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Supervisory Activities
Supervisory activities are used for examining and investigating companies.
SES Examinations and Investigations Resources for Agencies
How to initiate and manage examinations and investigations of supervised companies.
Conducting a Supervisory Activity
A Supervisory Activity is an activity conducted by a state agency over a financial institution under its regulatory authority. It includes Examination, Investigation, and enforcement actions.
Findings
A finding is an issue identified by a state agency user during the supervision of a financial institution in SES. The finding may describe the company’s strengths and/or weaknesses regarding its compliance management system, assess the company’s compliance with consumer protection laws or regulations, or any potential consumer harm. A finding may be either a violation, recommendation, or observation.

Supervisory Activities
Supervisory activities are used for examining and investigating companies.
- SES Examinations and Investigations Resources for Agencies
  How to initiate and manage examinations and investigations of supervised companies.
  - Job Aid: Conducting Your First Exam in SES
    This job aid serves as a guide for new Examiner in Charge (EIC) to conduct their first exam in the State Examination System (SES). It highlights the basic workflow of an exam in SES and points out important information along the way.
  - Managing Supervisory Activities
    This section includes managing the Library, exam scheduling, and participants in a Supervisory Activity. Bulk download of data from supervisory activities is also included.
  - Conducting a Supervisory Activity
    A Supervisory Activity is an activity conducted by a state agency over a financial institution under its regulatory authority. It includes Examination, Investigation, and enforcement actions.
    - Initiating a Supervisory Activity
      The first step in conducting an exam, investigation, or enforcement in SES is to Supervisory Activity on a company.
    - Updating the Basic Details of a Supervisory Activity
      Examiners in Charge (EICs), and Staff Users that are participants on a supervisiry activity (SA) can make updates to the basic details of an examination and save them to the SA.
    - Canceling a Supervisory Activity
      You can cancel a supervisory activity (SA) in SES at any time before the report is sent to the company.
    - Sending a Supervisory Activity for Review
      When initiating a Supervisory Activity in SES, you have the option of sending it for review.
    - Reviewing a Newly-Initiated Supervisory Activity
      The staff director or staff user who initiated a supervisory activity (SA) has the option of sending the SA for review to one or more staff directors before it is scheduled.
    - Milestones and the Supervisory Activity Workflow
      The workflow and its milestones are displayed on the supervisory activity's Summary page. There are seven milestones in total, and there are specific tasks to be completed in that phase of the supervisory activity.
    - Managing the Plan
      The plan informs participants of their responsibilities within the exam. Defining the plan is optional.
    - Managing the Scope
      The scope determines the content that will be reviewed during a supervisory activity, including the review period, business types and business activities, and the areas for review within the selected business types and activities.
    - Reviewing the Scope as the Primary Reviewer
      Once the examiner in charge (EIC) sends an item (Scope, Plan, MRA, etc.) for review, the first reviewer selected in the step is the primary reviewer. Only the first reviewer selected to review the item can follow these steps.
    - Information Requests
      Information Request (IR) contain template language used to request information from a company.
    - Loan Requests
      When conducting an Examination with a Loan File Review Area for Review (AFR), you can send an Information Request (IR) to the company asking for a full list of their loan information.
    - Transaction Requests for Agencies
      Transaction requests in SES allow agency users to initiate and manage formal requests related to specific transactions during a money services business (MSB) examination. Unlike information requests or loan requests, which target broader data or document categories, transaction requests focus on obtaining evidence tied to individual transactions, supporting detailed analysis and issue identification throughout the examination lifecycle.
    - Agent Location Requests
      Learn how to use the agent location requests functionality in SES as part of an MSB examination.
    - MTRA Workbook
      Users conducting MSB exams can export work completed in SES into a template that matches the MTRA work program.
    - Procedures
      Procedures are used to guide examiners during the examination in the review of company documentation or compliance with statutes, regulations, and other requirements.
    - Conducting the Exam: Reviewing Information Request Responses
      Conducting the exam consists of reviewing Information Request (IR) responses, working procedures and adding or reviewing findings.
    - Findings
      A finding is an issue identified by a state agency user during the supervision of a financial institution in SES. The finding may describe the company’s strengths and/or weaknesses regarding its compliance management system, assess the company’s compliance with consumer protection laws or regulations, or any potential consumer harm. A finding may be either a violation, recommendation, or observation.
      - Adding Findings as EIC
        The EIC can add new or repeated findings to a Supervisory Activity (SA), mark findings as resolved, and review proposed findings from other examiners.
      - Adding Findings as an Examiner
        Exam participants can propose exam findings, which are then sent to the EIC for review. New findings, or repeated findings from a previous Supervisory Activity (if you have access), can be added to the exam.
      - Managing Findings from the Findings Tab
        How to manage findings from the Findings tab on the Examination page.
      - Sharing Findings with the Company
        How to share findings with the company outside of an exit meeting.
      - Updating Findings as EIC
        The examiner in charge can review and update findings from the examination.
      - Updating Findings as an Examiner
        Participants on exam can update findings and propose the updates to the EIC for review.
      - Adding Comments to a Finding
        The EIC can add comments to a finding.
      - Managing Loan Request Associations
        All examination participants can associate a finding to specific loan requests.
      - Managing MRA Associations
        Matters Requiring Attention (MRA) can be associated with Findings. You can add or remove MRA associations from specific findings.
      - Reviewing Findings as EIC
        You must be signed in as the Examiner in Charge (EIC) to mark findings as reviewed.
      - Deleting Findings
        The Examiner in Charge (EIC), a staff user from the lead agency, and the creator of a finding can delete a finding in any status before a supervisory activity is closed and locked.
      - Exporting Findings
        The Examiner in Charge (EIC) can export findings to an Excel® document.
      - Exporting Finding Commentary
        Finding commentary entered here is automatically included in the Finding Commentary section on the Report tab. The EIC can then export the finding commentary when building the report.
    - Conducting the Exam: Marking an Area for Review (AFR) Complete
      Conducting the exam consists of reviewing information request (IR) responses, working procedures, and adding or reviewing findings and finding commentary.
    - Scheduling the Exit Meeting
      Schedule the exit meeting when you are ready to review the results of your examination with the company you are examining.
    - Financial Statements
      This topic provides an overview of the Financial Statements section in SES, which allows agency users to capture and analyze a company’s financial data within the context of a money services business (MSB) examination. Examiners can create a structured financial grid—similar to the MTRA Work Program workbook—to assess financial health, identify risks, and support consistent, data-driven examination decisions.
    - Report of Examination
      Assembling and managing report package, report commentary, and company response.
    - Matters Requiring Attention
      Matters Requiring Attention are optional tools to enable communications between agency and company regarding the resolution of findings from the exam.
    - Closing Out a Supervisory Activity
      When a Supervisory Activity is completed, you can close and lock it.
    - Managing Time and Expenses
      SES provides functionality that allows you to document the time and expenses your agency incurs while conducting a supervisory activity.
  - Networked Supervision
    Networked Supervision allows agencies in multiple states to share resources on a supervisory activity.
- SES Examinations and Investigations Resources for Companies
  Responding to examinations and investigations in State Examination System (SES).
- Managing Communications
  Learn about the Communication page in SES supervisory activities (SAs).
- Managing Interactions
  The Interactions page serves as a place where communication between the agency and company is captured. This includes emails, phone calls, meetings, physical mail and other miscellaneous forms of communication specific to the supervisory activity.
- SES Supervisory Activity Reports
  SES has several reports that allow you to view staff workload, plan assignments, identify supervisory activities with no examiners assigned, and view the progress or status of supervisory activites and responses to information requests.

Findings

A finding is an issue identified by a state agency user during the supervision of a financial institution in SES. The finding may describe the company’s strengths and/or weaknesses regarding its compliance management system, assess the company’s compliance with consumer protection laws or regulations, or any potential consumer harm. A finding may be either a violation, recommendation, or observation.

There are some functions available to all exam participants, and some functions reserved to the Examiner in Charge (EIC).

Table 1. Findings Features by User Role
Feature	Examiners	EIC
Adding Findings	•	•
Adding Repeated Findings from Another SA	•	•
Quick Adding an MRA	•	•
Exporting Finding Commentary		•
Marking the Finding Resolved		•
Updating Findings	•	•
Adding Comments	•	•
Managing MRA Association	•	•
Managing LR Association	•	•
Reviewing Findings		•
Deleting Findings		•
Exporting Findings		•

Need More Help?

Agency users, please visit the Secure Portal for phone and email contacts.
Company users should call the Call Center at 1-800-269-6189. Agency users should not call this number.