The Florida Senate

¹658.26  Places of transacting business; branches; facilities.--

(1)  Any bank or trust company heretofore or hereafter incorporated pursuant to this chapter shall have one main office, which shall be located within the state.

(2)(a)  In addition, with the approval of the department and upon such conditions as the department prescribes, any bank or trust company may establish branches within or outside the state. With the approval of the department upon a determination that the resulting bank or trust company will be of sound financial condition, any bank or trust company incorporated pursuant to this chapter may establish branches by merger with any other bank or trust company.

(b)  An application for a branch shall be in writing in such form as the department prescribes and be supported by such information, data, and records as the department may require to make findings necessary for approval. Applications filed pursuant to this subsection shall not be published in the Florida Administrative Weekly but shall otherwise be subject to the provisions of chapter 120. Upon the filing of an application and a nonrefundable filing fee for the establishment of any branch permitted by paragraph (a), the department shall make an investigation with respect to compliance with the requirements of paragraph (a) and shall investigate and consider all factors relevant to such requirements, including the following:

1.  The sufficiency of capital accounts in relation to the deposit liabilities of the bank, or in relation to the number and valuation of fiduciary accounts of the trust company, including the proposed branch, and the additional fixed assets, if any, which are proposed for the branch and its operations, without undue risk to the bank or its depositors, or undue risk to the trust company or its fiduciary accounts;

2.  The sufficiency of earnings and earning prospects of the bank or trust company to support the anticipated expenses and any anticipated operating losses of the branch during its formative or initial years;

3.  The sufficiency and quality of management available to operate the branch;

4.  The name of the proposed branch to determine if it reasonably identifies the branch as a branch of the main office and is not likely to unduly confuse the public; and

5.  Substantial compliance by the applicants with applicable law governing their operations.

(c)  As provided by departmental rule, a financial institution operating in a safe and sound manner may establish a branch by filing a written notice with the department at least 30 days before opening that branch. In such case, the financial institution need not file a branch application or pay a branch application fee.

(3)(a)  An office in this state may be relocated with prior written approval of the department. An application for relocation shall be in writing in such form as the department prescribes and shall be supported by such information, data, and records as the department may require to make findings necessary for approval.

(b)  Applications filed pursuant to this subsection shall not be published in the Florida Administrative Weekly but shall otherwise be subject to the provisions of chapter 120. However, an application for the relocation of a main office that has not been in operation for at least 24 months shall be published in the Florida Administrative Weekly. Upon the filing of a relocation application and a nonrefundable filing fee, the department shall investigate to determine substantial compliance by the financial institution with applicable law governing its operations. Additional investments in land, buildings, leases, and leasehold improvements resulting from such relocation shall comply with the limitations imposed by s. 658.67(7)(a). A main office may not be moved outside this state unless expressly authorized by the financial institutions codes or by federal law.

(c)  A relocation application, filed by a strong, well-managed state bank or trust company, which is not denied within 10 working days after receipt shall be deemed approved unless the department notifies the financial institution in writing that the application was not complete.

(d)  In addition to the application required by paragraph (a), a financial institution whose main office in this state has been in operation less than 24 months must provide evidence that the criteria of s. 658.21(1) will be met.

(e)  With 30 days' prior written notice, an established branch office may be consolidated with another established branch office when the two offices are located within a 1-mile radius. The notice shall include any information the department may prescribe by rule.

(f)  A branch office may be closed with 30 days' prior written notice to the department. The notice shall include any information the department may prescribe by rule.

(4)  With prior written notification to the department, any bank may operate facilities which are not physically connected to the main or branch office of the bank, provided that the facilities are situated on the property of the main or branch office or property contiguous thereto. Property which is separated from the main or branch office of a bank by only a street, and one or more walkways and alleyways are determined to be, for purposes of this subsection, contiguous to the property of the main or branch office.

(5)  A bank may provide, directly or through a contract with another company, off-premises armored car service to its customers. Armored car services shall not be considered a branch for the purposes of subsection (2).

(6)(a)  Any state bank that is a subsidiary of a bank holding company may agree to receive deposits, renew time deposits, close loans, service loans, and receive payments on loans and other obligations, as an agent for an affiliated depository institution.

(b)  The term "close loan" does not include the making of a decision to extend credit or the extension of credit.

(c)  As used in this section, "receive deposits" means the taking of deposits to be credited to an existing account and does not include the opening or origination of new deposit accounts at an affiliated institution by the agent institution.

(d)  Under this section, affiliated banks may act as agents for one another regardless of whether the institutions are located in the same or different states. This section applies solely to affiliated depository institutions acting as agents, and has no application to agency relationships concerning nondepositories as agent, whether or not affiliated with the depository institution.

(e)  In addition, under this section, agent banks may perform ministerial functions for the principal bank making a loan. Ministerial functions include, but are not limited to, such activities as providing loan applications, assembling documents, providing a location for returning documents necessary for making the loan, providing loan account information, and receiving payments. It does not include such loan functions as evaluating applications or disbursing loan funds.

For the purposes of this section, a strong, well-managed state bank or trust company is an institution that has been in operation for at least 24 months, is well capitalized, has received a satisfactory rating at the institution's most recent state or federal safety and soundness examination, and is not the object of any enforcement action.

History.--s. 2, ch. 28016, 1953; s. 1, ch. 57-77; s. 1, ch. 65-276; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 70-130; s. 1, ch. 70-439; s. 1, ch. 73-103; s. 5, ch. 73-119; s. 1, ch. 75-217; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 2, ch. 76-178; s. 1, ch. 77-376; s. 1, ch. 77-383; s. 1, ch. 77-389; s. 1, ch. 77-457; ss. 1, 2, ch. 79-590; ss. 16, 151, 152, ch. 80-260; ss. 1, 2, ch. 81-101; ss. 1, 2, ch. 81-215; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 46, ch. 82-214; s. 1, ch. 83-152; s. 3, ch. 83-265; ss. 25, 50, 51, ch. 84-216; ss. 34, 58, ch. 85-82; s. 15, ch. 89-229; s. 1, ch. 91-307; ss. 1, 111, ch. 92-303; s. 10, ch. 96-168; s. 9, ch. 97-30; s. 3, ch. 99-138.

¹Note.--Section 3, ch. 99-138, amended paragraph (2)(c) without publishing the flush left language at the end of the section. Absent affirmative evidence that the Legislature intended to repeal this language, it is published here, pending clarification by the Legislature.

Note.--Former s. 659.06.