9. Capital Of National Banks

The required capital of a national bank depends on the population of the town or city in which it is located.

The Comptroller of the Currency should be promptly notified of the intention to organize a national bank. The notification must be signed by not less than five prospective owners of stock, and state the name of the association, the location, the capital and the population of the city or town where the bank is to be located.

When the title selected by the organizers has been approved by the Comptroller, he forwards blank organization papers for execution. The forms required are as follows:

Articles of association.

Organization certificate.

Oaths of directors.

Certificate as to payment on capital stock.

Order for circulation.

Signatures of officers.

10. Form Of Articles Of Association

The Comptroller furnishes the following form, which may be varied to suit the views of the organizers, provided the alteration or amendment does not conflict with the National Bank Act:

Articles Of Association

For the purpose of organizing an association to carry on the business of banking, under the laws of the United States, the undersigned subscribers for the stock of the association hereinafter named do enter into the following articles of association:

First, The name and title of this association shall be "The................................"

Second. The place where its banking house or office shall be located and its operations of discount and deposit carried on and its general business conducted shall be................

Third. The board of directors shall consist of......shareholders. The first meeting of the shareholders for the election of directors shall be held at......., on the......., or at such other place and time as a majority of the undersigned shareholders may direct.

Fourth. The regular annual meetings of the shareholders for the election of directors shall be held at the banking house of this association on the second Tuesday of January of each year; but if no election shall be held on that day it may be held on any other day, according to the provisions of section 5149 of the Revised Statutes of the United States; and all elections shall be held according to such regulations as may be prescribed by the board of directors, and not inconsistent with the provi-sions of the National Banking Law and of these articles.

Fifth. The capital stock of this association shall be.......

thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each; but the capital may, with the approval of the Comp troller of the Currency, be increased at any time by shareholders owning two-thirds of the stock, according to the provisions of an act of Congress approved May 1, 1886; and in case of the increase of the capital of the association, each shareholder shall have the privilege of subscribing for such number of shares of the proposed increase of the capital stock as he may be entitled to according to the number of shares owned by him before the stock is increased.

Sixth. The board of directors, a majority of whom shall be a quorum to do business, shall elect one of its members president of this association, who shall hold his office (unless he shall be disqualified, or be sooner removed by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the board), for the term for which he was elected a director; the directors shall have power to elect a vice-president, who shall also be a member of the board of directors, and who shall be authorized, in the absence or inability of the president from any cause to perform all acts and duties pertaining to the office of president except such as the president only is authorized by law to perform; and to elect or appoint a cashier and such other officers and clerks as may be required to transact the business of the association, to fix the salaries to be paid to them, and continue them in office, or to dismiss them, as in the opinion of a majority of the board the interests of the association may-demand.

The directors shall have power to define the duties of the officers and clerks of the association, to require bonds from them and to fix the penalty thereof; to regulate the manner in which elections of directors shall be held, and to appoint judges of the election; to make all by-laws that it may be proper for them to make, not inconsistent with the law, for the general regulation of the business of the association and the management of its affairs; and, generally, to do and perform all acts that it may be legal for a board of directors to do and perform, under the Revised Statutes aforesaid.

Seventh, This association shall continue for the period of twenty years from the date of the execution of its organization certificate, unless sooner placed in voluntary liquidation by the act of the shareholders owning at least two-thirds of its stock, or otherwise dissolved by authority of law.

Eighth, These articles of association may be changed or amended at any time by shareholders owning a majority of the stock of the association in any manner not inconsistent with law; and the board of directors, or any three shareholders, may call a meeting of the shareholders for this or any other purpose, not inconsistent with law, by publishing notice thereof for thirty days in a newspaper published in the town, city or county where the bank is located, or by mailing to each shareholder notice in writing thirty days before the time fixed for the meeting.

In Witness Whereof we have hereunto set our hands this... .. .day of.........., nineteen hundred and.....

(Signatures of corporators, and there must be at least five.)