SECTION 9—State Banks as Members

Any bank incorporated by special law of any State, operating under the Code of Law for the District of Columbia, or organized under the general laws of any State or of the United States, including Morris Plan banks and other incorporated banking institutions engaged in similar business, desiring to become a member of the Federal Reserve System, may make application to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, under such rules and regulations as it may prescribe, for the right to subscribe to the stock of the Federal reserve bank organized within the district in which the applying bank is located. Such application shall be for the same amount of stock that the applying bank would be required to subscribe to as a national bank. For the purposes of membership of any such bank the terms “capital” and “capital stock” shall include the amount of outstanding capital notes and debentures legally issued by the applying bank and purchased by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, subject to the provisions of this Act and to such conditions as it may prescribe pursuant thereto, may permit the applying bank to become a stockholder of such Federal reserve bank.

Upon the conversion of a national bank into a State bank, or the merger or consolidation of a national bank with a State bank which is not a member of the Federal Reserve System, the resulting or continuing State bank may be admitted to membership in the Federal Reserve System by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in accordance with the provisions of this section, but, otherwise, the Federal Reserve bank stock owned by the national bank shall be canceled and paid for as provided in section 5 of this Act. Upon the merger or consolidation of a national bank with a State member bank under a State charter, the membership of the State bank in the Federal Reserve System shall continue.

Any such State bank which, at the date of the approval of this Act, has established and is operating a branch or branches in conformity with the State law, may retain and operate the same while remaining or upon becoming a stockholder of such Federal reserve bank; but no such State bank may retain or acquire stock in a Federal reserve bank except upon relinquishment of any branch or branches established after the date of the approval of this Act beyond the limits of the city, town, or village in which the parent bank is situated. Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any State member bank from establishing and operating branches in the United States or any dependency or insular possession thereof or in any foreign country, on the same terms and conditions and subject to the same limitations and restrictions as are applicable to the establishment of branches by national banks except that the approval of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, instead of the Comptroller of the Currency, shall be obtained before any State member bank may hereafter establish any branch and before any State bank hereafter admitted to membership may retain any branch established after February 25, 1927, beyond the limits of the city, town, or village in which the parent bank is situated. The approval of the Board shall likewise be obtained before any State member bank may establish any new branch within the limits of any such city, town, or village.

In acting upon such applications the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall consider the financial condition of the applying bank, the general character of its management, and whether or not the corporate powers exercised are consistent with the purposes of this Act.

Whenever the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall permit the applying bank to become a stockholder in the Federal reserve bank of the district its stock subscription shall be payable on call of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and stock issued to it shall be subject to the provisions of this Act.

All banks admitted to membership under authority of this section shall be required to comply with the reserve and capital requirements of this Act, to conform to those provisions of law imposed on national banks which prohibit such banks from lending on or purchasing their own stock and which relate to the withdrawal or impairment of their capital stock, and to conform to the provisions of sections 5199(b) and 5204 of the Revised Statutes with respect to the payment of dividends; except that any reference in any such provision to the Comptroller of the Currency shall be deemed for the purposes of this sentence to be a reference to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Such banks and the officers, agents, and employees thereof shall also be subject to the provisions of and to the penalties prescribed by sections 334, 656, and 1005 of Title 18, United States Code, and shall be required to make reports of condition and of the payment of dividends to the Federal Reserve bank of which they become a member. Not less than three of such reports shall be made annually on call of the Federal Reserve bank on dates to be fixed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Any bank which (A) maintains procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any inadvertent error and, unintentionally and as a result of such an error, fails to make or publish any report required under this paragraph, within the period of time specified by the Board, or submits or publishes any false or misleading report or information, or (B) inadvertently transmits or publishes any report which is minimally late, shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $2,000 for each day during which such failure continues or such false or misleading information is not corrected. The bank shall have the burden of proving that an error was inadvertent and that a report was inadvertently transmitted or published late. Any bank which fails to make or publish such reports within the period of time specified by the Board, or submits or publishes any false or misleading report or information, in a manner not described in the 2nd preceding sentence shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $20,000 for each day during which such failure continues or such false or misleading information is not corrected. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, if any bank knowingly or with reckless disregard for the accuracy of any information or report described in such sentence submits or publishes any false or misleading report or information, the Board may assess a penalty of not more than $1,000,000 or 1 percent of total assets of such bank, whichever is less, per day for each day during which such failure continues or such false or misleading information is not corrected. Any penalty imposed under any of the 4 preceding sentences shall be assessed and collected by the Board in the manner provided in subparagraphs (E), (F), (G), and (I) of section 8(i)(2) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (for penalties imposed under such section) and any such assessment (including the determination of the amount of the penalty) shall be subject to the provisions of such section. Any bank against which any penalty is assessed under this subsection shall be afforded an agency hearing if such bank submits a request for such hearing within 20 days after the issuance of the notice of assessment. Section 8(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act shall apply to any proceeding under this paragraph. Such reports of condition shall be in such form and shall contain such information as the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may require.

As a condition of membership such banks shall likewise be subject to examinations made by direction of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or of the Federal reserve bank by examiners selected or approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Whenever the directors of the Federal reserve bank shall approve the examinations made by the State authorities, such examinations and the reports thereof may be accepted in lieu of examinations made by examiners selected or approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Provided, however, That when it deems it necessary the board may order special examinations by examiners of its own selection and shall in all cases approve the form of the report. The expenses of all examinations, other than those made by State authorities, may, in the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, be assessed against the banks examined and, when so assessed, shall be paid by the banks examined. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at its discretion, may furnish any report of examination or other confidential supervisory information concerning any State member bank or other entity examined under any other authority of the Board, to any Federal or State agency or authority with supervisory or regulatory authority over the examined entity, to any officer, director, or receiver of the examined entity, and to any other person that the Board determines to be proper.

If at any time it shall appear to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System that a member bank has failed to comply with the provisions of this section or the regulations of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System made pursuant thereto, or has ceased to exercise banking functions without a receiver or liquidating agent having been appointed therefor, it shall be within the power of the board after hearing to require such bank to surrender its stock in the Federal reserve bank and to forfeit all rights and privileges of membership. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may restore membership upon due proof of compliance with the conditions imposed by this section.

Any State bank or trust company desiring to withdraw from membership in a Federal reserve bank may do so, after six months’ written notice shall have been filed with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, upon the surrender and cancellation of all of its holdings of capital stock in the Federal reserve bank: Provided, That the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in its discretion and subject to such conditions as it may prescribe, may waive such six months’ notice in individual cases and may permit any such State bank or trust company to withdraw from membership in a Federal reserve bank prior to the expiration of six months from the date of the written notice of its intention to withdraw: Provided, however, That no Federal reserve bank shall, except under express authority of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, cancel within the same calendar year more than twenty-five per centum of its capital stock for the purpose of effecting voluntary withdrawals during that year. All such applications shall be dealt with in the order in which they are filed with the board. Whenever a member bank shall surrender its stock holdings in a Federal reserve bank, or shall be ordered to do so by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, under authority of law, all of its rights and privileges as a member bank shall thereupon cease and determine, and after due provision has been made for any indebtedness due or to become due to the Federal reserve bank it shall be entitled to a refund of its cash paid subscription with interest at the rate of one-half of one per centum per month from the date of last dividend, if earned, the amount refunded in no event to exceed the book value of the stock at that time, and shall likewise be entitled to repayment of deposits and of any other balance due from the Federal reserve bank.

No applying bank shall be admitted to membership unless it possesses capital stock and surplus which, in the judgment of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, are adequate in relation to the character and condition of its assets and to its existing and prospective deposit liabilities and other corporate responsibilities: Provided, That no bank engaged in the business of receiving deposits other than trust funds, which does not possess capital stock and surplus in an amount equal to that which would be required for the establishment of a national banking association in the place in which it is located, shall be admitted to membership unless it is, or has been, approved for deposit insurance under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. The capital stock of a State member bank shall not be reduced except with the prior consent of the Board.

In order to facilitate the admission to membership in the Federal Reserve System of any State bank which is required under subsection (y) of section 12B of this Act to become a member of the Federal Reserve System in order to be an insured bank or continue to have any part of its deposits insured under such section 12B, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may waive in whole or in part the requirements of this section relating to the admission of such bank to membership: Provided, That, if such bank is admitted with a capital less than that required for the organization of a national bank in the same place and its capital and surplus are not, in the judgment of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, adequate in relation to its liabilities to depositors and other creditors, the said Board may, in its discretion, require such bank to increase its capital and surplus to such amount as the Board may deem necessary within such period prescribed by the Board as in its judgment shall be reasonable in view of all the circumstances: Provided, however, That no such bank shall be required to increase its capital to an amount in excess of that required for the organization of a national bank in the same place.

Banks becoming members of the Federal Reserve System under authority of this section shall be subject to the provisions of this section and to those of this Act which relate specifically to member banks, but shall not be subject to examination under the provisions of the first two paragraphs of section fifty-two hundred and forty of the Revised Statutes as amended by section twenty-one of this Act. Subject to the provisions of this Act and to the regulations of the board made pursuant thereto, any bank becoming a member of the Federal Reserve System shall retain its full charter and statutory rights as a State bank or trust company, and may continue to exercise all corporate powers granted it by the State in which it was created, and shall be entitled to all privileges of member banks, except that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may limit the activities of State member banks and subsidiaries of State member banks in a manner consistent with section 24 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. No Federal reserve bank shall be permitted to discount for any State bank or trust company notes, drafts, or bills of exchange of any one borrower who is liable for borrowed money to such State bank or trust company in an amount greater than that which could be borrowed lawfully from such State bank or trust company were it a national banking association. The Federal reserve bank, as a condition of the discount of notes, drafts, and bills of exchange for such State bank or trust company, shall require a certificate or guaranty to the effect that the borrower is not liable to such bank in excess of the amount provided by this section, and will not be permitted to become liable in excess of this amount while such notes, drafts, or bills of exchange are under discount with the Federal reserve bank.

It shall be unlawful for any officer, clerk, or agent of any bank admitted to membership under authority of this section to certify any check drawn upon such bank unless the person or company drawing the check has on deposit therewith at the time such check is certified an amount of money equal to the amount specified in such check. Any check so certified by duly authorized officers shall be a good and valid obligation against such bank, but the act of any such officer, clerk, or agent in violation of this section may subject such bank to a forfeiture of its membership in the Federal Reserve System upon hearing by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

All banks or trust companies incorporated by special law or organized under the general laws of any State, which are members of the Federal Reserve System, when designated for that purpose by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be depositaries of public money, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary; and they may also be employed as financial agents of the Government; and they shall perform all such reasonable duties, as depositaries of public money and financial agents of the Government, as may be required of them. The Secretary of the Treasury shall require of the banks and trust companies thus designated satisfactory security, by the deposit of United States bonds or otherwise, for the safe keeping and prompt payment of the public money deposited with them and for the faithful performance of their duties as financial agents of the Government.

Any mutual savings bank having no capital stock (including any other banking institution the capital of which consists of weekly or other time deposits which are segregated from all other deposits and are regarded as capital stock for the purposes of taxation and the declaration of dividends), but having surplus and undivided profits not less than the amount of capital required for the organization of a national bank in the same place, may apply for and be admitted to membership in the Federal Reserve System in the same manner and subject to the same provisions of law as State banks and trust companies, except that any such savings banks shall subscribe for capital stock of the Federal reserve bank in an amount equal to six-tenths of 1 per centum of its total deposit liabilities as shown by the most recent report of examination of such savings bank preceding its admission to membership. Thereafter such subscription shall be adjusted semiannually on the same percentage basis in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. If any such mutual savings bank applying for membership is not permitted by the laws under which it was organized to purchase stock in a Federal reserve bank, it shall, upon admission to the system, deposit with the Federal reserve bank an amount equal to the amount which it would have been required to pay in on account of a subscription to capital stock. Thereafter such deposit shall be adjusted semiannually in the same manner as subscriptions for stock. Such deposits shall be subject to the same conditions with respect to repayment as amounts paid upon subscriptions to capital stock by other member banks and the Federal reserve bank shall pay interest thereon at the same rate as dividends are actually paid on outstanding shares of stock of such Federal reserve bank. If the laws under which any such savings bank was organized be amended so as to authorize mutual savings banks to subscribe for Federal reserve bank stock, such savings bank shall thereupon subscribe for the appropriate amount of stock in the Federal reserve bank, and the deposit hereinbefore provided for in lieu of payment upon capital stock shall be applied upon such subscription. If the laws under which any such savings bank was organized be not amended at the next session of the legislature following the admission of such savings bank to membership so as to authorize mutual savings banks to purchase Federal reserve bank stock, or if such laws be so amended and such bank fail within six months thereafter to purchase such stock, all of its rights and privileges as a member bank shall be forfeited and its membership in the Federal Reserve System shall be terminated in the manner prescribed elsewhere in this section with respect to State member banks and trust companies. Each such mutual savings bank shall comply with all the provisions of law applicable to State member banks and trust companies, with the regulations of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and with the conditions of membership prescribed for such savings bank at the time of admission to membership, except as otherwise hereinbefore provided with respect to capital stock.

Each bank admitted to membership under this section shall obtain from each of its affiliates other than member banks and furnish to the Federal reserve bank of its district and to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System not less than three reports during each year. Such reports shall be in such form as the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may prescribe, shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of the president or such other officer as may be designated by the board of directors of such affiliate to verify such reports, and shall disclose the information hereinafter provided for as of dates identical with those fixed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for reports of the condition of the affiliated member bank. Each such report of an affiliate shall be transmitted as herein provided at the same time as the corresponding report of the affiliated member bank, except that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may, in its discretion, extend such time for good cause shown. Each such report shall contain such information as in the judgment of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall be necessary to disclose fully the relations between such affiliate and such bank and to enable the Board to inform itself as to the effect of such relations upon the affairs of such bank. The reports of such affiliates shall be published by the bank under the same conditions as govern its own condition reports.

Any such affiliated member bank may be required to obtain from any such affiliate such additional reports as in the opinion of its Federal reserve bank or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may be necessary in order to obtain a full and complete knowledge of the condition of the affiliated member bank. Such additional reports shall be transmitted to the Federal reserve bank and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and shall be in such form as the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may prescribe.

Any such affiliated member bank which fails to obtain from any of its affiliates and furnish any report provided for by the two preceding paragraphs of this section shall be subject to a penalty of $100 for each day during which such failure continues, which, by direction of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, may be collected, by suit or otherwise, by the Federal reserve bank of the district in which such member bank is located.

State member banks shall be subject to the same limitations and conditions with respect to the purchasing, selling, underwriting, and holding of investment securities and stock as are applicable in the case of national banks under paragraph “Seventh” of section 5136 of the Revised Statutes, as amended. This paragraph shall not apply to any interest held by a State member bank in accordance with section 5136A of the Revised Statutes of the United States and subject to the same conditions and limitations provided in such section.

After the date of the enactment of the Banking Act of 1935, no certificate evidencing the stock of any State member bank shall bear any statement purporting to represent the stock of any other corporation, except a member bank or a corporation engaged on June 16, 1934 in holding the bank premises of such member bank, nor shall the ownership, sale, or transfer of any certificate representing the stock of any State member bank be conditioned in any manner whatsoever upon the ownership, sale, or transfer of a certificate representing the stock of any other corporation, except a member bank or a corporation engaged on June 16, 1934 in holding the bank premises of such member bank: Provided, That this section shall not operate to prevent the ownership, sale, or transfer of stock of any other corporation being conditioned upon the ownership, sale, or transfer of a certificate representing stock of a State member bank.

In connection with examinations of State member banks, examiners selected or approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall make such examinations of the affairs of all affiliates of such banks as shall be necessary to disclose fully the relations between such banks and their affiliates and the effect of such relations upon the affairs of such banks. The expense of examination of affiliates of any State member bank may, in the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, be assessed against such bank and, when so assessed, shall be paid by such bank. In the event of the refusal to give any information requested in the course of the examination of any such affiliate, or in the event of the refusal to permit such examination, or in the event of the refusal to pay any expense so assessed, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may, in its discretion, require any or all State member banks affiliated with such affiliate to surrender their stock in the Federal reserve bank and to forfeit all rights and privileges of membership in the Federal Reserve System, as provided in this section.

A State member bank may make investments directly or indirectly, each of which is designed primarily to promote the public welfare, including the welfare of low- and moderate-income communities or families (such as by providing housing, services, or jobs), to the extent permissible under State law. A State member bank shall not make any such investment if the investment would expose the State member bank to unlimited liability. The Board shall limit a State member bank’s investment in any 1 project and a State member bank’s aggregate investments under this paragraph. The aggregate amount of investments of any State member bank under this paragraph may not exceed an amount equal to the sum of 5 percent of the State member bank’s capital stock actually paid in and unimpaired and 5 percent of the State member bank’s unimpaired surplus, unless the Board determines, by order, that a higher amount will pose no significant risk to the affected deposit insurance fund; and the State member bank is adequately capitalized. In no case shall the aggregate amount of investments of any State member bank under this paragraph exceed an amount equal to the sum of 15 percent of the State member bank’s capital stock actually paid in and unimpaired and 15 percent of the State member bank’s unimpaired surplus. The foregoing standards and limitations apply to investments under this paragraph made by a State member bank directly and by its subsidiaries.