12 U.S.C. § 90
Section 90 · Depositaries of public moneys and financial agents of Government
Amended 8 times on record
Applied in 52 court decisions — leading case Franklin Nat. Bank of Franklin Square v. New York (1954)
Most recently applied in 296 F. Supp. 3d 98 - Scott v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (October 2017)
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.
All national banking associations, designated for that purpose by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be depositaries of public money, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary; and they may also be employed as financial agents of the Government; and they shall perform all such reasonable duties, as depositaries of public money and financial agents of the Government, as may be required of them. The Secretary of the Treasury shall require the associations thus designated to give satisfactory security, by the deposit of United States bonds and otherwise, for the safe-keeping and prompt payment of the public money deposited with them, and for the faithful performance of their duties as financial agents of the Government: Provided, That the Secretary shall, on or before the 1st of January of each year, make a public statement of the securities required during that year for such deposits. And every association so designated as receiver or depositary of the public money shall take and receive at par all of the national currency bills, by whatever association issued, which have been paid into the Government for internal revenue, or for loans or stocks: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall distribute the deposits herein provided for, as far as practicable, equitably between the different States and sections.
Any national banking association may, upon the deposit with it of any funds by any State or political subdivision thereof or any agency or other governmental instrumentality of one or more States or political subdivisions thereof, including any officer, employee, or agent thereof in his official capacity, give security for the safekeeping and prompt payment of the funds so deposited to the same extent and of the same kind as is authorized by the law of the State in which such association is located in the case of other banking institutions in the State.
Any national banking association may, upon the deposit with it of any funds by any federally recognized Indian tribe, or any officer, employee, or agent thereof in his or her official capacity, give security for the safekeeping and prompt payment of the funds so deposited by the deposit of United States bonds and otherwise as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury for public funds under the first paragraph of this section.
Notwithstanding the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended [40 U.S.C. 471 et seq.], the Secretary may select associations as financial agents in accordance with any process the Secretary deems appropriate and their reasonable duties may include the provision of electronic benefit transfer services (including State-administered benefits with the consent of the States), as defined by the Secretary.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, referred to in text, is act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, 63 Stat. 377, as amended. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 471 of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works, and Tables.
Codification
R.S. §5153 derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, §45, 13 Stat. 113, which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this title.
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–208 added fourth par.
1979—Pub. L. 96–153 added third par.
1950—Act Aug. 18, 1950, permitted national banks to accept and give security for deposits of funds made by agencies or governmental instrumentalities or States or political subdivisions thereof and by their officers, employees or agents.
1930—Act June 25, 1930, added second par.