6-192. Investments in international and foreign banking and financing corporations; limitation; consent; exceptions

A. No bank may, without the consent of the superintendent, invest in stock or other evidence of ownership in any of the following:

1. Corporations organized under the laws of the United States or any state and principally engaged in international or foreign banking or in other international or foreign financial operations, or in banking or other financial operations in a dependency or insular possession of the United States, either directly or through the agency, ownership or control of local institutions in foreign countries, or in such dependencies or insular possessions.

2. Banks organized under the laws of a foreign country or a dependency or insular possession of the United States. No investment shall be made in a foreign bank if it is engaged directly or indirectly in any activity in the United States unless the activity is in the judgment of the superintendent incidental to the international or foreign business of such bank.

B. The aggregate amount invested in all banks and corporations described in subsection A of this section shall not exceed, at the time any such investment is made, twenty-five per cent of the capital account of the bank as defined in section 6-351.

C. The consent of the superintendent for any investment under subsection A of this section shall be subject to such conditions as he prescribes in his order of approval and the investment shall be subject to his regulations.

D. The provisions of subsections A and B of this section shall not apply to shares or evidences of ownership acquired by a bank in the regular course of securing or collecting a debt contracted in good faith but shares or evidence of ownership acquired in collecting a debt shall be disposed of within a reasonable time unless otherwise lawfully held under subsections A and B of this section.