TITLE 7 BANKING AND FINANCE

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

ARTICLE 4A CASHING OF PAYMENT INSTRUMENTS

7-1-706. Record keeping obligations; investigations and examinations by the department; examination fees; administration of oaths and issuing of subpoenas; confidentiality; civil liability.

1. Each licensee shall make, keep, and use in its business such books, accounts, and records as the department may require to enforce the provisions of this article and the rules and regulations promulgated under it. Each licensee shall preserve such books, accounts, and records for five years or such greater period of time as prescribed in the department's rules and regulations.
2. Records required to be made, kept, and preserved pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section may be maintained in a photographic, electronic, or other similar form.
3. Records required to be made, kept, and preserved pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section may be maintained at a location outside of this state so long as such records are produced to the commissioner at the department's main office within ten days of the date of a written request by the department to the licensee.
4. The department shall investigate and examine the affairs, business, premises, and records of any licensee pertaining to cashing payment instruments. The department may conduct such investigations or examinations at least once every 24 months. The department may accept examination reports performed and produced by other state or federal agencies in satisfaction of this requirement unless the department determines that the examinations are not available or do not provide information necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the department under this article.
5. Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this Code section, the department may alter the frequency or scope of investigations or examinations through rules or regulations prescribed by the department. In addition, if the department determines that based on the records submitted to the department and past history of operations of the licensee in the state such investigations or examinations are unnecessary, then the department may waive such investigations and examinations.
6. In addition to any other authority set forth under this article, the department shall be authorized to conduct investigations and examinations of applicants and licensees as follows:
   1. The department shall have the authority to access, receive, and use any books, accounts, records, files, documents, information, or evidence, including, but not limited to:
      1. Criminal, civil, and administrative history information, including nonconviction data;
      2. Personal history and experience information, including, but not limited to, independent credit reports obtained from a consumer reporting agency described in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1681a; and
      3. Any other documents, information, or evidence the department deems relevant to the inquiry, examination, or investigation regardless of the location, possession, control, or custody of such documents, information, or evidence;
   2. The department may review, investigate, or examine any licensee or person subject to this article as often as necessary in order to carry out the purposes of this article;
   3. Each licensee or person subject to this article shall make available to the department, upon request, any books and records relating to the activities of cashing payment instruments;
   4. No licensee or person subject to investigation or examination under this article shall knowingly withhold, abstract, remove, mutilate, destroy, or secrete any books, records, documents, files, computer records, evidence, or other information; and
   5. In order to carry out the purposes of this Code section, the department may:
      1. Enter into agreements or relationships with other government officials or regulatory associations in order to improve efficiencies and reduce regulatory burden by sharing resources, documents, records, information, or evidence or by utilizing standardized or uniform methods or procedures;
      2. Accept and rely on examination or investigation reports made by other government officials within or outside this state; and
      3. Accept audit reports or portions of audit reports made by an independent certified public accountant on behalf of the licensee or person subject to this article covering the same general subject matter as the audit and may incorporate the audit report in the report of examination, report of investigation, or other writing of the department.
7. Each licensee shall pay an examination fee as established by the rules and regulations of the department to cover the cost of an examination or investigation.
8. The department, in its discretion, may:
   1. Make such public or private examination or investigation within or outside of this state as it deems necessary to determine whether any person has violated this article, any rule or regulation, or order issued under this article, to aid in the enforcement of this article, or to assist in the prescribing of rules and regulations pursuant to this article;
   2. Require or permit any person to file a statement in writing, under oath or otherwise, as to all the facts and circumstances concerning the matter to be investigated;
   3. Request any financial data from an applicant or licensee; and
   4. Conduct an on-site examination of a licensee at any location of the licensee without prior notice to the licensee.
9. For the purpose of conducting any examination or investigation as provided in this Code section, the department shall have the power to administer oaths, to call any party to testify under oath in the course of such examinations or investigations, to require the attendance of witnesses, to require the production of books, accounts, records, documents, and papers, and to take the depositions of witnesses; and for such purposes the department is authorized to issue a subpoena for any witness or for the production of documentary evidence. Such subpoenas may be served by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, to the addressee's business mailing address or by examiners appointed by the department or shall be directed for service to the sheriff of the county where such witness resides or is found or where the person in custody of any books, accounts, records, documents, or papers resides or is found.
10. The department may issue and apply to enforce subpoenas in this state at the request of any government agency, department, organization, or entity regulating cashing payment instruments in another state if the activities constituting the alleged violation for which the information is sought would be a violation of this article if the alleged activities had occurred in this state.
11. In case of refusal to obey a subpoena issued under this article to any person, a superior court of appropriate jurisdiction, upon application by the department, may issue to the person an order requiring him or her to appear before the court to show cause why he or she should not be held in contempt for refusal to obey the subpoena. Failure to obey a subpoena may be punished as contempt by the court.
12. Examinations and investigations conducted under this article and information obtained by the department in the course of its duties under this article are confidential, except as provided in this subsection, pursuant to the provisions of Code Section 7-1-70. In addition to the exceptions set forth in subsection (b) of Code Section 7-1-70, the department is authorized to share information obtained under this article with other state and federal regulatory agencies or law enforcement authorities. In the case of such sharing, the safeguards to confidentiality already in place within such agencies or authorities shall be deemed adequate. The commissioner or an examiner specifically designated may disclose such information as is necessary to conduct a civil or administrative investigation or proceeding. Information contained in the records of the department that is not confidential and may be made available to the public either on the department's website, upon receipt by the department of a written request, or in the Nation-wide Multistate Licensing System and Registry shall include:
    1. The name, business address, and telephone, facsimile, and license numbers of a licensee;
    2. The names and titles of the principal officers;
    3. The name of the owner or owners thereof;
    4. The business address of a licensee's registered agent for service;
    5. The name, business address, telephone number, and facsimile number of all locations of a licensee;
    6. The terms of or a copy of any bond filed by a licensee;
    7. Information concerning any violation of this article, any rule or regulation, or order issued under this article, provided that the information is derived from a final order of the department; and
    8. Imposition of an administrative fine or penalty under this article.
13. The authority to conduct an examination or investigation as provided for in this Code section shall remain in effect whether such licensee or person acts or claims to act under any licensing or registration law of this state or claims to act without such authority.
14. In the absence of malice, fraud, or bad faith, a person is not subject to civil liability arising out of furnishing the department with information required by this article or required by the department under the authority granted in this article. No civil cause of action of any nature shall arise against such person:
    1. For any information relating to suspected prohibited conduct furnished to or received from law enforcement officials, their agents, or employees or to or from other regulatory or licensing authorities;
    2. For any such information furnished to or received from other persons subject to the provisions of this article; or
    3. For any information furnished in complaints filed with the department.
15. The commissioner or any employee or agent of the department shall not be subject to civil liability, and no civil cause of action of any nature shall exist against such persons arising out of the performance of activities or duties under this article or by publication of any report of activities under this Code section.

(Code 1981, §7-1-706, enacted by Ga. L. 2014, p. 251, § 2/HB 982; Ga. L. 2015, p. 5, § 7/HB 90; Ga. L. 2018, p. 214, § 23/HB 780.)

The 2015 amendment, effective March 13, 2015, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "facsimile" for "fax" in paragraphs (l)(1) and (l)(5).

The 2018 amendment, effective May 3, 2018, in the last sentence of the introductory paragraph of subsection (l), substituted "website, upon" for "website or upon" and inserted ", or in the Nation-wide Multistate Licensing System and Registry" near the end. See Editor's notes for applicability.