Rhode Island § 19-3-1 - Powers and Operations

§ 19-3-1. Law generally applicable to financial institutions.

Every financial institution shall have the powers, rights, and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, conferred and imposed upon it by this title, and in addition shall have all the powers, rights, and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in chapters 1, 1.2, 4 — 6, and 9 of title 7, only as is not inconsistent with the provisions of this title, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the institution’s agreement to form. Every financial institution shall have the power to exercise, by its board of directors or board of trustees or duly authorized officers or agents, all incidental powers necessary to carry on the business of banking including but not limited to the power:

(1) To receive money on deposit and pay interest thereon;

(2) To receive, upon deposit and for safekeeping, property of every description, upon terms prescribed by the financial institution, and to construct, own, lease, and maintain safe deposit vaults, with suitable boxes and places for the reception and deposit of the property, and lease the use of places and boxes to individuals and corporations, upon any terms that the financial institution may prescribe. The financial institution shall in no case incur any liability on account of the deposit of any property so made with it, or by reason of the leasing of any place of deposit, other than liability the financial institution expressly assumes by the terms of the contract or receipt under which it has accepted the deposit or let the place of deposit;

(3) To act as a depository of public money or a financial agent under any law, rule, or regulation;

(4) To issue capital debentures with the approval of the director, or the director’s designee;

(5) To make loans and mortgages and collect interest from them as may be agreed upon;

(6) To invest in any bonds, obligations, or property, real, personal, or mixed, as it may deem prudent, subject to any duties, restrictions, or limitations imposed by this title;

(7) To exercise any power authorized for insured-deposit-taking institutions duly organized under the laws of the United States that are members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;

(8) To exercise additional powers, not inconsistent with the carrying on of a banking business, with the approval of the director, or the director’s designee.