Section 384-B:2 Branch Offices.
No bank or officer, director, agent, or employee thereof shall transact any part of its usual business of banking at any branch office except as follows:
I. With the approval of the commissioner, any bank with its principal office within the state of New Hampshire may establish and operate one or more branch offices in any town within the state. The commissioner shall not grant any application for a branch office if the dollar volume of the total deposits, time, savings, and demand of the applicant bank is greater than 30 percent of the dollar volume of the total deposits, time, savings, and demand of all banks, national banks, and federal savings and loan associations in this state as determined by the commissioner on the basis of the most recent annual deposit reports of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation available at the time of filing the application; nor if the applicant bank is an affiliate of a bank holding company which with all its affiliates then holds a dollar volume of total deposits, time, savings, and demand greater than 30 percent of the dollar volume of total deposits, time, savings, and demand of all banks, national banks, and federal savings and loan associations in this state as determined by the commissioner on the basis of the most recent annual deposit reports of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation available at the time of filing of the application.
I-a. With the approval of the bank commissioner and subject to any rules adopted by the bank commissioner pursuant to RSA 384-B:2-b, any bank may establish and operate one or more mobile branch offices. A mobile branch office shall consist of a motor vehicle specifically designed to conduct a banking business which is moved to one or more predetermined locations in any town or towns within or without the state on a predetermined schedule. A mobile branch office may conduct any banking business that is permitted for a stationary branch. A mobile branch office is a ""branch office'' as defined in RSA 384-B:1, III and shall be subject to any and all applicable requirements relating thereto. The bank commissioner shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 384-B:2-b, regulating the operation, location, and schedule of mobile branch offices.
I-b. With the approval of the bank commissioner and subject to any rules adopted by the bank commissioner pursuant to RSA 384-B:2-b, any bank may establish and operate one or more defined service branch offices. A defined service branch office shall consist of an office designed to conduct a banking business which may be operated on a predetermined schedule for fewer than the normal hours of operation of the bank or for designated days and times. A defined service branch office is a ""branch office'' as defined in RSA 384-B:1, III and shall be subject to any and all applicable requirements relating thereto. The bank commissioner shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 384-B:2-b, regulating the operation and schedule of defined service branch offices.
I-c. For purposes of this section ""bank'' shall mean:
(a) A ""bank'' or ""national bank'' as defined in this chapter; and
(b) An ""out-of-state bank'' as defined in RSA 384:57, V which has merged with such a bank or a national bank pursuant to RSA 384:59.
II. With the approval of the commissioner, the resulting bank, after a consolidation as herein defined, may operate as a branch office or offices the business of any other bank acquired in such consolidation, at any location in the same town or towns in which such business was formerly carried on, wherever in the state such town or towns may be; provided, however, that the dollar volume of the total deposits, time, savings, and demand of the remaining bank at the time of filing its application for such branch office or offices does not exceed 30 percent of the dollar volume of the total deposits, time, savings, and demand of all banks, national banks, and federal savings and loan associations in this state as determined by the commissioner on the basis of the most recent annual deposit reports of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation available at the time of filing of the application.
III. Written applications for branch offices shall be submitted by the bank, in the first instance, to the commissioner and shall be verified under oath and made upon forms which may be prescribed by the commissioner for the purpose with all the information required by such form fully set forth thereon, including the types of service to be offered at such branch office. Each application shall be accompanied by a fee of $1,500 in the case of a new branch and one single fee of $1,500 for the composite of all branches. The department shall investigate and examine each application. A notice stating the date before which objections may be filed shall then be published by the petitioner in such form as the commissioner may order. Any interested person or corporation may, within the time specified, file with the board a statement of objection to the granting of such application. The commissioner may, upon request of any interested person or corporation, or at the commissioner's own discretion, order a public hearing, or may approve said application without a hearing. If a public hearing is to be held, the petitioners shall cause to be published such notices as the commissioner may order. Said hearing shall be held at the time and place fixed by the commissioner. The commissioner shall keep a permanent verbatim record of all such evidence. The commissioner may prescribe reasonable procedural rules to govern the proceedings. There shall be no refund allowed on any application fee once it has been filed. In addition to the application fee, each applicant for a branch office shall be obligated to pay the reasonable cost of processing, hearing and deciding each such application, as assessed by the commissioner, which cost may be collected by the commissioner in an action of debt unless paid within 30 days after demand. Sums collected under this section shall be payable to the state treasurer as restricted revenue and credited to the appropriation for the bank commissioner.
IV. In making the decision on each application, the commissioner shall take into consideration the following factors:
(a) The financial history and condition of the bank or banks concerned including the adequacy of its or their capital funds;
(b) Its or their prospects; and
(c) The character of the management.
V. The commissioner shall render a decision granting or denying each application in writing and shall maintain a file of all such approvals or denials and shall forthwith furnish a certified copy thereof to the applicant bank. Full power is delegated to the commissioner to grant a particular application upon such reasonable conditions, including limitations on the scope of service which may be offered and given, consistent with the general purposes of this chapter and sound banking principles as the commissioner may determine and set forth in the decision. The authority derived from an application which has been granted in whole or upon conditions shall lapse and terminate unless business is actually commenced thereunder not later than one year after the date of the commissioner's decision; provided, however, that the commissioner, for good cause shown, may extend the time after which such authority shall lapse. Rehearings of and appeals from decisions of the commissioner shall be governed by RSA 541.
Source. 1963, 188:1. 1973, 504:6. 1977, 563:5. 1979, 123:3. 1983, 442:1. 1987, 365:1. 1988, 220:7. 1990, 115:13. 1995, 67:1. 1996, 288:6. 1997, 301:1. 1998, 139:9. 2000, 236:1, 2. 2004, 231:7, eff. June 11, 2004.