(1) Without the prior approval of the commissioner or the board, as provided in this chapter, no association shall change its name or establish any office other than its home office, which shall be in the location named in the certificate of incorporation. No office of an association shall be moved unless approved as provided in this chapter.

(2) The name or the location of the home office of any association fixed in the certificate of incorporation may be changed in the following manner:

(a) The proposed new name of the association shall be approved by a resolution adopted by the board of directors. Immediately preceding application to the commissioner for approval, notice of intention to change the name, signed by two (2) officers, shall be published once a week for two (2) successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the home office is located, and a copy of such notice shall be displayed during such consecutive period of two (2) weeks in a conspicuous public place in the home office of the association. Five (5) copies of an application to the commissioner for approval shall be signed by two (2) officers of the association, acknowledged before an officer competent to take acknowledgments of deeds, and filed with the commissioner. If the application for change of name is approved, the commissioner shall endorse on each copy of the application therefor a certificate of approval thereof, and the change of name of such association shall be effective immediately.

(b)

(i) The proposed new location of the association shall be approved by a resolution adopted by the board of directors. Immediately preceding application to the commissioner for approval, notice of intention to change the location of the home office, signed by two (2) officers, shall be published once a week for two (2) successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the home office is located, and a copy of such notice shall be displayed during such consecutive period of two (2) weeks in a conspicuous public place in the home office of the association. Five (5) copies of an application to the commissioner for approval shall be signed by two (2) officers of the association and acknowledged before an officer competent to take acknowledgments of deeds, and filed with the commissioner.

(ii) Whenever the commissioner shall receive from any association pursuant to item (i) of this paragraph (b) an application for change of location of its home office to a municipality other than that in which it is located, he shall make a determination based upon the criteria set out in Section 81-12-27 in the case of establishment of a newly chartered association, and thereafter a hearing shall be held in the manner, within the time and on the notice provided for in Section 81-12-29 and no change of location shall be made without approval of the board.

(iii) Whenever the commissioner shall receive from any association pursuant to item (i) of this paragraph (b) an application for change of location of its home office to another location within the same municipality, the commissioner shall prescribe the form of the petition, prerequisites and requirements. If no protests are filed after notice is given as provided in Section 81-12-29(1), the commissioner may approve such application if it meets the established prerequisites and requirements. If protests are filed, the commissioner, upon reasonable notice to the applying association and its attorney and to the protestants and their attorneys, shall hold a hearing and, based upon his written findings at such hearing, issue a certificate of approval or disapproval.

(3) Upon approval of an application for a change of name or home office location, the commissioner shall endorse on each copy of such application a certificate of approval, as provided in this chapter. When the commissioner shall have endorsed such approval upon the copies of an application for approval of change of name or change of location of home office, he shall file one (1) copy thereof with the Secretary of State, two (2) copies with the federal home loan bank of which the association is a member, return one (1) copy to the applicant association and retain the original copy in the permanent files of his office.