Examination of licensed office

53. a. The department shall have the right to examine each office which the commissioner licenses under sections 37 through 86 of P.L.1996, c.17 (C.17:9A-418 through C.17:9A-467). The department shall insure that each office which is licensed hereunder is examined by either the Federal Reserve or the department as often as the commissioner deems it advisable. The costs of any examination by the department shall be assessed to the bank or commercial lending company which is the holder of the license. The examination fees shall be assessed in the same manner and on the same basis as examination fees are assessed for banks or trust companies organized under the Banking Act. b. The commissioner may contract with the Federal Reserve or the bank examination officials in any other state of the United States or in any other foreign country to conduct cooperative examinations. Every report and copy of a report of examination of a foreign bank or office of a foreign bank made by or under the supervision of the commissioner, and every report and copy thereof made by a bank pursuant to the requirement of the commissioner, shall be confidential, and shall not be made public by any officer, director or employee of a foreign bank, and shall not be subject to subpoena or to admission into evidence in any action or proceeding in any court, except pursuant to an order of the court made upon notice to the commissioner and after affording the commissioner an opportunity to advise the court of reasons for excluding from evidence that report or any portion thereof. The court shall order the issuance of a subpoena for the production or admission into evidence of any report or portion thereof, only if it is satisfied that (1) it is material and relevant to the issues in the proceedings, and (2) the ends of justice and public advantage will be subserved thereby. This section shall not prohibit the commissioner from sharing a report of examination with another state or federal regulator or a bank regulator from a foreign country, or other person, so long as provision is made for retaining the confidentiality of the report. This section shall not apply to any action or proceeding instituted by the commissioner or Attorney General pursuant to any law of this State.