17:1-2. Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, appointment, salary; interests prohibited to commissioner, officers, employees

17:1-2. a. The head of the reconstituted department, to be denominated the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance and hereinafter in Title 17 of the Revised Statutes and Title 17B of the New Jersey Statutes, designated the "commissioner," shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor during the Governor's term of office and until the appointment and qualification of the commissioner's successor. The person in office as the Commissioner of Insurance on June 30, 1996, shall at the pleasure of the Governor hold the office of Commissioner of Banking and Insurance reestablished by this 1996 amendatory and supplementary act for the unexpired term for which the commissioner was appointed, and until a successor is appointed and qualified. No person shall be appointed commissioner who is in any way connected with the management or control of any corporation, firm, association, institution, or licensee affected by Title 17 of the Revised Statutes or Title 17B of the New Jersey Statutes, and the commissioner shall immediately be dismissed from office if at any time the commissioner becomes so interested.

The commissioner shall receive such salary as shall be provided by law.

The commissioner shall devote full time to the performance of the duties of commissioner.

b. Neither the commissioner nor any officer or employee of the department shall have any ownership of, interest in, or any dealings or transactions in any capacity with any financial institution, insurance company or other entity chartered, licensed or regulated by the department, except in the strict performance of the commissioner's, officer's or employee's duties. This prohibition shall not preclude the commissioner, or officers or employees of the department from continuing routine banking services with financial institutions, including but not limited to, mortgages, checking and savings accounts, and personal loans, entered into prior to their employment, or from establishing banking accounts and from obtaining loans and other services normally obtained by members of the general public, or from obtaining insurance or making claims involving their person, property or affairs, under the same terms and conditions as are available to members of the general public. This prohibition shall not apply to investments in mutual funds, deferred compensation plans, blind trusts, or similar investments, in which the commissioner, officer or employee does not make or influence the selection of individual investments.

No department examiner shall examine any entity with which the examiner conducts personal or family banking or insurance activities.

Any violation of this section shall be cause for dismissal of the violator by the appointing authority.

Amended 1942, c.195, s.1; 1945, c.87; 1948, c.88, s.2; 1996, c.45, s.3.