45-4-1904 - Foreign credit unions.
45-4-1904. Foreign credit unions.
(a) Before a foreign credit union, defined as a credit union chartered and operating under the laws of another state, may open an office in Tennessee for the purpose of serving its members residing or working in Tennessee, the credit union shall procure from the commissioner a certificate of authority to operate in Tennessee. The foreign credit union may obtain a certificate of authority from the commissioner by filing an application, which shall include a copy of the foreign credit union's charter, bylaws, a statement of its field of membership if not contained in the bylaws, a copy of its most recent call report made to its supervisory agency, and other information that the commissioner may require.
(b) The commissioner may issue a certificate of authority to the foreign credit union if the commissioner finds that all of the following requirements are satisfied:
(1) The Tennessee members of the credit union will be protected by share insurance comparable to that approved for members of Tennessee credit unions;
(2) The credit union supervisor in the chartering state of the foreign credit union has consented to the entry of the foreign credit union into Tennessee and agrees to furnish upon request copies of its examination reports of the foreign credit union;
(3) The field of membership proposed to be served in Tennessee by the foreign credit union is not being adequately served by a credit union chartered under this title or under the federal Credit Union Act;
(4) A designation of registered agent, upon a form prescribed by the commissioner. The registered agent shall be a natural person who is a resident of and has a business address in this state or a domestic or foreign corporation for profit authorized to transact business in this state. If a registered agent resigns by filing a written notice thereof or is unable to perform the agent's duties, the designating credit union shall promptly designate another registered agent to the end that the credit union shall at all times have a registered agent in this state; and
(5) Reciprocal recognition and authority are given to credit unions chartered in Tennessee by the chartering state of the foreign credit union.
(c) Upon issuance of a certificate of authority by the commissioner, the foreign credit union may serve its members residing or working in Tennessee with an office or offices in Tennessee. The activities or services offered the members served from a Tennessee office shall be in accordance with the bylaws of the foreign credit union and the laws of the state where the foreign credit union is chartered; provided, that loans executed in Tennessee to members residing in Tennessee shall not bear a rate of interest in excess of that rate of interest for similar loans permitted credit unions chartered under this chapter.
(d) The commissioner may examine the records and affairs of any foreign credit union operating in Tennessee if the commissioner deems it necessary to protect the interest of Tennessee members of the foreign credit union. In all cases, a foreign credit union operating in Tennessee shall file with the commissioner a copy of its annual report or call report at the time it files the reports with the credit union supervisor where it is chartered. The commissioner may revoke a certificate of authority if a foreign credit union violates any order issued pursuant to § 45-4-206.
(e) Whenever the laws of any other state of the United States shall impose a supervisory fee or any other charge upon the assets or deposits of credit unions chartered under the laws of this state, the credit unions chartered under the laws of the foreign states shall be required to pay to the commissioner an annual supervision fee based upon the assets of the foreign credit unions located within Tennessee, including loans made by the credit unions to persons or entities that resided in Tennessee at the time the loans were first made. The fee shall be calculated in accordance with § 45-4-1002(c)(1).
(f) (1) A foreign credit union may participate in a shared service center network that is operated from inside or outside of this state and which shared service center, referred to as center in this subsection (f), uses an electronic network to provide credit union services to members of credit unions, who are participants in the network, and at which center the services provided are performed by automated teller machines and/or similar electronic communications between the center and the participating credit union. Credit unions whose members use such centers shall not be deemed to be maintaining offices in Tennessee and shall not be subject to any of the foregoing sections applicable to the opening and maintaining of offices by foreign credit unions.
(2) (A) For purposes of this section, services performed by automated teller machines and/or similar electronic communications means only the following activities:
(i) Access to and withdrawals from a member's share and other accounts through the acceptance of share drafts, debit approvals and transfers between accounts;
(ii) Loan advances pursuant to any lending agreement between the member using the service center and the member's home credit union through any credit access device including drafts, credit cards or otherwise, and including authorizations to increase lines of credit; provided, that the service center may not make a credit determination or create a new loan; and
(iii) May provide access to member account information, account balance inquiries, transfers between accounts, initiation of payments from existing accounts to existing loans;
(B) The service center may not, for any foreign credit union, accept loan payments directly, open member accounts, solicit new members or otherwise act as a branch.
(3) Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of a branch of a Tennessee credit union to engage in any service for its members permitted by law at a location where a service center is maintained.
(4) The commissioner may promulgate rules for the implementation of the foregoing section and the sound operation of credit union services in the state pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.
[Acts 1979, ch. 86, § 12; T.C.A., §§ 45-1851, 45-4-1204; Acts 1984, ch. 714, § 5; 1996, ch. 650, § 1.]