have to be settled in the courts, as the Comptroller has no power to pass thereon. At all meetings of shareholders, where the articles are amended, a majority vote of all the stock of the bank must be cast for the amendment, except where a larger proportion of the stock is required by law. A resolution providing for an increase or reduction of capital, consolidation of the bank with another national bank, or liquidation of the association requires the affirmative vote of twothirds of the stock of the bank. REPORTS TO COMPTROLLER. 73. LISTS OF SHAREHOLDERS. (SEC. 5210, U. S. R. S.) The president and cashier of every national banking association shall cause to be kept at all times a full and correct list of the names and residences of all the shareholders in the association, and the number of shares held by each, in the office where its business is transacted. Such list shall be subject to the inspection of all the shareholders and creditors of the association, and the officers authorized to assess taxes under State authority, during business hours of each day in which business may be legally transacted. A copy of such list, on the first Monday of July of each year, verified by the oath of such president or cashier, shall be transmitted to the Comptroller of the Currency. 74. REPORT OF CONDITION. SEC. 5211, U. S. R. S. [as amended 1877]. Every association shall make to the Comptroller of the Currency not less than five reports during each year, according to the form which may be prescribed by him, verified by the oath or affirmation of the president or cashier of such association, and attested by the signature of at least three of the directors. Each such report shall exhibit, in detail and under appropriate heads, the resources and liabilities of the association at the close of business on any past day by him specified; and shall be transmitted to the comptroller within five days after the receipt of a request or requisition therefor from him, and in the same form in which it is made to the comptroller shall be published in a newspaper published in the place where such association is established, or if there is no newspaper in the place, then in the one published nearest thereto in the same county, at the expense of the association; and such proof of publication shall be furnished as may be required by the comptroller. The comptroller shall also have power to call for special reports from any particular association whenever in his judgment the same are necessary in order to a full and complete knowledge of its condition. 75. REPORT OF DIVIDENDS. (SEC. 5212, U. S. R. S.) In addition to the reports required by the preceding section, each association shall report to the Comptroller of the Currency, within ten days after declaring any dividend, the amount of such dividend, and the amount of net earnings in excess of such dividend. Such reports shall be attested by the oath of the president or cashier of the association. 76. VERIFICATION OF REPORTS (ACT FEBRUARY 26, 1881). That the oath or affirmation required by section fifty-two hundred and eleven of the Revised Statutes, verifying the returns made by national banks to the Comptroller of the Currency, when taken before a notary public properly authorized and commissioned by the State in which such notary resides and the bank is located, or any other officer having an official seal, authorized in such State to administer oaths, shall be a sufficient verification as contemplated by said section fifty-two hundred and eleven: Provided, That the officer administering the oath is not an officer of the bank. 77. PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO MAKE REPORTS. (SEC. 5213, U. S. R. S.) Every association which fails to make and transmit any report required under either of the two preceding sections shall be subject to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each day after the periods, respectively, therein mentioned, that it delays to make and transmit its report. Whenever any association delays or refuses to pay the penalty herein imposed, after it has been assessed by the Comptroller of the Currency, the amount thereof may be retained by the Treasurer of the United States, upon the order of the Comptroller of the Currency, out of the interest, as it may become due to the association, on the bonds deposited with him to secure circulation. All sums of money collected for penalties under this section shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States. CHAPTER 6. POWERS AND LIMITATIONS-GENERAL STATUTORY POWERS AND LIMITATIONS. NOTE. See also chapter 3, Bonds and circulation; chapter 8, Branch banks: chapter 9, Trust and savings departments; chapter 10, Authority for banks to act as insurance agent or as broker and agent in making and procuring loans on real estate; and chapter 12, deposits and rediscounts with Federal Reserve Banks. 78. Corporate powers of associations. S0a. Acceptance of drafts or bills of exchange upon national banks 81. Power to hold real property. depositaries of public moneys. 84. Rate of interest which may be charged. 85. Penalty for usury-Jurisdiction of suits by or against national banks. 86. Declaration of dividends. 78. CORPORATE POWERS OF ASSOCIATION. (Sec. 5136, U. S. R. S.) Upon duly making and filing articles of association and an organization certificate, the association shall become, as from the date of the execution of its organization certificate, a body corporate, and as such, and in the name designated in the organization certificate, it shall have power First. To adopt and use a corporate seal. Second. To have succession for the period of twenty years from its organization, unless it is sooner dissolved according to the provisions of its articles of association, or by the act of its shareholders owning two-thirds of its stock, or unless its franchise becomes forfeited by some violation of law. Third. To make contracts. 76 Fourth. To sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of law and equity, as fully as natural persons. Fifth. To elect or appoint directors, and by its board of directors to appoint a president, vice president, cashier, and other officers, define their duties, require bonds of them and fix the penalty thereof, dismiss such officers or any of them at pleasure, and appoint others to fill their places. Sixth. To prescribe, by its board of directors, by-laws not inconsistent with law, regulating the manner in which its stock shall be transferred, its directors elected or appointed, its officers appointed, its property transferred, its general business conducted, and the privileges granted to it by law exercised and enjoyed. Seventh. To exercise by its board of directors, or duly authorized officers or agents, subject to law, all such incidental powers as shall be necessary to carry on the business of banking; by discounting and negotiating promissory notes, drafts, bills of exchange, and other evidences of debt; by receiving deposits; by buying and selling exchange, coin, and bullion; by loaning money on personal security; and by obtaining, issuing, and circulating notes according to the provisions of this Title. But no association shall transact any business except such as is incidental and necessarily preliminary to its organization, until it has been authorized by the Comptroller of the Currency to commence the business of banking. 79. LOANS ON IMPROVED REAL ESTATE. Sec. 24, Federal Reserve Act.—Any national banking association not situated in a central reserve city may make loans secured by improved and unencumbered farm land situated within its Federal reserve district or within a radius of one hundred miles of the place in which such bank is located, irrespective of district lines, and may also make loans secured by improved and unencumbered real estate located within one hundred miles of the place in which such bank is located, irrespective of district lines; but no loan made upon the security of such farm land shall be made for a longer time than five years, and no loan made upon the security of such real estate as distinguished from farm land shall be made for a longer time than one year, nor shall the amount of any such loan, whether upon such farm land or upon such real estate, exceed fifty per centum of the actual value of the property offered as security. Any such bank may make such loans, whether secured by such farm land or such real estate, in an aggregate sum equal to twenty-five per centum of its capital and surplus or to one-third of its time deposits and such banks may continue hereafter as heretofore to receive time deposits and to pay interest on the same. The Federal Reserve Board shall have power from time to time to add to the list of cities in which national banks shall not be permitted to make loans secured upon real estate in the manner described in this section. 80. ACCEPTANCE OF DRAFTS OR BILLS OF EXCHANGE. Sec. 13 of Federal Reserve Act as amended 1915, 1916, and 1917. Any member bank may accept drafts or bills of exchange drawn upon it having not more than six months' sight to run, exclusive of days of grace, which grow out of transactions involving the importation or exportation of goods; or which grow out of transactions involving the domestic shipment of goods provided shipping documents conveying or securing title are attached at the time of acceptance; or which are secured at the time of acceptance by a warehouse receipt or other such document conveying or securing title covering readily marketable staples. No member bank shall accept, whether in a foreign or domestic transaction, for any one person, company, firm, or corporation to an amount equal at any time in the aggregate to more than ten per centum of its paid-up and unimpaired capital stock and surplus, unless the bank is secured either by attached documents or by some other actual security growing out of the same transaction as the acceptance; and no bank shall accept such bills to an amount equal at any time in the aggregate to more than one-half of its paid-up and unimpaired capital stock and surplus: Provided, however, That the Federal Reserve Board, under such general regulations as it may prescribe, which shall apply to all banks alike regardless of the amount of capital stock and surplus, may authorize any member bank to accept such bills to an amounut not exceeding at any time in the aggregate one hundred per centum of its paid-up and unimpaired capital stock and surplus: Provided, further, That the aggregate of acceptances growing out of domestic transactions shall in no event exceed fifty per centum of such capital stock and surplus. 80a. ACCEPTANCE OF DRAFTS OR BILLS OF EXCHANGE DRAWN UPON NATIONAL BANKS BY BANKS OR BANKERS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES OR DEPENDENCIES OF THE UNITED STATES-ACT SEPTEMBER 7, 1916. Any member bank may accept drafts or bills of exchange drawn upon it having not more than three months' sight to run, exclusive of days of grace, drawn under regulations to be prescribed by the Federal Reserve Board by banks or bankers in foreign countries or dependencies or insular possessions of the United States for the purpose of furnishing dollar exchange as required by the usages of trade in the respective countries, dependencies, or insular possessions. |