§3910 Audit Authority of Government Accountability Office

Summary

The Comptroller General must audit the federal agencies that supervise banks (see section 3902 for who those agencies are). The Comptroller General can only do an onsite exam of an open insured bank or its holding company if the supervising agency gives written permission. The audit can look at how those agencies supervise banks at home and how they work with foreign or international authorities. When auditing the Federal Reserve Board or Federal Reserve banks, the audit cannot look at certain things: transactions involving a foreign central bank, a foreign government, or a nonprivate international financing organization; internal deliberations, decisions, or actions about monetary policy (for example, discount window use, member bank reserves, securities credit, interest on deposits, or open market operations); transactions made under the Federal Open Market Committee’s direction; or internal discussions about any of those items. GAO staff must keep identifying information about open banks, bank holding companies, and their customers confidential, except the Comptroller General may disclose a customer of a closed bank if that customer controlled or was closely tied to those who controlled the bank. GAO employees may talk with bank supervisors and report suspected crimes to law enforcement. To do audits, agencies must give GAO access to records, sample exam reports, workpapers, and related materials, provide lockable office space, phones, and copying, and accept a GAO list of authorized staff. Most GAO workpapers and agency records used in an audit must stay at the agency, and GAO must protect them from unauthorized access.