Sec. 3.1. (a) Any bank or trust company shall have the power to discount, negotiate, sell and guarantee promissory notes, bonds, drafts, acceptances, bills of exchange, and other evidences of debt; to buy and sell, exchange, coin and bullion; to loan money; to borrow money and to issue its notes, bonds, or debentures to evidence any such borrowing and to mortgage, pledge, or hypothecate any of its assets to secure the repayment thereof; to receive savings deposits and deposits of money subject to check, and deposits of securities or other personal property from any person or corporation, upon such terms as may be agreed upon by the parties; to contract for and receive on loans and discounts the highest rate of interest allowed by the laws of this state to be contracted for and received by individuals; to accept, for payment at a future date, drafts drawn upon it by its customers and to issue letters of credit authorizing the holders thereof to draw drafts upon it or its correspondents at sight or on time, however, the letter of credit must state a specific expiration date; and to exercise all the powers incidental and proper or which may be necessary and usual in carrying on a general banking business, but it shall have no right to issue bills to circulate as money.

     (b) Subject to such regulations, rules, policies, and guidance as the department finds to be necessary and proper, any bank or trust company shall have the following powers:

(1) To make such loans and advances of credit and purchases of obligations representing loans and advances of credit as are eligible for insurance by the federal housing administrator, and to obtain such insurance.

(2) To make such loans secured by mortgages on real property or leasehold, as the federal housing administrator insures or makes a commitment to insure, and to obtain such insurance.

(3) To purchase, invest in, and dispose of notes or bonds secured by mortgage or trust deed insured by the federal housing administrator or debentures issued by the federal housing administrator, or bonds or other securities issued by national mortgage associations.

(4) To extend credit to any state agency, with the approval of the department, notwithstanding any other provisions or limitations of IC 28-1. No law of this state prescribing the nature, amount, or form of security or requiring security upon which loans or advances of credit may be made, or prescribing or limiting interest rates upon loans or advances of credit, or prescribing or limiting the period for which loans or advances of credit may be made, shall be deemed to apply to loans, advances of credit, or purchases made pursuant to subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) and this subdivision.

(5) To purchase, take, hold, and dispose of notes, and mortgages securing such notes, made to any joint stock land bank heretofore incorporated, in any case in which not less than ninety-nine percent (99%) of the stock of said joint stock land bank is owned by the bank or trust company at the time such notes or mortgages be acquired by the bank or trust company; and upon dissolution of any such joint stock land bank, or at any stage in the process of such dissolution, any bank or trust company then owning not less than ninety-nine percent (99%) of the stock of such joint stock land bank may take, hold, and dispose of any notes, mortgages, or other assets of such joint stock land bank of whatsoever nature, including real estate, wheresoever situated, which such joint stock land bank shall assign, transfer, convey, or otherwise make over to such bank or trust company by way of final or partial distribution of its assets to its stockholders upon such dissolution or in connection with the process of such dissolution. No law of this state prescribing the nature, amount, location, or form of security, or requiring security upon which loans or advances of credit may be made, or prescribing or limiting interest rates upon loans or advances of credit, or prescribing or limiting the period for which loan or advances of credit may be made, or prescribing any ratio between the amount of any loan and the appraised value of the security for such loan, or requiring periodical reductions of the principal of any loan, shall be deemed to apply to loans, notes, mortgages, real estate, or other assets mentioned in this subdivision.

(6) To adopt stock purchase programs for employees and to grant options to purchase, and to issue and sell, shares of its capital stock to its employees, or to a trustee on their behalf (which may be the bank or trust company issuing such capital stock), without first offering the same to its shareholders, for such consideration, not less than par value, and upon such terms and conditions as shall be approved by its board of directors and by the holders of a majority of its shares entitled to vote with respect thereto, and by the department. In the absence of actual fraud in the transaction, the judgment of the directors as to the consideration for the issuances of such options and the sufficiency thereof shall be conclusive. Any bank or trust company exercising the powers granted in this subsection may, to the extent approved by the department, have authorized and unissued stock required to fulfill any stock option or other arrangement authorized herein.

(7) Subject to such restrictions as the department may impose, to become the owner or lessor of personal or real property acquired upon the request and for the use of a customer and to incur such additional obligations as may be incident to becoming an owner or lessor of such property.

(8) To purchase or construct buildings and hold legal title thereto to be leased to municipal corporations or other public authorities, for public purposes, having resources sufficient to make payment of all rentals as they become due. Each lease agreement shall provide that upon expiration, the lessee will become the owner of the building.

(8.1) To purchase, hold, and convey real estate in accordance with section 5 of this chapter.

(9) Subject to section 3.2 of this chapter, to exercise the rights and privileges (as defined in section 3.2(a) of this chapter) that are or may be granted to national banks domiciled in Indiana.

(10) Pursuant to its lending authority, to engage directly or indirectly in any tax equity finance transaction permissible for a national bank or federal savings association under 12 C.F.R. § 7.1025. The authority to engage in tax equity finance transactions under this subdivision is separate from, and does not limit, any investment authorities available to a bank or trust company. A tax equity finance transaction is subject to the substantive legal requirements of a loan, including, without limitation, IC 28-1-13.

     (c) Any rule made and promulgated under and pursuant to this section may apply to one (1) or more banks or trust companies or to one (1) or more localities in the state as the department, in its discretion, may determine.

As added by Acts 1980, P.L.40, SEC.7. Amended by P.L.33-1991, SEC.14; P.L.14-1992, SEC.81; P.L.136-1994, SEC.2; P.L.176-1996, SEC.11; P.L.194-1997, SEC.1; P.L.215-1999, SEC.2; P.L.10-2006, SEC.30 and P.L.57-2006, SEC.30; P.L.213-2007, SEC.38; P.L.217-2007, SEC.36; P.L.35-2010, SEC.116; P.L.27-2012, SEC.50; P.L.73-2016, SEC.17; P.L.31-2022, SEC.1.