TITLE 7 BANKING AND FINANCE

Section 1. Financial Institutions, 7-1-1 through 7-1-1021.

ARTICLE 2 BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES

7-1-621. Definitions.

As used in this part, the term:

1. "Acquire," as applied to a bank holding company, means any of the following actions or transactions:
   1. The merger or consolidation with another bank holding company;
   2. The acquisition of the direct or indirect ownership or control of voting shares of another bank holding company or bank if, after such acquisition, such bank holding company will directly or indirectly own or control more than 5 percent of any class of voting shares of such bank holding company or bank;
   3. The direct or indirect acquisition of all or substantially all of the assets of another bank holding company or bank; or
   4. The taking of any other action that would result in the direct or indirect control of another bank holding company or bank.

      "Acquire" shall also include a transaction where a bank subsidiary of a bank holding company merges or consolidates with, or acquires all or substantially all of the assets of, another bank.

2. "Bank" means any "insured bank" as such term is defined in 12 U.S.C. Section 1813(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or any institution eligible to become such, provided that the term "bank" shall not include any "foreign bank" (which is defined as in 12 U.S.C. Section 3101 of the International Banking Act of 1978). The term "bank" as used in this part shall include any savings and loan association or state savings and loan association as such terms are defined in Code Section 7-1-4 and shall include federal savings banks and similar banking entities chartered under the laws of any state and whose deposits are insured under a federal deposit insurance program.
3. "Bank holding company" means any company which is a bank holding company under Code Section 7-1-605.
4. "Bank supervisory agency" means:
   1. The Office of Comptroller of Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and any successor to those agencies; and
   2. The agency of a state with primary responsibility for chartering and supervising banks.
5. "Banking office" or "banking location" means a main office or a branch office as such terms are defined in this chapter or any other office at which a bank accepts deposits.
6. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of banking and finance then in office and, where appropriate, all of his or her successors and predecessors in office.
7. "Control" means that which is set forth in Code Section 7-1-605.
8. "Deposits" means, with respect to a bank, all demand, time, and savings deposits of individuals, partnerships, corporations, the United States government, and states and political subdivisions in the United States. Determinations of deposits shall be made by reference to regulatory reports of condition or similar reports filed by such bank with state or federal regulatory authorities.
9. "Georgia bank" means a bank whose home state is Georgia.
10. "Georgia bank holding company" means a bank holding company that:
    1. Has its principal place of business in the State of Georgia; and
    2. Is not controlled by a bank holding company other than a Georgia bank holding company.
11. "Georgia state bank" means a bank chartered under the laws of the State of Georgia.
12. "Home state" means any state in the United States:
    1. With respect to a state bank, the state by which the bank is chartered;
    2. With respect to a national bank, the state in which the main office of the bank is located; or
    3. With respect to a foreign bank, the state determined to be the home state of the foreign bank under 12 U.S.C. Section 3103(c) of the International Banking Act.
13. "Home state regulator" means, with respect to an out-of-state state bank, the bank supervisory agency of the state in which such bank is chartered.
14. "Host state" means a state, other than the home state of a bank, in which the bank maintains or seeks to establish and maintain a branch.
15. "Insured depository institution" shall have the same meaning as set forth in 12 U.S.C. Section 1813(c)(2) and (3) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, provided that the term "insured depository institution" shall not include any "foreign bank" (which is defined as in 12 U.S.C. Section 3101 of the International Banking Act of 1978).
16. "Interstate merger transaction" means:
    1. The merger or consolidation of banks with different home states and the conversion of branches of any bank involved in the merger or consolidation into branches of the resulting bank; or
    2. The purchase of all or substantially all of the assets of a bank whose home state is different from the home state of the acquiring bank.
17. "Out-of-state bank" means a bank whose home state is not Georgia, but the term does not include a foreign bank.
18. "Out-of-state bank holding company" means a bank holding company other than a Georgia bank holding company.
19. "Out-of-state state bank" means a bank chartered under the laws of a state other than Georgia.
20. "Principal place of business" of a bank holding company means the state of charter in which the aggregate deposits of the bank subsidiaries of such bank holding company are largest.
21. "Resulting bank" means a bank that has resulted from an interstate merger transaction under Part 20 of this article.
22. "State" means any state of the United States, including the District of Columbia.
23. "Subsidiary" means that which is set forth in Code Section 7-1-605.

(Code 1981, §7-1-620, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1467, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 251, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 13, § 7; Ga. L. 1994, p. 215, § 1; Code 1981, §7-1-621, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1996, p. 279, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 143, § 7; Ga. L. 1999, p. 674, § 18; Ga. L. 2000, p. 174, § 15; Ga. L. 2015, p. 5, § 7/HB 90; Ga. L. 2016, p. 390, § 2-18/HB 811; Ga. L. 2017, p. 193, § 14/HB 143.)

The 2015 amendment, effective March 13, 2015, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted "the Office of Thrift Supervision," preceding "and any successor" in subparagraph (4)(A).

The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, in paragraph (2), in the first sentence, substituted "'insured bank' as such term is defined in 12 U.S.C. Section 1813(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act" for "insured institution as such term is defined in Section 3(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, 12 U.S.C. Section 1813(h)", in the second sentence, deleted "building and loan association," following "include any", and deleted a comma following "loan association"; substituted the present provisions of paragraph (7) for the former provisions, which read: "'Control' means that which is set forth either in Code Section 7-1-605 or Section 2(a) of the federal Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, 12 U.S.C. Section 1841(a)"; substituted "12 U.S.C. Section 3103(c)" for "12 U.S.C. Section 3101(c)" in subparagraph (12)(C); added the proviso at the end of paragraph (15); and substituted the present provisions of paragraph (23) for the former provisions, which read: "'Subsidiary' means that which is set forth either in Code Section 7-1-605 or Section 2 of the federal Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, 12 U.S.C. Section 1841."

The 2017 amendment, effective June 1, 2017, substituted the present provisions of paragraph (3) for the former provisions, which read: "'Bank holding company' means any company which is a bank holding company under either Code Section 7-1-605 or Section 2(a) of the federal Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, 12 U.S.C. Section 1841(a).".