N.Y. Banking Law § 369: Conditions precedent to issuing license; issuance and filing of license; posting license

§ 369. Conditions precedent to issuing license; issuance and filing of

license; posting license. 1. If the superintendent shall find that the

financial responsibility, experience, character, and general fitness of

the applicant, and of the members thereof if the applicant be a

co-partnership or association, and of the officers and directors thereof

if the applicant be a corporation, are such as to command the confidence

of the community and to warrant belief that the business will be

operated honestly, fairly, and efficiently within the purposes of this

article, and if the superintendent shall find that the granting of such

application will promote the convenience and advantage of the area in

which such business is to be conducted, and if the superintendent shall

find that the applicant has available for the operation of such business

for each location and for each mobile unit specified in the application

liquid assets of at least ten thousand dollars, the superintendent shall

thereupon execute a license in duplicate to permit the cashing of

checks, drafts and money orders in accordance with the provisions of

this article at the location or in the area specified in such

application. In finding whether the application will promote the

convenience and advantage to the public, the superintendent shall

determine whether there is a community need for a new licensee in the

proposed area to be served. No license shall be issued to an applicant

for a license, at a location to be licensed which is closer than one

thousand five hundred eighty-four feet (three-tenths of a mile) from an

existing licensee, except with the written consent of such existing

licensee or pursuant to subdivision three of section three hundred

seventy of this article, subject to any restriction or condition as the

superintendent may promulgate by regulation; provided, however, the

superintendent may permit a location to be licensed that is closer than

three-tenths of a mile from an existing licensee provided such applicant

engages in the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders only for payees

of such checks, drafts or money orders that are other than natural

persons at the location to be licensed and such applicant was engaged in

the cashing of such checks, drafts or money orders for payees that are

other than natural persons at such location on or before the fourteenth

day of July, two thousand four, and provided further that upon licensing

any such location by the superintendent, such license as it pertains

solely to such location shall not be affected thereafter by any change

of control of such license pursuant to section three hundred seventy-a

of this article, provided that the licensee continues thereafter to

engage at that location in the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders

only for payees that are other than natural persons and provided further

that such license shall bear a legend stating that such location is

restricted to the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders only for

payees that are other than natural persons. The three-tenths of a mile

distance requirement as set forth in this section shall not apply in

cases where the existing licensee is a restricted location as authorized

in the preceding sentence, or is any other licensed location that

engages solely in the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders only for

payees that are other than natural persons. For purposes of this

section, such distance shall be measured on a straight line along the

street between the nearest point of the store fronts of the check

cashing facilities. The primary business of the licensee, at the

location to be licensed, shall be financial services. The superintendent

shall transmit one copy of such license to the applicant and file

another in the office of the department. Notwithstanding the foregoing

provisions of this subdivision, the superintendent, upon application by

an applicant and for good cause shown, may permit a reduction from ten

thousand dollars to not less than five thousand dollars of minimum

liquid assets required for each location.

2. Such license shall state the name of the licensee; and if the

licensee is a co-partnership or association, the names of the members

thereof; and if the licensee is a corporation, the date of its

incorporation; and if the business is to be conducted at a specific

address, the address at which such business is to be conducted; and if

the business is to be conducted through the use of a mobile unit, the

New York state registration number or other identification of such

mobile unit and the area in which such mobile unit is authorized to do

business.

3. Such license shall be kept conspicuously posted in the place of

business of the licensee or, in the case of a mobile unit, upon such

mobile unit. Such license shall not be transferable or assignable.

4. Such license shall remain in full force and effect until it is

surrendered by the licensee or revoked or suspended as provided in this

article.

5. If the superintendent shall find that the applicant fails to meet

any of the conditions set forth in subdivision one of this section, he

shall not issue such license, and he shall notify the applicant of the

denial. If an application is denied or withdrawn, the superintendent

shall retain the investigation fee to cover the costs of investigating

the application and return the license fee to the applicant.

6. The superintendent may, consistent with article twenty-three-A of

the correction law, refuse to issue a license pursuant to this article

if he shall find that the applicant, or any person who is a director,

officer, partner, agent, employee or substantial stockholder of the

applicant, (a) has been convicted of a crime in any jurisdiction or (b)

is associating or consorting with any person who has, or persons who

have, been convicted of a crime or crimes in any jurisdiction or

jurisdictions. For the purposes of this article, a person shall be

deemed to have been convicted of a crime if such person shall have

pleaded guilty to a charge thereof before a court or magistrate, or

shall have been found guilty thereof by the decision or judgment of a

court or magistrate or by the verdict of a jury, irrespective of the

pronouncement of sentence or the suspension thereof. The term

"substantial stockholder," as used in this subdivision, shall be deemed

to refer to a person owning or controlling ten per centum or more of the

total outstanding stock of the corporation in which such person is a

stockholder. In making a determination pursuant to this subdivision, the

superintendent shall require fingerprinting of the applicant. Such

fingerprints shall be submitted to the division of criminal justice

services for a state criminal history record check, as defined in

subdivision one of section three thousand thirty-five of the education

law, and may be submitted to the federal bureau of investigation for a

national criminal history record check.

7. No license pursuant to this article shall be issued to any

applicant to do business at the place specified in the application as

the place where the business is to be conducted if, within the twelve

months preceding such application, a license to engage in business

pursuant to this article at such place shall have been revoked.