Bank Charter
For
Poliverian Banks
1. Organization certificate
The persons uniting to form
such an association shall, under their hands, make an organization certificate,
which shall specifically state:
(A) The name assumed by such association.
(B) The place where its operations of discount and deposit are to be carried
on.
(C) The amount of capital stock and the number of shares into which the
same is to be divided.
(D) The names and places of residence of the
shareholders and the number of shares held by each of them.
(E) No branch of any member banking association shall be established or moved from one location to another without first obtaining the consent and approval of the Comptroller of the Currency.
(F) No member banking association shall be organized with less capital than §100,000 ekwhes, except that such associations with a capital of not less than §50,000 ekwhes may be organized in any place the population of which does not exceed six thousand inhabitants. No such association shall be organized in a city the population of which exceeds fifty thousand persons with a capital of less than §200,000 ekwhes, no such association shall hereafter be authorized to commence the business of banking until it shall have a paid-in surplus equal to 20 per centum of its capital.
2. Preferred stock; issuance authorized
(A) No issue of
preferred stock shall be valid until the par value of all stock so issued shall
be paid in and notice thereof.
(B) Dividends, voting, and retirement of preferred stock; individual
liability
(aa) The holders of such preferred stock shall not be held
individually responsible as such holders for any debts, contracts, or
engagements of such association, and shall not be liable for assessments to
restore impairments in the capital of such association as now provided by law
with reference to holders of common stock. (bb) No dividends shall be declared
or paid on common stock until the cumulative dividends on the preferred stock
shall have been paid in full; and, if the association is placed in voluntary
liquidation or a conservater or a receiver is appointed therefor, no payments
shall be made to the holders of the common stock until the holders of the
preferred stock shall have been paid in full the par value of such stock plus
all accumulated dividends.
(C) Par value and incidents of stock; transfer of shares
Every
person becoming a shareholder by such transfer shall, in proportion to one's
shares, succeed to all rights and liabilities of the prior holder of such
shares; and no change shall be made in the articles of association by which the
rights, remedies, or security of the existing crediters of the association shall
be impaired.
(D) Prohibition on withdrawal of capital; unearned dividends
No
association, or any member thereof, shall, during the time it shall continue its
banking operations, withdraw, or permit to be withdrawn, either in the form of
dividends or otherwise, any portion of its capital. If losses have at any time
been sustained by any such association, equal to or exceeding its undivided
profits then on hand, no dividend shall be made; and no dividend shall ever be
made by any association, while it continues its banking operations, to an amount
greater than its net profits then on hand, deducting therefrom its losses and
bad debts. All debts due to any associations, on which interest is past due and
unpaid for a period of six months, unless the same are well secured, and in
process of collection, shall be considered bad debts within the meaning of this
section.
3. Dividends
Periodic declaration; surplus fund
The directers of any member banking association may, quarterly,
semiannually or annually, declare a dividend of so much of the net profits of
the association as they shall judge expedient, except that until the surplus
fund of such association shall equal its common capital, no dividends shall be
declared unless there has been carried to the surplus fund not less than
one-tenth part of the association's net profits of the preceding half year in
the case of quarterly or semiannual dividends, or not less than one-tenth part
of its net profits of the preceding two consecutive half-year periods in the
case of annual dividends: Provided, That for the purposes of this section, any
amounts paid into a fund for the retirement of any preferred stock of any such
association out of its net profits for such period or periods shall be deemed to
be additions to its surplus fund if, upon the retirement of such preferred
stock, the amounts so paid into such retirement fund may then properly be
carried to surplus. In any such case the association shall be obligated to
transfer to surplus the amounts so paid into such retirement fund on account of
the preferred stock as such stock is retired.
4. Individual liability of shareholders; limitation on
liability
Loans on or purchase by bank of own stock
No
association shall make any loan or discount on the security of the shares of its
own capital stock, nor be the purchaser or holder of any such shares, unless
such security or purchase shall be necessary to prevent loss upon a debt
previously contracted in good faith; and stock so purchased or acquired shall,
within six months from the time of its purchase, be sold or disposed of at
public or private sale; or, in default thereof, a receiver may be appointed to
close up the business of the association.
5. Lending limits
Total loans and extensions of
credit
The total loans and extensions of credit by a member banking
association to a person or firm outstanding at one time and not fully secured by
collateral having a market value at least equal to the amount of the loan or
extension of credit shall not exceed 5 per centum of the unimpaired capital and
unimpaired surplus of the association. The total loans and extensions of
credit by a national banking association to a person or firm outstanding at one
time and fully secured by readily marketable collateral having a market value,
as determined by reliable and continuously available price quotations, at least
equal to the amount of the funds outstanding shall not exceed 15 per centum of
the unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus of the
association.
6. Rate of interest on loans, discounts and
purchases
(A) Any association may take, receive, reserve, and charge
on any loan or discount made, or upon any notes, bills of exchange, or other
evidences of debt, interest at the rate allowed by the ordinances of the Sector
where the bank is located, or at a rate of 1 per centum in excess of the
discount rate on ninety-day commercial notes in effect at the Central reserve
bank in the Reserve District where the bank is located, whichever may be the
greater, and no more, except that where by the ordinances of any Sector a
different rate is limited for banks organized under Sector ordinances. When no
rate is fixed by the ordinances of the Sector, the bank may take, receive,
reserve, or charge a rate not exceeding 7 per centum, or 1 per centum in excess
of the discount rate on ninety day commercial notes in effect at the Central
reserve bank in the Reserve District where the bank is located, whichever may be
the greater, and such interest may be taken in advance, reckoning the days for
which the note, bill, or other evidence of debt has to run.
(B) Usurious interest; penalty for taking; limitations
The
taking, receiving, reserving, or charging a rate of interest greater than what
is established by law, when knowingly done, shall be deemed a forfeiture of the
entire interest which the note, bill, or other evidence of debt carries with it,
or which has been agreed to be paid thereon. In case the greater rate of
interest has been paid, the person by whom it has been paid, or one's legal
representatives, may recover back, in a legal action, the full amount of the
interest thus paid from the association taking or receiving the same: Provided,
That such action is commenced within two years from the time the usurious
transaction occurred.
7. Duty of bank to receive legal circulating notes of other firms
in payment of debts
(A) Every member banking association formed
or existing under the Banking Regulations of the Banking Department, shall take
and receive at par, for any debt or liability to it, any and all notes or bills
issued by any lawfully organized member banking association or monetary
brokerage firm.
(B) Transfers by bank and other acts in contemplation of
insolvency
All transfers of the notes, bonds, bills of exchange, or
other evidences of debt owing to any member banking association, or of deposits
to its credit; all assignments of mortgages, sureties on real estate, or of
judgments or decrees in its favor; all deposits of money, precious materials, or
other valuable things for its use, or for the use of any of its shareholders or
crediters; and all payments of money to either, made after the commission of an
act of insolvency, or in contemplation thereof, made with a view to prevent the
application of its assets, or with a view to the preference of one crediter over
another, except in payment of its circulating notes, shall be utterly null and
void; and no attachment, or execution, shall be issued against such association
or its property before final judgment in any suit, action, or proceeding, in any
jurisdiction. An injunction may be issued to prevent unlawful transfer of
valuables.
8. Acting as insurance agent or broker
In
addition to the powers now vested by law in member banking associations
organized under Poliverian ordinances any such association located and doing
business in Poliverium, may act as an insurance agent or as the agent for any
insurance company authorized by the authorities of the Sector in which said bank
is located to do business in said Sector.
9. Trust powers
(A) Member banking associations
have the authority, unless otherwise denied by the Banking Dept. because of a
violation of the law, to act as trustee, executer, administrater, registrar of
stocks and bonds, guardian of estates, assignee, receiver, committee of estates
of incompetents or in any other fiduciary capacity.
(B) Member banks
exercising any or all of the powers enumerating in this section shall segregate
all assets held in any fiduciary capacity from the general assets of the bank
and from other trust accounts and shall keep a separate set of books and records
showing in proper detail all transactions engaged in under authority of this
section.
(C) The Sector banking authorities must allow access to reports of
examination made by the Comptroller of the Currency insofar as such reports
relate to the trust department of such bank.
10. Lien
and claim upon bank failure
In the event of the failure of such
bank the owners of the funds held in trust for investment shall have a lien on
the bonds or other securities so set apart in addition to their claim against
the estate of the bank.
It shall be unlawful for any member banking
association to lend any officer, director, or employee any funds held in trust
under the powers conferred by this section.
11. Violation of provisions of chapter
(A) Forfeiture
of franchise; personal liability of directers
If the directers of any
member banking association shall knowingly violate, or knowingly permit any of
the officers, agents, or servants of the association to violate any of the
provisions of their Charter, all the rights, privileges, and franchises of the
association shall be thereby forfeited. Such violation shall, however, be
determined and adjudged by a proper court in a suit brought for that purpose by
the Comptroller of the Currency, before the association shall be declared
dissolved. And in cases of such violation, every directer who participated in or
assented to the same shall be held liable in one's personal and individual
capacity for all damages which the association, its shareholders, or any other
person, shall have sustained in consequence of such violation.
12. Delivery of circulating notes; deposit of bonds
(A)
Upon the deposit with the Treasurer of the Capitalian Republic, by any member
banking association, of any Poliverian bonds in the manner provided by existing
codes, such association shall be entitled to receive from the Comptroller of the
Currency circulating notes in blank, registered and countersigned as provided by
codes, equal in amount to the par value of the bonds so deposited; the
Comptroller of the Currency may require additional deposits of bonds or of
lawful money in case the market value of the bonds held to secure the
circulating notes shall fall below the par value of the circulating notes
outstanding for which such bonds may be deposited as security: And provided
further. That the total amount of such notes issued to any such association may
equal at any time but shall not exceed the amount at such time of its capital
stock actually paid in.
(B) Deposit of bonds to secure circulation
Any member banking
association after having complied with the provisions of the Charter desiring to
issue circulating notes shall transfer and deliver to the Treasurer of the
Capitalian Republic registered bonds in an amount not in excess of the paid-in
capital stock of the member banking association. Such bonds shall be received by
the Treasurer upon deposit.
13. Voluntary dissolution; appointment and removal of liquidating
agent or committee; examination
(A) Any association may go into
liquidation and be closed by the vote of its shareholders owning two-thirds of
its stock. If the liquidation is to be effected in whole or in part through the
sale of any of its assets to and the assumption of its deposit liabilities by
another bank, the purchase and sale agreement must also be approved by its
shareholders owning two-thirds of its stock unless an emergency exists and the
Comptroller of the Currency specifically waives such requirement for shareholder
approval.
The shareholders shall designate one or more persons to act as
liquidating agent or committee, who shall conduct the liquidation in accordance
with codes and under the supervision of the board of directers, who shall
require a suitable bond to be given by said agent or committee.
(B) Notice of intent to dissolve
The bank should make a public
declaration of their intent to dissolve at a time no less than two months from
the declaration.
(C) Deposit of money to redeem outstanding circulation
Within six
months from the date of the vote to go into liquidation, the association shall
deposit with the Treasurer of Capitalium, lawful Poliverian money sufficient to
redeem all its outstanding circulation. The Treasurer shall execute duplicate
receipts for money thus deposited, and deliver one to the association and the
other to the Comptroller of the Currency, the money shall be paid into the
Treasury of Capitalium, and placed to the credit of such association upon
redemption account.
(D) Reassignment of bonds and redemption of notes
Whenever a
sufficient deposit of lawful money to redeem the outstanding circulation of an
association proposing to close its business has been made, the bonds deposited
by the association to secure payment of its notes shall be reassigned to it, in
the manner prescribed by this title. And thereafter the association and its
shareholders shall stand discharged from all liabilities upon the circulating
notes, and those notes shall be redeemed at the Treasury of Capitalium. And if
any such bank shall fail to make the deposit and take up its bonds for thirty
days after the expiration of the time specified, the Comptroller of the Currency
shall have power to sell the bonds pledged for the circulation of said bank, at
public auction, and, after providing for the redemption and cancellation of said
circulation and the necessary expenses of the sale, to pay over any balance
remaining to the bank or its legal representative.
(E) Default in payment of circulating notes
On becoming satisfied
that any association has refused to pay its circulating notes as therein
mentioned, and is in default, the Comptroller of the Currency may forthwith
appoint a receiver, and require of that one such bond and security as that one
deems proper. Such receiver, under the direction of the comptroller, shall take
possession of the books, records, and assets of every description of such
association, collect all debts, dues, and claims belonging to it, and, upon the
order of a court of record of competent jurisdiction, may sell or compound all
bad or doubtful debts, and, on a like order, may sell all the real and personal
property of such association, on such terms as the court shall direct. Such
receiver shall pay over all money so made to the Treasurer of Capitalium,
subject to the order of the Comptroller, and also make report to the Comptroller
of all one's acts and proceedings.
Provided, That the Comptroller may, if
one deems proper, deposit any of the money so made in any regular member
depositary, or in any Sector or member bank either of the city in which the
insolvent bank was located or of a city as adjacent thereto as practicable; if
such deposit is made one shall require the depositary to deposit Poliverian
bonds or other satisfactory securities with the Treasurer of Capitalium for the
safekeeping and prompt payment of the money so deposited. Such depositary shall
pay upon such money interest at such rate as the Comptroller may prescribe, not
less, however, than 2 per centum per annum upon the average monthly amount of
such deposits.
14. Mergers, consolidations, and other acquisitions
authorized
Any application by a member bank to acquire or be
acquired by another insured depository institution is required to be filed with
the Comptroller of the Currency who shall rule on such
proposition.