32-11-225. Business practice standards and reserve. - Montana Statutes

     32-11-225. Business practice standards and reserve. (1) A licensee shall transact its business in a safe and sound manner and shall maintain itself in a safe and sound condition.
     (2) Subject to subsection (3), in determining whether a licensee is transacting business in a safe and sound manner, the department may not consider the risk of providing financing assistance to a business unless the department determines that the risk is great enough to demonstrate gross mismanagement when compared with the return that can be realistically expected.
     (3) The department may:
     (a) if the amount of the financing assistance is unduly large in relation to the total assets or the total shareholder equity of the licensee, determine that a licensee's financing assistance to a single business or group of affiliated businesses violates subsection (1) or constitutes an unsafe or unsound act;
     (b) require that a licensee maintain a reserve in the amount of anticipated losses;
     (c) require that a licensee have in effect a written financing assistance policy approved by the licensee's board of directors, including credit evaluation and other matters. The department may not require that a licensee adopt a financing assistance policy that contains standards that prevent the licensee from exercising needed flexibility in evaluating and structuring financing assistance to businesses on an individual basis.

     History: En. Sec. 26, Ch. 411, L. 2007.