§60. Dividends

(a) Periodic declaration; surplus fund

The directors of any national banking association may, quarterly, semiannually or annually, declare a dividend of so much of the undivided profits of the association, subject to the limitations in subsection (b) of this section, as they shall judge expedient, except that until the surplus fund of such association shall equal its common capital, no dividends shall be declared unless there has been carried to the surplus fund not less than one-tenth part of the association's net income of the preceding half year in the case of quarterly or semiannual dividends, or not less than one-tenth part of its net income of the preceding two consecutive half-year periods in the case of annual dividends: Provided, That for the purposes of this section, any amounts paid into a fund for the retirement of any preferred stock of any such association out of its net income for such period or periods shall be deemed to be additions to its surplus fund if, upon the retirement of such preferred stock, the amounts so paid into such retirement fund may then properly be carried to surplus. In any such case the association shall be obligated to transfer to surplus the amounts so paid into such retirement fund on account of the preferred stock as such stock is retired.

(b) Approval of Comptroller

The approval of the Comptroller of the Currency shall be required if the total of all dividends declared by such association in any calendar year shall exceed the total of its net income of that year combined with its retained net income of the preceding two years, less any required transfers to surplus or a fund for the retirement of any preferred stock.

(R.S. §5199; Aug. 23, 1935, ch. 614, title III, §315, 49 Stat. 712 ; Pub. L. 86–230, §21(a), Sept. 8, 1959, 73 Stat. 465 ; Pub. L. 103–325, title VI, §602(h)(2), Sept. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 2294 .)

Codification

R.S. §5199 derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, §33, 13 Stat. 109 , which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this title.

Amendments

1994-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–325, §602(h)(2)(A), (B), substituted "undivided profits of the association, subject to the limitations in subsection (b) of this section," for "net profits of the association" in first sentence and "net income" for "net profits" wherever subsequently appearing.

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–325, §602(h)(2)(B), substituted "net income" for "net profits" in two places.

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–325, §602(h)(2)(C), struck out subsec. (c) which read as follows: "For the purpose of this section the term 'net profits' shall mean the remainder of all earnings from current operations plus actual recoveries on loans and investments and other assets, after deducting from the total thereof all current operating expenses, actual losses, accrued dividends on preferred stock, if any, and all Federal and State taxes."

1959-Pub. L. 86–230 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), authorized the declaration of dividends, quarterly and annually, when at least one-tenth of the bank's net profits of the preceding half year or of the preceding two consecutive half-year periods has been carried to the surplus fund, respectively, and added subsecs. (b) and (c).

1935-Act Aug. 23, 1935, among other changes, inserted proviso.

Cross References

Dividends on preferred stock, see section 51b of this title.

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in section 324 of this title.