Wis. Stat. § 214.04 — WI Code / Chapter 214 / Section 214.04
General corporate powers.
Status: in_force

A savings bank shall be a body corporate and shall have all of the specific powers conferred by this chapter and all of the following general powers:

(1) To sue and be sued in its corporate name and to have a seal, which it may alter or renew.

(2) To obtain and maintain insurance by a deposit insurance corporation.

(3) To act as a fiscal agent for the United States, this state or any department, office, agency, board, commission or authority of this state or any county, city, village, town or school district in the state, if designated for that purpose, and as agent to perform reasonable functions as may be required of it.

(4) With the approval of the division, to become a member of, purchase stock or securities in, deposit money with, or comply with any other conditions of membership or credit for any corporation or agency of the United States or of this state, to the extent that such agency assists in furthering or facilitating the purposes or powers of the savings bank.

(5) To make donations in reasonable amounts for the public welfare or for charitable, scientific, religious or educational purposes.

(6) To adopt and operate reasonable insurance, bonus, profit sharing, and retirement plans for officers and employees and for directors who are not officers or employees.

(7) To reject any application for membership and to close deposit accounts as provided in this chapter and its bylaws; and to limit the issuance of, or payments on, deposit accounts, subject to contractual obligations.

(8) To purchase stock in service corporations and to invest in any form of indebtedness of any service corporation, subject to rules of the division.

(9) With the approval of the division, to purchase stock of a corporation whose principal purpose is to operate a safe deposit or escrow service business, if the purchase is necessary to utilize the services of that business.

(10) To exercise all the powers necessary to qualify as a trustee or custodian under the federal self-employed individuals tax retirement act of 1962, as amended, and invest any funds held in that capacity in a deposit account if the trust or custodial retirement plan authorizes and directs the investment.

(12) Subject to rules of the division, to make contracts, incur obligations, make investments, pledge assets or take other action necessary to do any of the following:

(a) Enable it to act as agent for the sale of obligations of the United States.

(b) Secure deposits of public funds.

(c) Secure deposits of money if required by the federal bankruptcy act.

(d) Qualify as a fiduciary under ch. 112 .

(e) Secure trust funds if acting as a corporate fiduciary. A savings bank may not commingle trust funds under this paragraph with the savings bank’s funds, whether deposited by the savings bank or an affiliate.

(13) To accept for payment at a future date, not to exceed one year from the date of acceptance, drafts drawn upon it by its customers; and to issue, advise or confirm letters of credit authorizing holders to draw drafts upon it or its correspondents.

(14) Subject to rules of the division, to own and lease personal property acquired by the savings bank at the request of a prospective lessee and, upon the agreement of that person, to lease the personal property.

(15) To indemnify its officers, directors, employees and agents to the extent authorized for mutual savings and loan associations under ss. 215.512 to 215.525 if a mutual savings bank, or to the extent authorized under ss. 180.0850 to 180.0859 if a stock savings bank.

(16) To provide data processing services to others and to act as a custodian of records for others on a for-profit basis.

(17) With prior written approval of the division, to acquire all or any part of the assets of a financial institution or to sell all or any part of its assets to another financial institution.

(18) To borrow money and issue its obligations for the borrowed money, including but not limited to obligations, bonds, notes or other debt securities. Except as otherwise provided by this chapter or by rules of the division, the aggregate amount borrowed may not exceed 50 percent of the savings bank’s total assets, except with the prior written approval of the division. An obligation, bond, note or other debt security may include a written provision subordinating the debt to claims of other creditors or of depositors.

(19) To utilize data processing services and place records of the savings bank for storage and safekeeping with another person for a fee.

(20) Upon receiving approval from the division, to act as an authorized agent for its customers in the business and functions under ch. 217 . A savings bank that applies to function as a money transmitter shall meet the application requirements under ch. 217 . The division may not charge a license or investigation fee for an application under this subsection. The money transmitter function of a savings bank shall be under the jurisdiction and supervision of the division. The division shall enforce ch. 217 as it applies to savings banks. The division shall determine what records shall be maintained and shall require the segregation of funds that are necessary for a savings bank to operate as a money transmitter under this subsection and ch. 217 .

(21)

(a) Directly or indirectly, to acquire, place and operate, or participate in the acquisition, placement and operation of, at locations other than its home office and branch offices, remote service units, in accordance with rules established by the division.

(b) The rules of the division shall provide that any remote service unit shall be available for use, on a nondiscriminatory basis, by any state or federal savings bank which has its principal place of business in this state, by any other state or federal savings bank obtaining the consent of a state or federal savings bank that has its principal place of business in this state and is using the terminal and by all customers designated by a savings bank using the unit. This paragraph does not authorize a savings bank which has its principal place of business outside this state to conduct business as a savings bank in this state. A remote service unit shall be available for use, on a nondiscriminatory basis, by any credit union, state or national bank or state or federal savings and loan association, whose home office is located in this state, if the credit union, bank or savings and loan association requests to share its use, subject to joint rules established by the division and the office of credit unions.

(c) If any person primarily engaged in the retail sale of goods or services owns or operates a remote service unit on such person’s premises and allows access to the unit by any financial institution, group of financial institutions or their customers, nothing in this paragraph or in rules established by the division shall require such person to accept any connection to or use of the unit on its premises for any other purpose or function or to accept any connection to the unit on its premises by any other financial institution.

(d) If a person primarily engaged in the retail sale of goods or services owns or operates a remote service unit on such person’s premises and allows access to the unit by any financial institution, group of financial institutions or their customers for any purpose or function, laws governing such institutions or rules established by the division shall not apply to such person other than those laws or rules directly related to the particular function performed by the unit on such person’s premises for a financial institution.

(e) Information transmitted from a remote service unit, either identified as to particular transactions or aggregate information, shall only be used for purposes of effecting the financial transactions for which such information was received, for any other purpose lawfully authorized by contract, or for any other purpose permitted by statute and rules pertaining to the dissemination and disclosure of such information.

(22) To maintain real estate broker trust accounts under s. 452.13 , attorney trust accounts under s. 757.293 , collection agency trust accounts under s. 218.04 (9g) , burial trust accounts under s. 445.125 (1) and care funds and preneed trust funds under s. 157.19 .

(23) To contract for the provision of trust services to its customers with a trust company or other organization with trust powers authorized to do business in this state. For this purpose, the trust company or other organization with trust powers may serve savings bank customers at savings bank facilities on a full-time or part-time basis.

(25) Subject to rules of the division, to issue credit cards, extend open-end credit and otherwise engage in or participate in credit card operations.

(26) With the prior approval of the division, establish a limited office.

(27) After giving notice to the division, establish an extended office.

(28) To exercise any power reasonably related or incident to the purposes of the savings bank.

History: 1991 a. 221 , 315 ; 1995 a. 27 , 55 , 103 , 295 ; 2021 a. 240 s. 30 ; 2023 a. 128 , 267 .