§51b Dividends, Voting, and Retirement of Preferred Stock; Individual Liability

Summary

Preferred stockholders must receive cumulative dividends and may have voting, conversion, management control, and retirement terms if those terms are in the association’s articles and approved by the Comptroller of the Currency. Preferred holders are not personally responsible for the association’s debts or for capital-restoring assessments that can apply to common stockholders. No dividends can be paid on common stock until all cumulative dividends on the preferred stock are fully paid. If the association is liquidated or a conservator or receiver is appointed, common holders get nothing until preferred holders have been paid the par value of their stock plus all accumulated dividends.