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Title 12, Banks and BankingRelease 119-102

§181 Voluntary Dissolution; Appointment and Removal of Liquidating Agent or Committee; Examination

Title 12 › CHAPTER 2 — NATIONAL BANKS › SUBCHAPTER XII — VOLUNTARY DISSOLUTION › § 181

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Shareholders who own two-thirds of a bank’s stock can vote to close (liquidate) the bank. If the plan sells assets and another bank takes on its deposits, that sale also needs two-thirds approval unless the Comptroller of the Currency waives it in an emergency. Shareholders pick one or more people to run the liquidation; the board must supervise them and require a bond. Those liquidators must report each year to the Comptroller on the 31st day of December and to shareholders at the annual meeting; a majority of the stock can remove or replace them at that meeting or at a special meeting. The Comptroller may examine the bank until all creditors are paid, and the bank pays the exam costs the same way as under subchapter XV of chapter 3 of this title.

Full Legal Text

Title 12, §181

Banks and Banking, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Any association may go into liquidation and be closed by the vote of its shareholders owning two-thirds of its stock. If the liquidation is to be effected in whole or in part through the sale of any of its assets to and the assumption of its deposit liabilities by another bank, the purchase and sale agreement must also be approved by its shareholders owning two-thirds of its stock unless an emergency exists and the Comptroller of the Currency specifically waives such requirement for shareholder approval. The shareholders shall designate one or more persons to act as liquidating agent or committee, who shall conduct the liquidation in accordance with law and under the supervision of the board of directors, who shall require a suitable bond to be given by said agent or committee. The liquidating agent or committee shall render annual reports to the Comptroller of the Currency on the 31st day of December of each year showing the progress of said liquidation until the same is completed. The liquidating agent or committee shall also make an annual report to a meeting of the shareholders to be held on the date fixed in the articles of association for the annual meeting, at which meeting the shareholders may, if they see fit, by a vote representing a majority of the entire stock of the bank, remove the liquidating agent or committee and appoint one or more others in place thereof. A special meeting of the shareholders may be called at any time in the same manner as if the bank continued an active bank and at said meeting the shareholders may, by vote of the majority of the stock, remove the liquidating agent or committee. The Comptroller of the Currency is authorized to have an examination made at any time into the affairs of the liquidating bank until the claims of all creditors have been satisfied, and the expense of making such examinations shall be assessed against such bank in the same manner as in the case of examinations made pursuant to subchapter XV of chapter 3 of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Subchapter XV [§ 481 et seq.] of chapter 3 of this title, referred to in second par., was in the original a reference to section 5240 of the Revised Statutes. Codification R.S. § 5220 derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, § 42, 13 Stat. 112, which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this title.

Amendments

1959—Pub. L. 86–230 required shareholder approval of purchase and sale agreement where there is liquidation of a bank effected through sale of its assets and assumption of deposit liabilities and authorized waiver of such requirement in an emergency. 1935—Act Aug. 23, 1935, added second par.

Executive Documents

Exception as to

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 note set out under section 1 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

12 U.S.C. § 181

Title 12, Banks and Banking

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102