12 U.S.C. § 611
Section 611 · Formation authorized; fiscal agents; depositaries in insular possessions
This is § 25a of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 26 court decisions — leading case Ai Trade Finance Inc v. Petra International Banking Corporation (1995)
Most recently applied in Kirschner v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (August 2023)
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.
Corporations to be organized for the purpose of engaging in international or foreign banking or other international or foreign financial operations, or in banking or other financial operations in a dependency or insular possession of the United States, either directly or through the agency, ownership or control of local institutions in foreign countries, or in such dependencies or insular possessions as provided by this subchapter and to act when required by the Secretary of the Treasury as fiscal agents of the United States, may be formed by any number of natural persons, not less in any case than five: Provided, That nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to deny the right of the Secretary of the Treasury to use any corporation organized under this subchapter as depositaries in Panama and the Panama Canal Zone, or other insular possessions and dependencies of the United States.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This subchapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this section”, meaning section 25A of act Dec. 23, 1913, which is classified to this subchapter (§611 et seq.).
For definition of Canal Zone, referred to in text, see section 3602(b) of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Codification
Section is comprised of a part of section 25A, formerly section 25(a), which was added to act Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, by act Dec. 24, 1919.
Words “in the Philippine Islands and” following “Canal Zone, or” were deleted on authority of Proc. No. 2695, which granted independence to the Philippine Islands pursuant to section 1394 of Title 22. Proc. No. 2695 is set out as a note under section 1394 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Amendments
1921—Act Feb. 27, 1921, inserted proviso.
Short Title
Section 25A, formerly section 25(a) of act Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, as added by act Dec. 24, 1919, ch. 18, 41 Stat. 378, which is classified to this subchapter, is popularly known as the “Edge Act”.