§52 Par Value and Incidents of Stock; Transfer of Shares

Summary

Divide an association’s capital into shares of $100 each, unless the articles allow smaller shares. Shares are personal property and can be moved on the association’s books in the way the bylaws or articles say. A person who receives shares by transfer gets the same rights and takes the same responsibilities, in proportion to those shares, as the prior owner. The articles cannot be changed to cut the rights or security of the association’s current creditors. Stock certificates 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 are multiple classes—their rights and limits (or a reference to where they are written). Certificates must be signed by the president and cashier (or other officers named in the bylaws) and have the association’s seal. Such certificates may not claim to represent stock of another corporation or be made transferable only with another corporation’s certificate, except for a member bank or a corporation that held the bank’s premises on June 16, 1934. This does not stop conditioning the sale of another corporation’s stock on owning stock of a national bank.