12 U.S.C. § 1861
Section 1861 · Short title and definitions
Amended 6 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case United States v. Richardson (1974)
Most recently applied in Sawyer v. Bill Me Later, Inc. (May 2014)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
This chapter may be cited as the “Bank Service Company Act”.
For the purpose of this chapter—
(1) the term “appropriate Federal banking agency” shall have the meaning provided in section 1813(q) of this title;
(2) the term “bank service company” means—
(A) any corporation—
(i) which is organized to perform services authorized by this chapter; and
(ii) all of the capital stock of which is owned by 1 or more insured depository institutions; and
(B) any limited liability company—
(i) which is organized to perform services authorized by this chapter; and
(ii) all of the members of which are 1 or more insured depository institutions.
(3) the term “Board” means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System;
(4) the term “depository institution” means, except when such term appears in connection with the term “insured depository institution”, an insured bank, a savings association, financial institution subject to examination by the appropriate Federal banking agency or the National Credit Union Administration Board, or a financial institution the accounts or deposits of which are insured or guaranteed under State law and are eligible to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Administration Board;
(5) Insured depository institution.—The terms “depository institution” and “savings association” have the same meanings as in section 1813 of this title;
(6) the term “invest” includes any advance of funds to a bank service company, whether by the purchase of stock, the making of a loan, or otherwise, except a payment for rent earned, goods sold and delivered, or services rendered prior to the making of such payment;
(7) the term “limited liability company” means any company, partnership, trust, or similar business entity organized under the law of a State (as defined in section 1813 of this title) which provides that a member or manager of such company is not personally liable for a debt, obligation, or liability of the company solely by reason of being, or acting as, a member or manager of such company;
(8) the term “principal investor” means the insured depository institution that has the largest dollar amount invested in the equity of a bank service company. In any case where two or more insured depository institutions have equal dollar amounts invested in a bank service company, the company shall, prior to commencing operations, select one of the insured depository institutions as its principal investor and shall notify the depository institution's appropriate Federal banking agency of that choice within 5 business days of its selection; and
(9) the terms “State depository institution”, “Federal depository institution”, “State savings association” and “Federal savings association” have the same meanings as in section 1813 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2010—Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 111–203, §357(1), inserted “a savings association,” after “an insured bank,”, substituted “appropriate Federal banking agency” for “Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision”, and struck out “, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation,” after “Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation”.
Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 111–203, §357(2), substituted “terms ‘depository institution’ and ‘savings association’ have the same meanings as in section 1813” for “term ‘insured depository institution’ has the same meaning as in section 1813(c)”.
2006—Subsec. (b)(2)(A)(ii), (B)(ii). Pub. L. 109–351, §602(b)(1)(F), substituted “insured depository institutions” for “insured banks”.
Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 109–351, §602(b)(1)(A), inserted “, except when such term appears in connection with the term ‘insured depository institution’,” after “means” and substituted “Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision” for “Federal Home Loan Bank Board”.
Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 109–351, §602(b)(1)(B), added par. (5) and struck out former par. (5) which defined “insured bank”.
Subsec. (b)(8). Pub. L. 109–351, §602(b)(1)(G), substituted “means the insured depository institution” for “means the insured bank”, “insured depository institutions” for “insured banks” in two places, and “the depository institution's appropriate” for “the bank's appropriate”.
Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 109–351, §602(b)(1)(C)–(E), added par. (9).
1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–208, §2613(a), inserted heading and amended text of subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “This chapter may be cited as the ‘Bank Service Corporation Act’.”
Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 104–208, §2613(b)(1), amended par. (2) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (2) read as follows: “the term ‘bank service corporation’ means a corporation organized to perform services authorized by this chapter, all of the capital stock of which is owned by one or more insured banks;”.
Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 104–208, §2613(b)(2), substituted “company” for “corporation” and struck out “and” after semicolon at end.
Subsec. (b)(7). Pub. L. 104–208, §2613(b)(3), added par. (7). Former par. (7) redesignated (8).
Subsec. (b)(8). Pub. L. 104–208, §2613(b)(4), substituted “company” for “corporation” wherever appearing and “equity” for “capital stock”.
Pub. L. 104–208, §2613(b)(3), redesignated par. (7) as (8).
1983—Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 97–457 substituted “a” for “or another” after “insured bank,” and inserted reference to a financial institution insured by State law and eligible to be insured by certain Federal agencies.
1982—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97–320 substituted provision that this chapter may be cited as the “Bank Service Corporation Act” for provision that term “Federal supervisory agency” meant the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 97–320 substituted definitions of “appropriate Federal banking agency”, “bank service corporation”, “Board”, “depository institution”, “insured bank”, “invest”, and “principal investor” for provision that term “bank services” meant services such as check and deposit sorting and posting, computation and posting of interest and other credits and charges, preparation and mailing of checks, statements, notices, and similar items, or any other clerical, bookkeeping, accounting, statistical, or similar functions performed for a bank.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 97–320 redesignated provisions of subsec. (c) defining “bank service corporation” as (b)(2), and revised definition.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 97–320 redesignated provisions of subsec. (d) as (b)(6).
Effective Date of 2010 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 111–203 effective on the transfer date, see section 351 of Pub. L. 111–203, set out as a note under section 906 of Title 2, The Congress.