(A) Every registrant shall keep records pertaining to loans made under sections 1321.51 to 1321.60 of the Revised Code. Such records shall be segregated from records pertaining to transactions that are not subject to these sections of the Revised Code. Every registrant shall preserve records pertaining to loans made under sections 1321.51 to 1321.60 of the Revised Code for at least two years after making the final entry on such records. Accounting systems maintained in whole or in part by mechanical or electronic data processing methods that provide information equivalent to that otherwise required are acceptable for this purpose. At least once each eighteen-month cycle, the division of financial institutions shall make or cause to be made an examination of records pertaining to loans made under sections 1321.51 to 1321.60 of the Revised Code, for the purpose of determining whether the registrant is complying with these sections and of verifying the registrant’s annual report.

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(B)(1) As required by the superintendent of financial institutions, each registrant shall file with the division each year an annual report under oath or affirmation, on forms supplied by the division, concerning the business and operations for the preceding calendar year. Whenever a registrant operates two or more registered offices or whenever two or more affiliated registrants operate registered offices, then a composite report of the group of registered offices may be filed in lieu of individual reports.

(2) The superintendent shall publish annually an analysis of the information required under divisions (B)(1) and (3) of this section, but the individual reports shall not be public records and shall not be open to public inspection.

(C)(1) The following information is confidential:

(a) Examination information, and any information leading to or arising from an examination;

(b) Investigation information, and any information arising from or leading to an investigation.

(2) The information described in division (C)(1) of this section shall remain confidential for all purposes except when it is necessary for the superintendent to take official action regarding the affairs of a registrant, or in connection with criminal or civil proceedings to be initiated by a prosecuting attorney or the attorney general. This information may also be introduced into evidence or disclosed when and in the manner authorized by section 1181.25 of the Revised Code.

(D) All application information, except social security numbers, employer identification numbers, financial account numbers, the identity of the institution where financial accounts are maintained, personal financial information, fingerprint cards and the information contained on such cards, and criminal background information, is a public record as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(E) This section does not prevent the division of financial institutions from releasing to or exchanging with other financial institution regulatory authorities information relating to registrants. For this purpose, a “financial institution regulatory authority” includes a regulator of a business activity in which a registrant is engaged, or has applied to engage in, to the extent that the regulator has jurisdiction over a registrant engaged in that business activity. A registrant is engaged in a business activity, and a regulator of that business activity has jurisdiction over the registrant, whether the registrant conducts the activity directly or a subsidiary or affiliate of the registrant conducts the activity.

(1) The superintendent, in order to promote more effective regulation and reduce regulatory burden through supervisory information sharing, may enter into sharing arrangements with other governmental agencies.

(2) Any state law, including section 149.43 of the Revised Code, relating to the disclosure of confidential supervisory information or any information or material described in division (C)(1) of this section that is inconsistent with this section shall be superseded by the requirements of this section.

(F) No person, in connection with any examination or investigation conducted by the superintendent under sections 1321.51 to 1321.60 of the Revised Code, shall knowingly do any of the following:

(1) Circumvent, interfere with, obstruct, or fail to cooperate, including making a false or misleading statement, failing to produce records, or intimidating or suborning any witness;

(2) Withhold, abstract, remove, mutilate, destroy, or secrete any books, records, computer records, or other information;

(3) Tamper with, alter, or manufacture any evidence.