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SACRAMENTO – Department of Financial Institutions Commissioner Donald R. Meyer today announced the appointment of Arlene Rutherford as Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Financial Institutions in charge of the Special Licensees Division with an effective date of August 1, 2001.

The Department’s Special Licensees Division oversees California’s transmitters of money abroad, issuers of travelers’ checks, payment instruments and money orders.

Ms. Rutherford joined the California State Banking Department (now the Department of Financial Institutions) as a junior bank examiner in 1970 and was the Deputy Superintendent of Banks, Special Licensees from 1990 to 1996. She has served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner in the San Francisco Regional Office since 1996.

She is a graduate of the University of Santa Clara and earned an MBA from St. Mary’s College. In addition, she obtained a Certificate of Banking with an emphasis in trust from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Ms. Rutherford will be located in the San Francisco Regional Office at (415) 263-8500.

The Department of Financial Institutions is responsible for regulating the safety and soundness of California’s state-chartered financial institutions, including state-licensed banks, state-licensed savings and loans, trust companies, state-licensed offices of foreign banks, issuers of travelers checks and payment instruments (money orders), transmitters of money abroad, state-licensed credit unions, and state-licensed industrial banks. DFI reports to Secretary Maria Contreras-Sweet of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and Governor Gray Davis.