Title 12 — Banks and BankingRelease 119-73
§197 Shareholders’ meeting; continuance of receivership; appointment of agent; winding up business; distribution of assets
Title 12 › Chapter CHAPTER 2— - NATIONAL BANKS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER XIII— - RECEIVERSHIP › § 197
Summary
When a national bank is put in receivership and all proven creditors and the receivership costs have been paid, the Comptroller of the Currency or the FDIC must give 30 days’ notice in the local (or nearest) newspaper and call a meeting of the bank’s shareholders. Shareholders vote by ballot, in person or by proxy, with each share counting as one vote. If a majority of the shares vote to keep the receiver, the receiver keeps winding up the bank’s affairs with the same powers and duties. If a majority votes to elect an agent instead, the meeting elects the agent by the same vote rules. The agent must post a court‑approved bond (in the amount set by the shareholders and with surety approved by the federal district court) and file it with the court clerk. After that, the Comptroller and receiver or the FDIC must transfer the remaining assets to the agent and, once they do, they are released from liability to the bank, its creditors, and its shareholders. The agent then controls and sells the remaining assets for the shareholders’ benefit. The agent may sue or be sued and may settle debts with the district court’s approval. At the end, the agent must give the court a full accounting and can be discharged by the court. If the agent dies, resigns, or is removed, shareholders can call another meeting with 30 days’ notice to elect a new agent who must give the same bond. Executors, guardians, and trustees may vote for those they represent. Any money left is paid first for trust expenses, second to repay shareholder payments made because of Comptroller-ordered assessments, and then the balance is paid out proportionally by number of shares as money becomes available.
Full Legal Text
Title 12, §197
Banks and Banking — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Whenever any national banking association shall have been or shall be placed in the hands of a receiver, as provided in section fifty-two hundred and thirty-four [12 U.S.C. 192] and other sections of the Revised Statutes of the United States and section 1821(c) of this title, and when, as provided in section 194 of this title, there has been paid to each and every creditor of such association whose claim or claims as such creditor shall have been proved or allowed as therein prescribed, the full amount of such claims, and all expenses of the receivership, the Comptroller of the Currency or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where that Corporation has been appointed receiver of the bank, shall call a meeting of the shareholders of the association by giving notice thereof for thirty days in a newspaper published in the town, city, or county where the business of the association was carried on, or if no newspaper is there published, in the newspaper published nearest thereto. At such meeting the shareholders shall determine whether the receiver shall be continued and shall wind up the affairs of the association, or whether an agent shall be elected for that purpose, and in so determining the shareholders shall vote by ballot, in person or by proxy, each share of stock entitling the holder to one vote, and the majority of the stock in number of shares shall be necessary to determine whether the receiver shall be continued, or whether an agent shall be elected. In case such majority shall determine that the receiver shall be continued, the receiver shall thereupon proceed with the execution of the trust, and shall sell, dispose of, or otherwise collect the assets of the association, and shall possess all the powers and authority, and be subject to all the duties and liabilities originally conferred or imposed upon such receiver so far as they remain applicable. In case such meeting shall, by the vote of a majority of the stock in number of shares, determine that an agent shall be elected, the meeting shall thereupon proceed to elect an agent, voting by ballot, in person or by proxy, each share of stock entitling the holder to one vote, and the person who shall receive votes representing at least a majority of stock in number of shares shall be declared the agent for the purposes hereinafter provided; and when such agent shall have executed a bond to the shareholders conditioned for the payment and discharge in full or, to the extent possible from the remaining assets of the association, of each and every claim that may thereafter be proved and allowed by and before a competent court and for the faithful performance of his duties, in the penalty fixed by the shareholders at such meeting, with a surety or sureties to be approved by the district court of the United States for the district where the business of the association was carried on, and shall have filed such bond in the office of the clerk of such court, the Comptroller and the receiver, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where that Corporation has been appointed receiver of the bank, shall thereupon transfer and deliver to such agent all the uncollected or other assets of the association then remaining in the hands or subject to the order and control of the Comptroller and such receiver, or either of them, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and for this purpose the Comptroller and such receiver, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as the case may be, are severally empowered and directed to execute any deed, assignment, transfer, or other instrument in writing that may be necessary and proper; and upon the execution and delivery of such instrument to such agent the Comptroller and such receiver or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shall by virtue of this Act be discharged from any and all liabilities to the association and to each and all the creditors and shareholders thereof.
(b)Upon receiving such deed, assignment, transfer, or other instrument the person elected such agent shall hold, control, and dispose of the assets and property of the association which he may receive under the terms hereof for the benefit of the shareholders of the association, and he may in his own name, or in the name of the association, sue and be sued and do all other lawful acts and things necessary to finally settle and distribute the assets and property in his hands, and may sell, compromise, or compound the debts due to the association, with the consent and approval of the district court of the United States for the district where the business of the association was carried on, and shall at the conclusion of his trust render to such district court a full account of all his proceedings, receipts, and expenditures as such agent, which court shall, upon due notice, settle and adjust such accounts and discharge such agent and sureties upon such bond. In case any such agent so elected shall die, resign, or be removed, any shareholder may call a meeting of the shareholders of the association in the town, city, or village where the business of the association was carried on, by giving notice thereof for thirty days in a newspaper published in such town, city, or village, or if no newspaper is there published, in the newspaper published nearest thereto, at which meeting the shareholders shall elect an agent, voting by ballot, in person or by proxy, each share of stock entitling the holder to one vote, and when such agent shall have received votes representing at least a majority of the stock in number of shares, and shall have executed a bond to the shareholders conditioned for the payment and discharge in full or, to the extent possible from the remaining assets of the association, of each and every claim that may thereafter be proved and allowed by and before a competent court and for the faithful performance of his duties, in the penalty fixed by the shareholders at such meeting, with a surety or sureties, to be approved by such court, and file such bond in the office of the clerk of that court, he shall have all the rights, powers, and duties of the agent first elected as hereinbefore provided. At any meeting held as hereinbefore provided administrators or executors of deceased shareholders may act and sign as the decedent might have done if living, and guardians of minors and trustees of other persons may so act and sign for their ward or wards or cestui que trust. The proceeds of the assets or property of any such association which may be undistributed at the time of such meeting or may be subsequently received shall be distributed as follows:First. To pay the expenses of the execution of the trust to the date of such payment. Second. To repay any amount or amounts which have been paid in by any shareholder or shareholders of the association upon and by reason of any and all assessments made upon the stock of the association by order of the Comptroller of the Currency in accordance with the provisions of the statutes of the United States. Third. To pay the balance ratably among such stockholders, in proportion to the number of shares held and owned by each. Such distribution shall be made from time to time as the proceeds shall be received and as shall be deemed advisable by the Comptroller of the Currency, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation if continued as receiver of the bank under subsection (a) of this section, or such agent, as the case may be.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
Section fifty-two hundred and thirty-four and other sections of the Revised Statutes of the United States, referred to in subsec. (a), are classified to section 192 of this title and other sections of the Code. See Tables. This Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act June 30, 1876, ch. 156, 19 Stat. 63, sections 1 to 4 of which are classified as a note under section 191 of this title and to section 191 of this title, this section, and section 55 of this title, respectively. section 5 of the Act, which was classified to section 424 of former Title 31, was repealed and reenacted as section 5153 of Title 31, Money and Finance, by Pub. L. 97–258, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 877.
Amendments
1959—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 86–230 designated former first par., less last sentence, as subsec. (a), and incorporated references to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation respecting receiverships under section 1821(c) of this title, convocation of shareholders, transfer of assets, execution of instruments and discharge from liability, omitted provision for deposit of money with the Treasurer of the United States for the redemption of the circulating notes of the association, and for the value of shares as a test to determine whether a majority vote has been cast in a stockholders’ meeting, required the windup agent to file a bond to the shareholders in an amount satisfactory to them with sureties approved by appropriate district court instead of a bond from the shareholders satisfactory to the Comptroller and to condition the bond to payment of proved claims to the extent possible from the remaining instead of payment of the claims in full, only. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 86–230 designated former last sentence of first par. and second par., as subsec. (b), and omitted provisions which related to refusal of agent to serve as a ground for the calling of an election of another agent, to the value of shares as a test to determine whether a majority vote has been cast in a stockholders’ meeting, required the bond of the windup agent to be conditioned for payment of proved claims to the extent possible from the remaining assets instead of payment of the claims in full, only, and provided for the distribution of the balance as shall be deemed advisable by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Transfer of Functions
Act Mar. 3, 1911, conferred upon the district courts all powers formerly vested in the former circuit courts. Application to District of ColumbiaProvisions of this section were made applicable to banks, etc., in the District of Columbia by act Mar. 4, 1933, ch. 274, § 4, 47 Stat. 1567.
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
Functions vested by any provision of law in Comptroller of the Currency, referred to in this section, not included in
Transfer of Functions
to Secretary of the Treasury, see Exception as to
Transfer of Functions
note set out under section 1 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
12 U.S.C. § 197
Title 12 — Banks and Banking
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73