Fla. Stat. § 663.406 — Florida Code / Title XXXVIII / Chapter 663 / Part III / Section 663.406
663.406 Application for license; approval or disapproval.
Status: in_force

(1) An international trust entity, before being licensed by the office to maintain any office in this state, must subscribe and acknowledge, and submit to the office, an application that contains all of the following: (a) The name of the international trust entity. (b) The proposed location, by street and post office address and county, where its business is to be transacted in this state, and the name of the person who will be in charge of the business and affairs of the office. (c) The location where its initial registered office will be located in this state. (d) The total amount of the capital accounts of the international trust entity. (e) A complete and detailed statement of its financial condition as of a date within 180 days before the date of such application, except that the office in its discretion may, when necessary or expedient, accept such statement of financial condition as of a date within 240 days before the date of such application. The office in its discretion may, when necessary or expedient, require an independent opinion audit or the equivalent satisfactory to the office. (f) A listing of any occasion within the 10-year period before the application on which either the international trust entity or any of its directors, executive officers, or principal shareholders have been arrested for, charged with, convicted of, or pled guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, any offense with respect to which the penalties include the possibility of imprisonment for 1 year or more, or to any offense involving money laundering, currency transaction reporting, facilitating or furthering terrorism, or fraud, or otherwise related to the operation of a financial institution.

(2) The office shall disallow any illegally obtained currency, monetary instruments, funds, or other financial resources from the capitalization requirements of this section, and the existence of such illegally obtained resources is grounds for denial of the application for license.

(3) An international trust entity that submits an application to the office shall concurrently submit a certificate issued by the supervisory authority of the country in which the international trust entity is chartered or organized which states that the international trust entity is duly organized and licensed, or otherwise authorized by operation of law to transact business as a trust entity, and lawfully existing in good standing.

(4) An international trust entity that has operated an international trust company representative office in this state for at least 3 years in a safe and sound manner, as defined by commission rule, and that is otherwise eligible to establish an additional office may establish one or more international trust company representative offices by providing an abbreviated application, and paying the appropriate license fee pursuant to s. 663.413.

(5) An application filed pursuant to this section must be made on a form prescribed by the commission and must contain such information as the commission or office requires.

(6) The office may, in its discretion, approve or disapprove the application, but it may not approve the application unless, in its opinion, the applicant meets each and every requirement of this part and any other applicable provision of the financial institutions codes. The office may approve the application only if it has determined that the directors, executive officers, and principal shareholders of the international trust entity are qualified by reason of their financial ability, reputation, and integrity and have sufficient trust company and other business experience to indicate that they will manage and direct the affairs of the international trust entity in a safe, sound, and lawful manner. In the processing of any application filed pursuant to this section, the time limitations under the Administrative Procedure Act do not apply as to approval or disapproval of the application. For applications filed on or after January 1, 2018, the time limitations for approval or disapproval of an application must be prescribed by rule of the commission.

(7) The office may not issue a license to an international trust entity unless it is chartered, licensed, or similarly authorized by operation of law in a jurisdiction in which any financial institution licensed or chartered by any state or federal regulatory agency in the United States may establish similar facilities or exercise similar powers.

(8) The office may not issue a license to an international trust entity for the purpose of operating an international trust company representative office in this state unless the trust entity: (a) Holds an unrestricted license to conduct trust business in the foreign country under whose laws it is organized and chartered; (b) Has been authorized by the foreign country’s appropriate regulatory authority to establish the proposed international trust company representative office; and (c) Is adequately supervised by the appropriate regulatory agency in the foreign country in which it is organized and chartered.

(9) The commission shall establish, by rule, the general principles that determine the adequacy of supervision of an international trust entity’s foreign establishments. These principles must be based upon the need for cooperative supervisory efforts and consistent regulatory guidelines and must address, at a minimum, the capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings, liquidity, internal controls, audits, and foreign exchange operations and positions of the international trust entity. This subsection does not require examination by the home-country regulatory authorities of any office of an international trust entity in this state. The commission may also establish, by rule, other standards for approval of an application for a license as considered necessary to ensure the safe and sound operations of the international trust entity in this state.

History: s. 27, ch. 2017-83.