Sec. 183.003. HEARING AND DECISION ON ACQUISITION OF CONTROL. (a) Not later than the 60th day after the date the notice is published, the banking commissioner shall approve the application or set the application for hearing. If the banking commissioner sets a hearing, the department shall participate as the opposing party and the banking commissioner shall conduct a hearing and one or more prehearing conferences and opportunities for discovery as the banking commissioner considers advisable and consistent with governing statutes and rules. A hearing held under this section is confidential and closed to the public.

(b) Based on the record, the banking commissioner may issue an order denying an application if:

(1) the acquisition would substantially lessen competition, be in restraint of trade, result in a monopoly, or be in furtherance of a combination or conspiracy to monopolize or attempt to monopolize the trust industry in any part of this state, unless:

(A) the anticompetitive effects of the acquisition are clearly outweighed in the public interest by the probable effect of acquisition in meeting the convenience and needs of the community to be served; and

(B) the acquisition is not in violation of the law of this state or the United States;

(2) the financial condition of the transferee, or any member of a group comprising the transferee, might jeopardize the financial stability of the state trust company being acquired;

(3) plans or proposals to operate, liquidate, or sell the state trust company or its assets are not in the best interest of the state trust company;

(4) the experience, ability, standing, competence, trustworthiness, and integrity of the transferee, or any member of a group comprising the transferee, are insufficient to justify a belief that the state trust company will be free from improper or unlawful influence or interference with respect to the state trust company's operation in compliance with law;

(5) the state trust company will not be solvent, have adequate capitalization, or be in compliance with the laws of this state after the acquisition;

(6) the transferee has failed to furnish all information pertinent to the application reasonably required by the banking commissioner; or

(7) the transferee is not acting in good faith.

(c) If the banking commissioner approves the application, the transaction may be consummated. If the approval is conditioned on a written commitment from the transferee offered to and accepted by the banking commissioner, the commitment is:

(1) enforceable against the state trust company and the transferee; and

(2) considered for all purposes an agreement under this subtitle.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, Sec. 7.16(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1999.