§ 321. — Application for membership.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 12USC321]
TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
CHAPTER 3--FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
SUBCHAPTER VIII--STATE BANKS AS MEMBERS OF SYSTEM
Sec. 321. Application for membership
Any bank incorporated by special law of any State, 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 chapter 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 287 of this title. 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 on February 25, 1927, 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 February 25,
1927, 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 (except within the District of Columbia).
(Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, Sec. 9 (pars.), 38 Stat. 259; June 21, 1917, ch.
32, Sec. 3, 40 Stat. 232; Feb. 25, 1927, ch. 191, Sec. 9, 44 Stat. 1229;
June 16, 1933, ch. 89, Sec. 5(a), (b), 48 Stat. 164; June 16, 1934, ch.
546, Sec. 2, 48 Stat. 971; Aug. 23, 1935, ch. 614, title II,
Sec. 203(a), title III, Sec. 338, 49 Stat. 704, 721; Aug. 17, 1950, ch.
729, Sec. 8, 64 Stat. 458; July 15, 1952, ch. 753, Sec. 2(a), 66 Stat.
633.)
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original ``this Act'',
meaning act Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, 38 Stat. 251, as amended, known as the
Federal Reserve Act. For complete classification of this Act to the
Code, see References in Text note set out under section 226 of this
title and Tables.
Codification
Section is comprised of the first three pars. of section 9 of act
Dec. 23, 1913, as amended. The first par. of this section is comprised
of the first par. of section 9 as amended in 1917 (40 Stat. 232). The
second par. of this section was added as a new par. to follow the first
par. of section 9, by act Aug. 17, 1950. The third par. of this section
originally constituted the second par. of section 9, as amended by act
Feb. 25, 1927, and became the third par. when act Aug. 17, 1950 added
the new second par. The fourth to twenty-third pars. of section 9, as
amended, are classified to sections 322 to 338a of this title. Section
329a of this title, which was based on par. twelve of section 9, was
omitted from the Code. Paragraph twenty-two of section 9, which was
classified to section 337 of this title, was repealed by Pub. L. 89-485,
Sec. 13(g), July 1, 1966, 80 Stat. 243.
Amendments
1952--Act July 15, 1952, inserted last sentence to third par.
1950--Act Aug. 17, 1950, inserted second par., permitting
application for membership in the Federal Reserve System by the State
bank resulting from a conversion, merger, or consolidation transaction
involving a national bank, except where the national bank merges or
consolidates with a State bank already a member of System in which case
the membership continues.
1935--Act Aug. 23, 1935, Sec. 338, inserted phrase in third
(formerly second) par. beginning ``except that the approval of the Board
of Governors''.
1934--Act June 16, 1934, inserted third sentence in first par.
1933--Act June 16, 1933, inserted ``including Morris Plan banks and
other incorporated banking institutions engaged in similar business'' in
first par. and inserted proviso to third (formerly second) par. through
``branches of national banks''.
1927--Act Feb. 25, 1927, inserted second par. which became third
par. in 1950. See Codification note above.
Change of Name
Section 203(a) of act Aug. 23, 1935, changed name of Federal Reserve
Board to Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Exception as to Transfer of Functions
Functions vested by any provision of law in Comptroller of the
Currency, referred to in this section, not included in transfer of
functions to Secretary of the Treasury, see note set out under section 1
of this title.
Abolition of Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Section 6(a) of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1957, eff. June 30, 1957, 22
F.R. 4633, 71 Stat. 647, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government
Organization and Employees, abolished Reconstruction Finance
Corporation.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in title 7 section 6f.
