Title 12 › Chapter 46— GOVERNMENT SPONSORED ENTERPRISES › Subchapter II— REQUIRED CAPITAL LEVELS FOR REGULATED ENTITIES, SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT POWERS, AND REVIEWS OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES › § 4617
The Director may put a troubled regulated financial firm under the control of the Agency either to try to fix it (as a conservator) or to close it down and sell its assets (as a receiver). The Director can do this when the firm’s assets are less than what it owes, when its assets are being lost through illegal or unsafe practices, when it cannot pay debts, when it hides or refuses to show records, when it willfully breaks a final cease-and-desist order, when it has big losses or is undercapitalized or critically undercapitalized (as defined in other rules), when the firm agrees, or when the Attorney General says the firm was convicted under 18 U.S.C. 1956 or 1957 or 31 U.S.C. 5322 or 5324. If a firm becomes critically undercapitalized, the Director must check in writing within 30 days and then at least every 30 days whether it meets certain insolvency tests. The firm can go to federal court within 30 days to ask the Agency to step down. When the Agency takes control it gets the firm’s rights, records, and assets. The Agency can run the business, collect money, preserve or sell assets, reject or keep contracts, hire help, and create a temporary “limited-life” entity to carry on parts of the business. The Agency must notify creditors and publish a claims notice (with at least 90 days to file). It must decide claims within 180 days unless extended by agreement, and claimants have 60 days after a disallowance to sue. The Agency can avoid transfers made within 5 years to hinder or defraud the firm. Lawsuits may be paused for 45 days for a conservator or 90 days for a receiver. The receiver pays expenses first, then general creditors, then subordinated claims, and shareholders last. Special rules protect certain financial contracts and security interests and forbid “walkaway” clauses. The Agency is not under other agencies’ control, must make annual accountings and may destroy records 6 years after a case ends, and its total liability to a claimant is limited to what that claimant would have received if the Agency had simply liquidated the firm without using the special transfer powers. Directors and officers can be sued by the Agency for gross negligence. The receiver cannot revoke an enterprise’s charter.
Full Legal Text
Banks and Banking — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
12 U.S.C. § 4617
Title 12 — Banks and Banking
Last Updated
Apr 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60