(Radio Iowa) – State Banking Superintendent Jeff Plagge retired Friday. There are only a dozen nationally-chartered banks operating in Iowa. The 230 state-chartered banks fall under the regulation of the State Banking Division. “Iowa has the fourth largest number of bank charters in the country. I think it’s Texas, Illinois, Minnesota and then Iowa,” Plagge says. “Along with that Iowa has one of the lowest non-banked populations in the country. In other words, most Iowans have banking accounts. I think there’s a direct relationship to the fact that Iowa still has a lot of community banks.”

Plagge, who lives in Arnolds Park, started out an ag lender in his hometown of Latimer. He was chairman of Spencer’s Northwest Financial Corporation when Governor Reynolds appointed him state banking superintendent in September of 2019. “I was chairman of the Iowa Bankers Association, chairman of the American Bankers Association and the Chicago Fed Board, so my ties into banking had been deep, so there wasn’t too much that surprised me on the banking side,” Plagge says. “We also have a finance bureau in the Banking Division, which is the non-banking activity…mortgage brokers, payday lenders, money servicing.” Plagge says that forced him to jump on a quick learning curve about that side of the agency.

Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a southwest Iowa banker to serve as the next State Superintendent of Banking. James Johnson of Gravity is currently the President and C-E-O of P-C-S-B Bank, a family-owned community bank in Clarinda. He’s also on the Iowa Bankers Association’s board of directors. Johnson’s appointment must be confirmed by the Iowa Senate.