2011 Idaho Code
TITLE 26 BANKS AND BANKING
CHAPTER 2 ORGANIZATION AND CORPORATION POWERS OF BANKS
26-202 AUTHORIZATION NECESSARY TO DO BUSINESS.

26-202. Authorization necessary to do business. It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in or transact any banking business in this state except by means of a corporation duly organized for that purpose and chartered under the bank act. Corporations organized to engage in and transact banking business shall be formed by five (5) or more natural persons under the general business corporation laws of this state and as provided in the bank act.

Except as specifically authorized by other laws of the state of Idaho, no person except a national bank shall engage in or transact any banking business except as is incidental or necessarily preliminary to its organization without the written approval of the director and without his written charter stating that it has complied with the provisions of the bank act and all of the requirements of law and that it is authorized to transact banking business within the state. To obtain a charter the incorporators shall file with the director the following information:

(a) five (5) copies of its articles of incorporation,

(b) satisfactory proof of compliance with section 26-204, Idaho Code,

(c) the names and addresses of its officers and directors,

(d) the names and addresses of all subscribers to its common stock and the amounts subscribed by each,

(e) the oath of each and every director as provided in section 26-213, Idaho Code,

(f) the affidavit of its directors to the effect that said corporation has complied with all the provisions of the bank act required to authorize it to commence business, and

(g) such other information as the director may require in the form required by the director.

Upon filing of the foregoing, it shall be the duty of the department to examine and investigate into the condition of the corporation, ascertaining whether or not the capital has been paid in and whether the corporation has complied with all the provisions of the law required to entitle it to engage in the business of banking. The department shall also ascertain from the best sources of information at its command whether the character and general fitness of the persons named as subscribers and officers and directors are such that the bank may be operated in a safe, prudent and profitable manner and as to command the confidence of the community in which such bank is proposed to be located. The department shall collect a fee on demand from the corporation which fee shall not be less than one hundred fifty dollars ($150) or more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) based upon the cost of such examination and investigation. If upon such examination, and investigation, it appears that the corporation is lawfully entitled to commence banking business, and the directors and officers are competent to engage in banking business, and its subscribers are such as to command the confidence of the community, and if, in the opinion of the director the organization of the bank is justified, the director shall forthwith issue to the corporation a bank charter, under official seal.

If the director has reason to believe that the corporation has been formed for any other business than the legitimate banking business contemplated by the bank act or that the subscribers, officers and directors will not operate the bank in a safe, prudent and profitable manner, or that the bank will not have qualified experienced management with experience commensurate with the area where the bank is proposed to be located, he shall withhold such charter, and he may withhold the issuance of such charter to a corporation seeking to engage in banking business in an area which in his judgment does not justify or warrant a new or additional bank or could not support a profitable banking corporation.

No unit bank hereafter organized shall be permitted to be acquired for the purpose of establishing a branch banking office or a branch bank until it shall have been in operation as a unit bank for a period of five (5) years.