2006 Minnesota Statutes

47.54 NOTICES AND APPROVAL PROCEDURES.
    Subdivision 1. Application. Any bank desiring to establish a detached facility shall execute
and acknowledge a written application in the form prescribed by the commissioner and shall file
the application in the commissioner's office with a fee of $500. The applicant shall within 30 days
of the receipt of the form prescribed by the commissioner publish a notice of the filing of the
application in a qualified newspaper published in the municipality in which the proposed detached
facility is to be located, and if there is no such newspaper, then in a qualified newspaper likely to
give notice in the municipality in which the proposed detached facility is to be located.
    Subd. 2. Approval order. If no objection is received by the commissioner within 15 days
after the publication of the notice, the commissioner shall issue an order approving the application
without a hearing if it is found that (a) the applicant bank meets current industry standards of
capital adequacy, management quality, and asset condition, (b) the establishment of the proposed
detached facility will improve the quality or increase the availability of banking services in the
community to be served, and (c) the establishment of the proposed detached facility will not have
an undue adverse effect upon the solvency of existing financial institutions in the community to
be served. Otherwise, the commissioner shall deny the application. Any proceedings for judicial
review of an order of the commissioner issued under this subdivision without a contested case
hearing shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act relating
to judicial review of agency decisions, sections 14.63 to 14.69, and the scope of judicial review in
such proceedings shall be as provided therein. Nothing herein shall be construed as requiring the
commissioner to conduct a contested case hearing if no written objection is timely received by the
commissioner from a bank within three miles of the proposed location of the detached facility.
    Subd. 3. Objections; hearing. If any bank within three miles of the proposed location of
the detached facility objects in writing within 15 days, the commissioner shall consider the
objection. If the objection also requests a hearing, the objector must include the nature of the
issues or facts to be presented and the reasons why written submissions would be insufficient to
make an adequate presentation to the commissioner. Comments challenging the legality of an
application should be submitted separately in writing.
Written requests for hearing must be evaluated by the commissioner who may grant or deny
the request. A hearing must generally be granted only if it is determined that written submissions
would be inadequate or that a hearing would otherwise be beneficial to the decision-making
process. A hearing may be limited to issues considered material by the commissioner.
If a request for a hearing has been denied, the commissioner shall notify the applicant
and all interested persons stating the reasons for denial. Interested parties may submit to the
commissioner with simultaneous copies to the applicant additional written comments on the
application within 14 days after the date of the notice of denial. The applicant shall be provided
an additional seven days after the 14-day deadline has expired within which to respond to any
comments submitted within the 14-day period. A copy of any response submitted by the applicant
shall also be mailed simultaneously by the applicant to the interested parties. The commissioner
may waive the additional seven-day comment period if so requested by the applicant.
    Subd. 4. Hearing. In any case in which the commissioner grants a request for a hearing, or
makes the independent determination that a hearing is warranted on the basis of the conditions
in subdivision 3, the commissioner shall fix a time for a hearing conducted pursuant to chapter
14 to decide whether or not the application will be granted. A notice of the hearing must be
published by the applicant in the form prescribed by the commissioner in a qualified newspaper
published in the municipality in which the proposed detached facility is to be located, and if there
is no such newspaper, then in a qualified newspaper likely to give notice in the municipality in
which the proposed detached facility is to be located. The notice must be published once, at the
expense of the applicants, not less than 30 days prior to the date of the hearing. At the hearing the
commissioner shall consider the application and hear the applicants and witnesses that appear
in favor of or against the granting of the application of the proposed detached facility. If an
application is contested and a hearing is granted, 50 percent of an additional fee equal to the actual
costs incurred by the Department of Commerce in approving or disapproving the application,
payable to the commissioner of commerce to be deposited in the general fund, must be paid by
the applicant and 50 percent equally by the intervening parties.
    Subd. 5. Decision after hearing. If upon the hearing, it appears to the commissioner that the
requirements for approval contained in subdivision 2 have been met, the commissioner shall, not
later than 90 days after the hearing, issue an order approving the application. If the commissioner
shall decide that the application should not be granted, the commissioner shall issue an order to
that effect and forthwith give notice by certified mail to the applicant.
    Subd. 6. Expiration and extension of order. If a facility is not activated within 18 months
from the date of the order, the approval order automatically expires. Upon request of the applicant
prior to the automatic expiration date of the order, the commissioner may grant reasonable
extensions of time to the applicant to activate the facility as the commissioner deems necessary.
The extensions of time shall not exceed a total of an additional 12 months. If the commissioner's
order is the subject of an appeal in accordance with chapter 14, the time period referred to in this
section for activation of the facility and any extensions shall begin when all appeals or rights of
appeal from the commissioner's order have concluded or expired.
History: 1971 c 855 s 4; 1977 c 378 s 4; 1979 c 64 s 1; 1981 c 220 s 8; 1982 c 424 s 130;
1983 c 247 s 25; 1983 c 250 s 3; 1984 c 576 s 7; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 384 art 2 s 1; 1989 c
166 s 5; 1990 c 422 s 10; 1992 c 587 art 1 s 12; 1993 c 257 s 10; 1994 c 382 s 5; 1999 c 151
s 14,15; 2002 c 342 s 4,5