Places of transacting business; branches; facilities.

(1) Any bank or trust company heretofore or hereafter incorporated pursuant to this chapter shall have one main office, which shall be located within the state.

(2)(a) In addition, with the approval of the office and upon such conditions as the commission or office prescribes, any state bank or trust company may establish branches or relocate offices within or outside the state. With the approval of the office upon a determination that the resulting bank or trust company will be of sound financial condition, any bank or trust company incorporated pursuant to this chapter may establish branches by merger with any other bank or trust company.

(b) As provided by commission rules, a financial institution operating in a safe and sound manner may establish or relocate an office by filing a written notice with the office at least 30 days before opening or relocating that office, without filing an application or paying an application fee. The notification must specify the name and location of the office and effective date of the change. The relocation of a main office to a location outside this state must be by application only.

(c) Applications filed pursuant to this subsection need not be published in the Florida Administrative Register, but shall otherwise be subject to chapter 120.

(d) An application to establish a branch by a bank that is ineligible for branch notification shall be in writing in such form as the commission prescribes and be supported by such information, data, and records as the commission or office may require to make findings necessary for approval. Upon the filing of an application and a nonrefundable filing fee for the establishment of any branch permitted by paragraph (a), the office shall investigate and consider the following:

1. The sufficiency of capital accounts in relation to the deposit liabilities of the bank, or in relation to the number and valuation of fiduciary accounts of the trust company, including the proposed branch, and the additional fixed assets, if any, which are proposed for the branch and its operations, without undue risk to the bank or its depositors, or undue risk to the trust company or its fiduciary accounts;

2. The sufficiency of earnings and earning prospects of the bank or trust company to support the anticipated expenses and any anticipated operating losses of the branch during its formative or initial years;

3. The sufficiency and quality of management available to operate the branch;

4. The name of the proposed branch to determine if it reasonably identifies the branch as a branch of the main office and is not likely to unduly confuse the public; and

5. Substantial compliance by the applicants with applicable law governing their operations.

(e) A state bank that is not eligible for notification of a branch relocation must file an application in the form required by the commission. Upon the filing of a relocation application and a nonrefundable filing fee, the office shall investigate to determine whether the financial institution has substantially complied with applicable law governing its operations. Additional investments in land, buildings, leases, and leasehold improvements resulting from such relocation must comply with the limitations imposed by s. 658.67(7)(a). A main office may not be moved outside this state unless the move is expressly authorized by the financial institutions codes or by federal law. A financial institution that has been in operation for less than 24 months must provide evidence that the criteria of s. 658.21(1) will be met.

(f) A branch office may be closed with 30 days’ prior written notice to the office. The notice shall include any information the commission prescribes by rule.

(3) With prior written notification to the office, any bank may operate facilities which are not physically connected to the main or branch office of the bank, provided that the facilities are situated on the property of the main or branch office or property contiguous thereto. Property which is separated from the main or branch office of a bank by only a street, and one or more walkways and alleyways are determined to be, for purposes of this subsection, contiguous to the property of the main or branch office.

(4) A bank may provide, directly or through a contract with another company, off-premises armored car service to its customers. Armored car services shall not be considered a branch for the purposes of subsection (2).

(5)(a) Any state bank that is a subsidiary of a bank holding company may agree to receive deposits, renew time deposits, close loans, service loans, and receive payments on loans and other obligations, as an agent for an affiliated depository institution.

(b) The term “close loan” does not include the making of a decision to extend credit or the extension of credit.

(c) As used in this section, “receive deposits” means the taking of deposits to be credited to an existing account and does not include the opening or origination of new deposit accounts at an affiliated institution by the agent institution.

(d) Under this section, affiliated banks may act as agents for one another regardless of whether the institutions are located in the same or different states. This section applies solely to affiliated depository institutions acting as agents, and has no application to agency relationships concerning nondepositories as agent, whether or not affiliated with the depository institution.

(e) In addition, under this section, agent banks may perform ministerial functions for the principal bank making a loan. Ministerial functions include, but are not limited to, such activities as providing loan applications, assembling documents, providing a location for returning documents necessary for making the loan, providing loan account information, and receiving payments. It does not include such loan functions as evaluating applications or disbursing loan funds.