Chap. 39.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 13 and 26 of an act entitled
an act to revise, collate and codify into one act the general statutes of the
Commonwealth relating to banks and banking, which act shall constitute and
be designated and cited as the Virginia banking act, and to repeal all Code
sections and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent therewith, and to provide
penalties for violations thereof, approved March 27, 1928, and to add a new
section to said act to be numbered section 7-a, authorizing State banks to
subscribe for and hold stock in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a
corporation created by an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled
an act to provide for the safer and more effective use of the assets of banks,
to regulate interbank control, to prevent the undue diversion of funds into
speculative operations, and for other purposes, approved June 16, 1933, and
known as the “Banking Act of 1933,” and vesting State banks with all
powers conferred by the said act upon State banks which shall become stock-
holders of the said corporation. [H. B. 38]

Approved September 11, 1933

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
thirteen and twenty-six of an act entitled an act to revise, collate and
codify into one act the general statutes of the Commonwealth relating
to banks and banking, which act shall constitute and be designated and
cited as the Virginia banking act, and to repeal all Code sections and
all acts and parts of acts inconsistent therewith, and to provide penal-
ties for violations thereof, approved March twenty-seventh, nineteen
hundred and twenty-eight, and to add a new section to said act to be
numbered section seven-a, which sections as so amended and the section
to be so added, shall read as follows: ,

Section 7-a. Any bank heretofore or hereafter incorporated under
the laws of this State may, if it so elects, subscribe for and hold stock
in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a corporation created
by an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled an act to pro-
vide for the safer and more effective use of the assets of banks, to
regulate inter-bank control, to prevent the undue diversion of funds
into speculative operations and for other purposes, approved June six-
teenth, nineteen hundred and thirty-three, and known as the “Banking
Act of nineteen hundred and thirty-three,” and shall, upon becoming a
stockholder of said corporation, be vested with all powers conferred by
said act and any amendment thereof upon State banks which shall be-
come stockholders of the said corporation, which powers shall be exer-
cised subject to all restrictions and limitations imposed upon such
banks by the said act and any amendment thereof.

Section 13. No bank or trust company heretofore or hereafter in-
corporated under the laws of this State shall be authorized to engage
in business in more than one place, except that, (a) in its discretion
the State Corporation Commission may authorize banks having a paid-
up and unimpaired capital and surplus of fifty thousand dollars or over
to establish branches within the limits of the city, town, or village in
which the parent bank is located.

‘ (b) The State Corporation Commission may, in its discretion, also
authorize banks located in any city to establish branches within other
cities having a population of not less than fifty thousand inhabitants.

(c) This section shall not be construed to prohibit the merger of
banks in the same or adjoining counties or of banks located within a
distance of twenty-five miles of a parent bank and the operation by
the merged company, of such banks, nor to prohibit the sale of any
bank to, and the purchase thereof by, any other bank in the same or
adjoining counties or within a distance of twenty-five miles and the
operation of such banks by the purchasing bank, provided the approval
of the State Corporation Commission is first had. The term “adjoining
counties,’ where more than two are involved, shall be construed to
mean counties each of which shall adjoin the county in which the parent
bank is located.

(d) This section, however, shall not apply to branch banks already
established.

(e) No branch bank heretofore or hereafter established shall be
operated or advertised under any other name than that of the identical
name of the home bank, unless permission be first had and obtained
from the State Corporation Commission, and unless such different name
shall contain or have added thereto language clearly indicating that it
is a branch bank and of which bank it is a branch.
Any bank or trust company violating the provisions of this section
shall be liable to a fine of one thousand dollars, to be imposed and judg-
ment entered therefor by the State Corporation Commission, and en-
forced by its process. |

Section 26. It shall be hereafter unlawful for any bank as defined
by sections one and two of this act, to pay, allow, give or grant interest,
or its equivalent, directly or indirectly, or by any guise or device what-
ever on savings deposits or other deposits, certificates of deposit or
any similar security issued in lieu of a deposit by a bank at a rate of
interest greater than four per centum per annum; provided, however,
such rate of interest shall at no time exceed the rate of interest which
the Federal Reserve Board may authorize to be paid by member banks
of the Federal Reserve System.

Any contract for a greater rate made after the passage of this act
shall be void and unenforceable. The members of the board of direc-
tors of any bank violating this act shall be personally liable, jointly and
severally to any person or persons who shall have been prejudiced or
who shall have lost through the payment of interest, as aforesaid, in
excess of four per centum to the extent of such loss or prejudice.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its passage.