Section 7-1-622. Provisions applicable to interstate acquisitions or mergers by bank holding companies; eligibility of applicants; commissioner's ruling required

   (a) A bank holding company may acquire a bank in Georgia, and a bank holding company having its principal place of business in this state may acquire a bank having banking offices in another state, upon compliance with the provisions of Code Sections 7-1-605 through 7-1-612 and in particular Code Section 7-1-606, which provisions shall be expressly applicable to any such acquisition. Compliance with all applicable regulations, payment of applicable fees, and registration of the holding company shall be required. The restrictions of this Code section shall apply.

(b) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (a) of this Code section and subject to the permitted acquisitions of subsection (b) of Code Section 7-1-608, no bank or bank holding company may:

   (1) Directly or indirectly acquire a Georgia bank unless such bank has been in existence and continuously operated or incorporated as a bank for a period of three years or more prior to the date of acquisition. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing shall prohibit an out-of-state bank holding company from acquiring all or substantially all of the shares of a Georgia bank organized solely for the purpose of facilitating the acquisition of a bank which has been in existence and continuously operated as a bank for the requisite three-year period; or

   (2) Directly or indirectly acquire a bank having banking offices in Georgia if:

      (A) Immediately before the consummation of the acquisition for which an application is filed, the applicant (including any insured depository institution affiliate of the applicant) controls any insured depository institution or any branch of an insured depository institution in this state; and

      (B) The applicant (including all insured depository institutions which are affiliates of the applicant), upon consummation of the acquisition, would control 30 percent or more of the total amount of deposits of insured depository institutions in this state. The commissioner may by regulation adopt a procedure whereby the foregoing limitations on concentration of deposits may be waived upon showing of good cause. This restriction shall not apply, in the discretion of the commissioner, to transactions complying with paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Code Section 7-1-623.

(c) The commissioner must rule on any application seeking approval to engage in a transaction under this Code section not later than 90 days following the date of submission of a completed application seeking such approval. If the commissioner decides to hold a public hearing in connection with the application, the time limit specified may be extended to 30 days after the conclusion of the hearing. If the commissioner fails to rule on the application within the requisite period, the proposed transaction shall stand approved.

(d) If any acquisition involves or takes the form of an interstate merger transaction, the banks involved must comply with filing and other requirements in Part 20 of this article in addition to subsection (b) of this Code section.

(e) This part is not intended to discriminate against out-of-state bank holding companies or against foreign bank holding companies in any manner that would violate Section 3(d) of the Bank Holding Company Act, as amended by the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994.

Code 1981, § 7-1-621, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1467, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 215, § 2; Code 1981, § 7-1-622, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1996, p. 279, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 485, § 22; Ga. L. 1999, p. 674, § 19; Ga. L. 2002, p. 670, § 2.