Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) A bank, savings
bank or savings and loan association shall notify the Department not less than
30 days before closing a full branch office. The institution shall include in
this notice the following:
1. The name of the
institution and the location of its principal office;
2. The location of the branch office which
will be closed;
3. The prospective
date of closing;
4. A statement of
reasons leading to the decision to close the branch;
5. A map of the general area served by the
branch showing all remaining branches of State or Federally chartered banks,
savings banks and savings and loan associations within such area; and
6. A statement indicating the effect the
branch closing will have on the availability of financial services in the
area.
(b) If a bank,
savings bank or savings and loan association acquires a branch or deposits of a
branch from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or has an option to
purchase a branch, and closes it within 180 days, or if it sells a branch to
another depository which operates the office as a branch, it may comply with
this rule by filing a Certificate of Discontinuance with the
Commissioner.
(c) A bank, savings
bank or savings and loan association may submit to the Department a copy of the
branch closing notice filed with its Federal regulator in lieu of the filings
required by (a)1 through 4 above.
(d) Notice requirements for closing of branch
offices are as follows:
1. Beginning within 10
calendar days after notification to the Department, the bank, savings bank or
savings and loan association shall publish notice of the proposed closing once
a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper designated by the Commissioner,
which is published and circulated in the municipality in which said branch is
to be closed, or if there be no such newspaper, then in a newspaper of general
circulation in the municipality. The institution shall include in the notice
the name of the institution, the location of the branch office which will be
closed and the prospective date of closing, the location of the depository's
nearest branch office, and a statement indicating that all comments to the
closing of the branch may be made to the institution and to the Department of
Banking, along with the mailing address of the Department and the
institution.
2. A bank, savings
bank or savings and loan association which notifies its customers of the branch
closing in accordance with Federal law is exempt from the publication
requirement in (d)1 above.
3. For
at least 30 days prior to the branch closing, the bank, savings bank or savings
and loan association shall conspicuously post notice of the proposed branch
closing in the branch to be closed. This notice in the branch shall contain at
least the prospective date of closing, the location of the depository's nearest
branch office, and a statement indicating that all comments regarding the
closing of the branch may be made to the institution and to the Department
along with the mailing address of the institution and the Department.
4. The notice requirements of this subsection
shall not apply to a branch relocation within the same neighborhood where the
customers served by the closed branch would be substantially unaffected by the
move. In addition, the notice requirements of this subsection shall not apply
to a consolidation of branches after a merger or acquisition if the branches
are located in the same neighborhood and the nature of the business or
customers served is not affected.
(e) If the Commissioner determines that there
are valid concerns regarding the effect of the closing upon the local
community, the Commissioner shall be authorized to conduct such meetings with
the institution closing the branch, and with banks, savings banks, savings and
loan associations, community leaders and others, as are necessary in his or her
judgment to explore the effect of the branch closing on the community and the
possibility of replacing such branch office with other adequate
facilities.
(f) The Commissioner
may suspend the notice requirements of this rule in the event of an emergency
or a supervisory merger or acquisition, or when otherwise in the public
interest.
(g) Banks, savings banks
and savings and loan associations shall maintain a file in their principal
office which is open to the public and which contains a description of any
meetings or hearings which occurred pursuant to this section in the past two
years.
