§ 53-168. License required; showing of convenience, advantage and financial responsibility; investigation of applicants; hearings; existing businesses; contents of license; transfer; posting. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 53‑168.  Licenserequired; showing of convenience, advantage and financial responsibility;investigation of applicants; hearings; existing businesses; contents oflicense; transfer; posting.

(a)        Necessity forLicense; Prerequisites to Issuance. – No person shall engage in or offer toengage in the business regulated by this Article unless and until a license hasbeen issued by the Commissioner of Banks, and the Commissioner shall not issueany such license unless and until the Commissioner finds:

(1)        That authorizing theapplicant to engage in such business will promote the convenience and advantageof the community in which the applicant proposes to engage in business; and

(2)        That the financialresponsibility, experience, character and general fitness of the applicant aresuch as to command the confidence of the public and to warrant the belief thatthe business will be operated lawfully and fairly, within the purposes of thisArticle; and

(3)        That the applicanthas available for the operation of such business at the specified locationloanable assets of at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

(b)        Investigation ofApplicants. – Upon the receipt of an application, the Commissioner shallinvestigate the facts. If the Commissioner determines from such preliminaryinvestigation that the applicant does not satisfy the conditions set forth insubsection (a), the Commissioner shall so notify the applicant who shall thenbe entitled to an informal hearing thereon provided he so requests in writingwithin 30 days after the Commissioner has caused the above‑referred tonotification to be mailed to the applicant. In the event of a hearing, to beheld in the offices of the Commissioner of Banks in Raleigh, the Commissionershall reconsider the application and, after the hearing, issue a written ordergranting or denying such application. At the time of making such application,the applicant shall pay the Banking Department the sum of two hundred fiftydollars ($250.00) as a fee for investigating the application, which shall beretained irrespective of whether or not a license is granted the applicant.

(c)        Repealed by SessionLaws 2001‑519, s. 2.

(d)        Required AssetsAvailable. – Each licensee shall continue at all times to have available forthe operation of the business at the specified location loanable assets of atleast fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). The requirements and standards of thissubsection and subsection (a)(2) of this section shall be maintained throughoutthe period of the license and failure to maintain such requirements orstandards shall be grounds for the revocation of a license under the provisionsof G.S. 53‑171 of this Article.

(e)        License, Posting,Continuing. – Each license shall state the address at which the business is tobe conducted and shall state fully the name of the licensee, and if thelicensee is a copartnership, or association, the names of the members thereof,and if a corporation, the date and place of its incorporation. Transfer orassignment of a license by one person to another by sale or otherwise isprohibited without the prior approval of the Commissioner. Each license shallbe kept posted in the licensed place of business. Each license shall remain infull force and effect until surrendered, revoked, or suspended as hereinafterprovided. (1961,c. 1053, s. 1; 1969, c. 1303, s. 15; 1973, c. 1042, s. 2; 1981, c. 671, s. 15;1987, c. 827, s. 12; 2001‑519, s. 2.)