(a) No person shall appear in opposition to the application unless the person shall have filed a written protest to the granting of the application within thirty (30) days of the date of the notice of the filing of the application. The protest must state the grounds for objection and must be accompanied by a filing fee of not less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each protestant, such amount to be set by regulation promulgated by the Bank Commissioner.

(b) Once the written report of investigation has been completed, the commissioner shall establish a time for hearing on the charter application.

(c) Notice of the time, place, and purpose of the hearing shall be given at least thirty (30) days before the hearing as follows:

(1) By letter from the commissioner to the organizers of the proposed state trust company and to each trust institution to which the organizers of the application are required to give written notice pursuant to § 23-51-107(a);

(2) By letter from the commissioner to each person who has notified the commissioner of an intention to oppose the application, provided that if a group of persons has protested the application, the notice may be given to one (1) member of the group; and

(3) By release to news media.

(d) If the commissioner sets a hearing, the commissioner shall conduct a public hearing and as many prehearing conferences and opportunities for discovery as the commissioner considers advisable and consistent with applicable law and regulations.

(e) Based on the record of any hearing conducted pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, the commissioner shall determine whether all of the necessary conditions set forth in § 23-51-106(b) have been established and shall enter an order granting or denying the charter. The commissioner may make approval of any application conditional and shall include any conditions in the order granting the charter.