13-3-204. Operating subsidiaries; application; fee; new activities.

(a) With prior written approval of the commissioner, a bank may purchase for its own account the stock in a corporation to perform functions that are authorized for the bank or that are usual or incidental to the business of banking, subject to the following conditions:

(i) The bank shall own or control eighty percent (80%) or more of the voting stock of the subsidiary corporation;

(ii) No officer, director or shareholder of the bank or any person in a substantially similar controlling or governing position of its bank holding company shall otherwise have a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in the subsidiary corporation;

(iii) All transactions between the bank and the subsidiary shall be subject to any limitations and restrictions applicable under the laws of this state and the United States;

(iv) All provisions of banking law applicable to the operations of the bank shall apply equally to the operations of the subsidiary;

(v) Each subsidiary shall be subject to examination and supervision by the commissioner in the same manner and to the same extent as the bank. If the commissioner determines the subsidiary is violating any applicable law or that operation of the subsidiary is adversely affecting the safety and soundness of the bank, the commissioner may order the bank to dispose of all or any part of the subsidiary upon such terms as the commissioner deems appropriate or take any other appropriate administrative action authorized in this act.

(b) The bank shall file an application for permission to operate a subsidiary with the commissioner, together with an application fee established by rule and regulation of the commissioner. The fee shall be deposited as provided in W.S. 13-2-210(b) and may be expended as provided in that subsection. The application shall include:

(i) The name and location of the subsidiary and the date the subsidiary will commence operations;

(ii) A description of the activities and nature of the business to be conducted at the subsidiary; and

(iii) A description of the nature of the bank s investment in the subsidiary.

(c) The commissioner shall approve the application and issue a certificate of authority to operate the subsidiary to the bank within twenty (20) days after receipt of the completed application and fee unless the commissioner finds:

(i) The proposed activity or activities to be performed at the subsidiary are not activities the bank is authorized to perform and are not activities that are usual or incidental to the business of banking; or

(ii) Operation of the subsidiary will adversely affect the safety and soundness of the bank.

(d) With the prior approval of the commissioner, an approved subsidiary of a bank may engage in a new activity. The bank shall file a written application for approval of the new activity with the commissioner in the form prescribed by the commissioner. The commissioner shall approve the application in writing no later than twenty (20) days after receipt of the application if the commissioner finds that the proposed new activity is an activity that is authorized for the bank or is usual or incidental to the business of the bank and the proposed new activity will not adversely affect the safety and soundness of the bank.

(e) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a bank from establishing and operating a subsidiary in a state other than Wyoming, provided that the bank complies with all applicable provisions of Wyoming law, the law of the state where the subsidiary will be located and federal law.