Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 70.djvu/191

 70 S T A T. ]

PUBLIC LAW 511-MAY 9, 1956

supervisory authority, as the case may be, may be submitted. If the Comptroller of the Currency or the State supervisory authority so notified by the Board disapproves the application in writing within said thirty days, the Board shall forthwith give written notice of that fact to the applicant. Within three days after giving such notice to the applicant, the Board shall notify in writing the applicant and the disapproving authority of the date for commencement of a hearing by it on such application. Any such hearing shall be commenced not less than ten nor more than thirty days after the Board has given written notice to the applicant of the action of the disapproving authority. The length of any such hearing shall be determined by the Board, but it shall afford all interested parties a reasonable opportunity to testify at such hearing. A t the conclusion thereof, the Board shall by order grant or deny the application on the basis of the record made at such hearing. (c) I n determining whether or not to approve any acquisition or merger or consolidation under this section, the Board shall take into consideration the following factors: (1) the financial history and condition of the company or companies and the banks concerned; (2) their prospects; (3) the character of their management; (4) the convenience, needs, and welfare of the communities and the area concerned; and (5) whether or not the effect of such acquisition or merger or consolidation would be to expand the size or extent of the bank holding company system involved beyond limits consistent with adequate and sound banking, the public interest, and the preservation of competition in the field of banking. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no application shall be approved under this section which will permit any bank holding company or any subsidiary thereof to acquire, directly or indirectly, any voting shares of, interest in, or all or substantially all of the assets of any additional bank located outside of the State in which such bank holding company maintains its principal office and place of business or in which it conducts its principal operations unless the acquisition of such shares or assets of a State bank by an out-ofState bank holding company is specifically authorized by the statute laws of the State in which such bank is located, by language to that effect and not merely by implication. I N T E R E S T S I N N O N B A N K I N G ORGANIZATIONS

SEC. 4, (a) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, no bank holding company shall— (1) after the date of enactment of this Act acquire direct or indirect ownership or control of any voting shares of any company which is not a bank, or (2) after two years from the date of enactment of this Act or from the date as of which it becomes a bank holding company, whichever is later, retain direct or indirect ownership or control of any voting shares of any company which is not a bank or a bank holding company or engage in any business other than that of banking or of managing or controlling banks or of furnishing services to or performing services for any bank of which it owns or controls 25 per centum or more of the voting shares. The Board is authorized, upon application by a bank holding company, to extend the period referred to in paragraph (2) above from time to time as to such bank holding company for not more than one year at a time if, in its judgment, such an extension would not be detrimental to the public interest, but no such extensions shall extend beyond a date

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