ENROLLED

H. B. 2441


(By Delegate R. M. Thompson, Perry and G. White)


[Passed March 6, 2003; in effect ninety days from passage.]




AN ACT to amend and reenact section three, article four, chapter thirty-one-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the minimum capital stock; and raising the minimum subscribed capital stock and surplus required for a new bank charter.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article four, chapter thirty-one-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. BANKING INSTITUTIONS AND SERVICES GENERALLY.
§31A-4-3. Minimum capital stock; one class of stock; par value; capitalization of surplus.

(a) No banking institution may hereafter be incorporated unless it shall have bona fide subscribed capital stock and capital surplus equal to at least four million dollars. The West Virginia board of banking and financial institutions shall require capital in excess of four million dollars if, in its judgment, economic conditions or the operating environment of the proposed banking institution, make such a requirement necessary.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (a) above, the commissioner or the West Virginia board of banking and financial institutions may approve the incorporation of a bank newly organized solely for the purpose of facilitating the acquisition of another bank if the proposed newly organized bank has a bona fide subscribed capital stock and capital surplus of at least sixty thousand dollars.
(c) Banking institutions shall issue but one class of stock and the shares shall have a nominal or par value of not less than one dollar nor more than one hundred dollars each, and as to each banking institution each share shall be equal in all respects with any other share.
(d) Any banking institution may change the par value of its shares, when and to the extent that any such action may be authorized in writing by the commissioner.