Hearings also are pending into allegations made by the Financial Institutions Division that Global Express Capital Mortgage of Las Vegas violated lending laws.
A date has not been set for those hearings, but the FID claims that the company misled investors in a $3.8 million loan for the purchase of a Henderson office building.
The most recent allegations follow several collapses among Las Vegas mortgage lenders that caused investors to lose money, including the state seizure of the Harley L. Harmon Mortgage Company and the insolvency of Interstate Mortgage.
State Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, has been pressing for years for improvements to the state's regulation of the mortgage industry. He was a vocal supporter of the legislation that separated the Mortgage Lending Division from the Financial Institutions Division.
He said the appointment of a commissioner should be the start of a safer investment environment.
"It's an area in this state that we promised the citizens of the state that we would watch out for them," Goldwater said. "This is a step toward watching out for them."
He said the pending hearings should give the new commissioner a feel for the problems facing the industry.
"Welcome to Nevada," he said.
Ted Wehking, executive vice president of the Nevada Bankers Association, said having new commissioners in place after a period of turnover will be important.
"You need leadership in there," he said, adding that having new commissioners from out of state could be an advantage. "With new blood comes new perspective."
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