§52 Par value and incidents of stock; transfer of shares

Summary

An association must divide its capital into shares of $100 each, or into smaller shares if its articles allow. Shares are personal property and can be moved on the association’s records in the way the bylaws or articles say. A person who gets shares by transfer takes on the same rights and duties tied to those shares in proportion to how many they own. The articles cannot be changed to weaken the rights or security of the association’s current creditors. Any share certificate issued after August 23, 1935 must show the association’s name and location, the holder’s name, the number and class of shares, and, if there is more than one class, the rights and limits for each class or a reference to the articles. Each certificate must be signed by the president and cashier (or other officers the bylaws allow) and sealed. After August 23, 1935 a certificate cannot claim to represent stock of another company, nor can its sale or transfer be tied to owning a certificate of another company, except for a member bank or a company that was holding the bank premises on June 16, 1934. That exception does not stop another company from conditioning its stock on owning a national banking association’s certificate.