§ 60. — Dividends.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 12USC60]
TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
CHAPTER 2--NATIONAL BANKS
SUBCHAPTER II--CAPITAL, STOCK, AND STOCKHOLDERS
Sec. 60. Dividends
(a) Periodic declaration; surplus fund
The directors of any national banking association may, quarterly,
semiannually or annually, declare a dividend of so much of the undivided
profits of the association, subject to the limitations in subsection (b)
of this section, 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 income of the
preceding half year in the case of quarterly or semiannual dividends, or
not less than one-tenth part of its net income 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 income 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.
(b) Approval of Comptroller
The approval of the Comptroller of the Currency shall be required if
the total of all dividends declared by such association in any calendar
year shall exceed the total of its net income of that year combined with
its retained net income of the preceding two years, less any required
transfers to surplus or a fund for the retirement of any preferred
stock.
(R.S. Sec. 5199; Aug. 23, 1935, ch. 614, title III, Sec. 315, 49 Stat.
712; Pub. L. 86-230, Sec. 21(a), Sept. 8, 1959, 73 Stat. 465; Pub. L.
103-325, title VI, Sec. 602(h)(2), Sept. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 2294.)
Codification
R.S. Sec. 5199 derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, Sec. 33, 13
Stat. 109, which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this
title.
Amendments
1994--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-325, Sec. 602(h)(2)(A), (B),
substituted ``undivided profits of the association, subject to the
limitations in subsection (b) of this section,'' for ``net profits of
the association'' in first sentence and ``net income'' for ``net
profits'' wherever subsequently appearing.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103-325, Sec. 602(h)(2)(B), substituted ``net
income'' for ``net profits'' in two places.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103-325, Sec. 602(h)(2)(C), struck out subsec.
(c) which read as follows: ``For the purpose of this section the term
`net profits' shall mean the remainder of all earnings from current
operations plus actual recoveries on loans and investments and other
assets, after deducting from the total thereof all current operating
expenses, actual losses, accrued dividends on preferred stock, if any,
and all Federal and State taxes.''
1959--Pub. L. 86-230 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a),
authorized the declaration of dividends, quarterly and annually, when at
least one-tenth of the bank's net profits of the preceding half year or
of the preceding two consecutive half-year periods has been carried to
the surplus fund, respectively, and added subsecs. (b) and (c).
1935--Act Aug. 23, 1935, among other changes, inserted proviso.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 324 of this title.
