Texas Department of Banking Issues Supervisory Memorandum 1043

The Department of Banking is charged with enforcing laws regarding the advertising of regulated financial services. Under the Texas Banking Act, non-banks cannot use "bank," "bank and trust," or similar terms or phrases in a manner implying to the public that the non-bank is engaged in the business of banking.

Similarly, under Texas’ Money Services Act, companies unauthorized to engage in the business of money transmission may not advertise or otherwise represent that they engage in the business of money transmission.

To help prevent such deceptive advertising, the Department has issued Supervisory Memorandum 1043 (SM 1043), which interprets state statutes governing the marketing of regulated financial services, clarifies the requirements for compliance, and addresses various legal parameters for marketing regulated financial services.