§ 101. Short title.
§ 102. Definitions.
§ 103. Declaration of purposes; standards for exercise of power and discretion by department.
§ 104. Rules of construction.
§ 105. Persons authorized to engage in business of receiving deposits and money for transmission.
§ 106. Corporations authorized to act as fiduciary.
§ 107. Accounting rules; accounting and bookkeeping services.
§ 108. Retention of records and admissibility of copies in evidence.
§ 109. Advertisements.
§ 110. Notices.
§ 111. Emergency powers.
§ 112. Acquisitions, and offers to acquire, shares of banks, bank and trust companies, trust companies and national banks.
§ 112.1. Prohibition against certain acquisitions.
§ 113. Legal holidays.
§ 114. Limitation on deposit of Commonwealth funds.
§ 115. Bank holding companies.
§ 115.1. Mutual holding companies.
§ 116. [Repealed.].
§ 117. [Repealed.]
This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Banking Code of 1965."
Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent chapters of this act which are applicable to specific chapters or sections thereof, the following words and phrases when used in this act shall have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the meanings given to them in this section:
(a) "Affiliate"--a person which controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, an institution subject to the provisions of this act.
(b) "Agreement for the payment of money"--a monetary obligation, other than an obligation in the form of an evidence of indebtedness or an investment security; for example, amounts payable on open book accounts receivable and executory contracts and rentals payable under leases of personal property.
(c) "Articles"--original articles of incorporation, all amendments thereto, articles of merger, consolidation or conversion and statements relating to shares filed pursuant to section 1306 of this act (including what have in the past been designated by law as certificates of incorporation or charters and including the charters of savings banks created under special acts of the General Assembly and all amendments and supplements thereto). After an amendment made pursuant to this act which restates articles in their entirety, the "articles" shall not include any prior documents and the certificate of amendment issued by the Department of State shall so state.
(d) "Assets"--all the property and rights of every kind of an institution.
(e) "Attorney"--an attorney-at-law who is, or is a member of a firm which is, regularly retained as counsel for an institution.
(f) "Bank"--a corporation which exists under the laws of this Commonwealth and, as a bank under the Banking Code of 1933, was authorized to engage in the business of receiving demand deposits on the effective date of this act, or which receives authority to engage in such business as a bank pursuant to this act, but which is not authorized to act as fiduciary.
(g) "Bank and trust company"--a corporation which exists under the laws of the Commonwealth and, as a bank and trust company under the Banking Code of 1933, was authorized to engage in the business of receiving demand deposits and to act as fiduciary on the effective date of this act, or which receives authority both to engage in such business and to act as fiduciary as a bank and trust company pursuant to this act.
(h) "Branch"--an office, agency or other place of business, other than the principal place of business, of an institution for the transaction of any business of the institution, except any of the following conducted or maintained with the approval of the department:
(i) a temporary agency,
(ii) a school at which deposits are accepted by an officer, employe or agent of the institution, or
(iii) an office used solely for internal operations of the institution to which the public is not admitted for the conduct of banking business.(i) "Capital"--
(j) "Capital securities"--
(k) "Certificate of reliance"--
(l) "Collateral"--
(m) "Department"--
(n) [Repealed.]
(o) "Evidence of indebtedness"--
(p) "Fiduciary"--
(q) "Incorporated institution"--
(r) "Institution"--
(s) "Person"--
(t) "Private bank"--
(u) "Public body"--
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In the interpretation and construction of this act:
(a) Use of comments.--The comments of the commission which drafted this act may be consulted in the construction and application of its original provisions but the text of the act will control in the event of a conflict between text and comments.
(b) References to statutes and regulations.--A reference in this act to a statute or to a regulation issued by a governmental agency includes the statute or regulation with all amendments and supplements thereto and any new statute or regulation substituted for such statute or regulation, as in force at the time of application of the provision of this act in which such reference is made, unless the specific language or the context of the reference in this act clearly includes only the statute or regulation as in force on the effective date of this act.
(c) References to public agencies and public officers.--A reference in this act to a governmental agency, department, board, commission or other public body or to a public officer includes an entity or officer which succeeds to substantially the same functions as those performed by such public body or officer on the effective date of this act, unless the specific language or the context of the reference in this act clearly includes only the public body or officer on the effective date of this act.
(d) Construction of statements of powers of institutions.--A power of an institution stated in this act to be subject to regulation of the department may be exercised, subject to the provisions of this act, in the absence of such regulation but a power which is stated to be subject to approval or permission of the department may not be exercised in the absence of such written approval or permission.
(e) Severability.--The provisions of this act are severable so that if any provision or the application of this act in particular circumstances should be held to be invalid, such invalidity will not affect any other provision or application of this act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
(f) References to penalty provisions.--Provisions of this act for the violation of which specific penalties are imposed under chapter 21 of this act are indicated by inclusion in the provisions of the phrase "subject to the penalty provisions of this act" or its equivalent.
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(a) Accounting basis.--An institution may maintain its books of account on a cash or accrual basis, as determined by its board of directors or trustees in the case of an incorporated institution and a private bank which has such a board and by the owner or partners in the case of any other private bank.
(b) Entries as to assets.--An institution shall enter on its books a complete and accurate account of all its assets, whether the assets are in its name or the names of others, at values which shall not without the prior approval of the department:
(i) Exceed the actual cost of the assets to the institution, or
(ii) In the case of shares of stock of a corporation organized for the purpose of conducting a title insurance business which are held pursuant to section 311(d)(iv), exceed the amount at which the assets of such title insurance business were theretofore carried by the institution on its books plus any additional amount paid for shares of such corporation.(c) Entries as to liabilities.--An institution shall enter on its books a complete and accurate account of its liabilities to its depositors, its borrowings (and any assets pledged therefore) and all other liabilities and shall maintain additional accounts for losses, overdrafts and expense charges.
(d) Accounting and bookkeeping service agreements.--Whenever an institution may cause to be performed, by contract or otherwise accounting or bookkeeping services for itself, whether on or off its premises, the performance thereof will be subject to regulation and examination by the department to the same extent as if such services were being performed by the institution itself on its own premises. The institution shall notify the department of the existence of a service relationship within thirty days after the making of such service contract or the performance of the service, whichever occurs first. For the purpose of this subsection (d), "services" shall mean clerical, bookkeeping, accounting, statistical and other functions of the type covered by the Bank Service Corporation Act.
(e) Penalties.--A violation of the provisions of subsections (b) or (c) of this section shall be subject to the penalty provisions of this act.
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The Treasury Department shall not deposit any Commonwealth Funds in a financial institution subject to this act that unlawfully does not conform to the finance charge limitations in the act of October 26, 1966 (1st Sp.Sess. P.L. 55, No.7), known as the "Goods and Services Installment Sales Act," provided that there are other financial institutions in the Commonwealth properly approved by the Board of Finance and Revenue which can adequately collateralize and service Commonwealth Funds and instruments.
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The complete Pennsylvania Statutes are not yet available on the web. However, selected portions have been made available and can be accessed by CLICKING HERE. These statutes, though available instantaneously over the web, may not be the current law. Court decisions overturning them, later statutes amending them, and a host of other factors come into play when interpreting them. They are provided here as a resource. They should provide some information about the state of the law. However, a competent lawyer, who from other sources will research the law to insure what is current, should always be employed in matters of importance.