Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 70.djvu/190

 134

PUBLIC LAW 511-MAY 9, 1956

[70 S T A T.

bank organized or operating under the Code of Law for the District of Columbia. (d) "Subsidiary", with respect to a specified bank holding company, means (1) any company 25 per centum or more of whose voting shares (excluding shares owned by the United States or by any company wholly owned by the United States) is owned or controlled by such bank holding company; or (2) any company the election of a majority of whose directors is controlled in any manner by such bank holding company; or (3) any company 25 per centum or more of whose voting shares are held by trustees for the benefit of the shareholders or members of such bank holding company. (e) The term "successor" shall include any company which acquires directly or indirectly from a bank holding company shares of any bank, when and if the relationship between such company and the bank holding company is such that the transaction effects no substantial change in the control of the bank or beneficial ownership of such shares of such bank. The Board may, by regulation, further define the term "successor" to the extent necessary to prevent evasion of the purposes of this Act. (f) "Board" means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (g) "Agriculture", as used in section 2(a), includes farming in all its branches including fruitgrowing, dairying, the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, forestry or lumbering operations, and the production of naval stores, and operations directly related thereto. ACQUISITION OF B A N K SHARES OR ASSETS

SEC. 3. (a) I t shall be unlawful except with the prior approval of the Board (1) for any action to be taken which results in a company becoming a bank holding company under section 2(a) of this Act; (2) for any bank holding company to acquire direct or indirect ownership or control of any voting shares of any bank if, after such acquisition, such company will directly or indirectly own or control more than 5 per centum of the voting shares of such bank; (3) for any bank holding company or subsidiary thereof, other than a bank, to acquire all or substantially all of the assets of a bank; or (4) for any bank holding company to merge or consolidate with any other bank holding company. Notwithstanding the foregoing this prohibition shall not apply to (A) shares acquired by a bank, (i) in good faith in a fiduciary capacity, except where such shares are held for the benefit of the shareholders of such bank, or (ii) in the regular course of securing or collecting a debt previously contracted in good faith, but any shares acquired after the date of enactment of this Act in securing or collecting any such previously contracted debt shall be disposed of within a period of two years from the date on which they were acquired; or (B) additional shares acquired by a bank holding company in a bank in which such bank holding company owned or controlled a majority of the voting shares prior to such acquisition. (b) Upon receiving from a company any application for approval under this section, the Board shall give notice to the Comptroller of the Currency, if the applicant company or any bank the voting shares or assets of which are sought to be acquired is a national banking association or a District bank, or to the appropriate supervisory authority of the interested State, if the applicant company or any bank the voting shares or assets of which are sought to be acquired is a State bank, and shall allow thirty days within which the views and recommendations of the Comptroller of the Currency or the State

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