Title 12 › Chapter CHAPTER 6A— - EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 635a
Make the Export‑Import Bank an independent federal agency that cannot be moved or merged into another government department unless Congress says so. The Bank must have a President and a First Vice President. Both are picked by the U.S. President and must be approved by the Senate. The Bank has a five‑member Board of Directors made up of the Bank President (who is Chair), the First Vice President (who is Vice Chair), and three other people appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. No more than three of the five board members may be from the same political party. Each director must take an oath before starting work. A quorum is three members. If the Board lacks a quorum for 120 consecutive days during a President’s term, a temporary Board made up of the United States Trade Representative, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and any current Board members will act in its place. The temporary Board has rules about who chairs meetings, may let certain deputies vote on transactions of $100,000,000 or less, cannot change Bank policies or bylaws, and ends either when a quorum returns or at the end of that President’s term. The Board must make bylaws, set officer duties, and adopt four‑year terms for directors (directors serve at the pleasure of the President). At least one appointed board member must represent small business. A director can stay on until a successor is qualified or for up to six months after the term ends. If any two board members ask, the Chair must put an item on the agenda and hold a meeting within 30 days. For long‑term transactions over $100,000,000, the Bank must publish a notice in the Federal Register, give at least 25 days for public comment, and combine related deals from the same foreign party and similar product in the prior 12 months when measuring the dollar threshold. Notices must include a non‑proprietary description of the transaction, who the obligor and suppliers are, and a general description of the items involved without giving away secrets. If an application changes in a material way (including an increase of 25 percent or more), the Bank must publish a revised notice and allow another comment period. Bank staff must give the Board the views of commenters and must provide a non‑confidential summary of analyses to any commenter within 30 days after a final decision if requested. The Bank must have a 17‑member Advisory Committee representing many sectors (including small business, labor, and environmental groups) that meets quarterly and reports on export financing, with special work on textiles. The law bars officials from acting on matters that affect their personal interests. The Bank must have a Small Business Division run by a senior vice president to do outreach, work with the SBA, improve products and technology, and oversee small business specialists in each operating division. Those specialists must help process small business transactions, may approve working capital and similar applications under Board rules (and Congress says they should be allowed to approve deals under $25,000,000 where appropriate), and must be clearly identified. The Bank must also have an Office of Ethics led by a Chief Ethics Officer and a Chief Risk Officer, both appointed and approved within 180 days after December 4, 2015; the Ethics office handles ethics oversight and referrals, and the Risk officer runs enterprise risk management and oversees stress testing and concentration risk. A Risk Management Committee made up of the Board members will oversee stress tests and exposure monitoring. Finally, the Bank may use up to 1.25 percent of its surplus for fiscal years 2015–2019 to fix IT and risk management problems, but the total used cannot exceed $20,000,000 and such use requires prior appropriations.
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Banks and Banking — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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12 U.S.C. § 635a
Title 12 — Banks and Banking
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73