. 

Honorable James 0. Gerst Opinion NO. c-655 

Commissioner 

Savings and Loan Department 

1010 Lavaca Street 

Austin, Texas Re: Whether a financial 

institution not regulated by the Savings and Loan Department may use the name 

'Savings" as part of 

Dear Mr. Gerst: its name. 

Your letter requesting the opinion of this office 

on the questions stated therein provided the following 

facts: 

(1) * A business organization was licensed 

to do business under the Texas Regulatory 

Loan Act by the name of "Savings Finance Company". 

(2) * A business organization is doing 

business in Texas under the name of "Baptist 

Building Savings, Inc." 

Included with your inquiry was a letter from Savings 

Finance Company and an advertisement of Baptist 

Building Savings, Inc. You then make the following 

statementand inquiry of our office: 

"It has been the policy of this Department that the use of the word 'savings' in 

connection with a financial institution not 

regulated by this Department is misleading 

to the public and prohibited by the Statutes. 

Your opinion is respectfully requested as to 

whether or not the use of the word 'savings' 

as herein outlined constitutes a violation 

of the Savings and Loan statutes or any other 

applicable statutes ,or law'. 

-3I69- 
Honorable James 0. Gerst, page 2 (c-655) 

Pertinent to the determination of the question 

which you have propounded is the portion of Article 

852a, Section 2.12, Vernon's Civil Statutes (Texas 

Savings and Loan Act) which provides as follows: 

II 

. * No person, firm, company, association, fiduciary, partnership or corporation, either domestic or foreign, unless 

authorized to do business in this State 

under the provisions of this Act shall do 

business under any name or title which indicates or reasonably implies that the 

business is the character or kind of 

business carried on or transacted by an 

association or which is calculated to 

lead any person to believe that the 

business is that of an association. Upon 

application by the Commissioner or any 

association, a court of competent jurisdiction may issue an injunction to restrain 

any such entity from violating or continuing 

to violate any of the foregoing provisions 

of this Section." 

The prohibition stated is inclusive of all business 

enterprises and not ;ust financial l.nstj.tutj.ons. The 

intentions of the Legislature in enaCting this statute 

are quite clear and apparent. Because 01 the quasipublic character of aavings and loan associations, it 

was deemed necessary to protect the public welfare by 

subjecting the companies to supervision and regulation 

by a State agency. The statutes also protect the 

industrv bv eliminating comoletelv unrestrained and 

unlawfui competition. .Braz&p.ort-Savings and Loan 

Association v. American Savings and Loan Association, 

161 Tex. 543, 34y 

Legislature not only prohibited the unauthorized conduct 

,of the business of a savings and loan association but 

it also prohibited the use of a name by a business, 

which might reasonably imply that such enterprise is 

of the same character and kind as that of a savings and 

loan association. 

In order to resolve the inquiry which you have 

propounded, it becomes necessary to determine whether 

-3170- 
. . . 

Honorable James 0. Gerst, page 3 (c-655) 

or not the word “savings” alone, regardless of -other 

portions of a name, would engender a sufficient connotation or description of the savings and loan 

industry so as to be misleading to the general public. 

For several reasons we are of the opinion that the 

usage of the word “savings” in a name does not per se 

imply that the business is that of a savings and loan 

association or will mislead the public to so believe. 

First, neither Article 852a nor any other statute 

which we considered provides for such prohibition per 

Rather, Section 3.12 sets forth two standards for 

determining whether or not a name, 

include “savings”, 

which may or may not 

would be Improper and prohibited. 

If the name or title reasonably implies that the buslness is the character or kind carried on or transacted by a savings and loan association or if the name 

is calculated to lead any person to belleve that the 

business is that of a savings and loan association, 

then that name may be prohibited and enjoined from 

usage by the savings and loan commissioner by appropriate 

action. 

Secondly, when asked about the usage of the word 

“bank” in a corporate name, our office held in Attorney 

General Opinion R-20’&that even though Article ?42-902 

of Vernon’s Civil Statutes specifically prohibited the 

usage of that term when an enterprise was not conducting 

a banking business and/or was not authorized to do so 

under the banking statutes, the usage of the word “bank” 

was not per se prohibited but was dependent upon the 

facts of the situation. That determination is also 

controlling over the present situation, especially 

since the Savings and Loan Act does not carry any 

specific prohibition of the usage of the word “savings”. 

As the inquiry which you have propounded evolves 

into a question of fact, your office is the proper authority 

to make this determination. As a means of assistance 

in your determination, we would state that the usage of 

generic terms or other descriptive terminology in’the 

names, such as Savings Insurance Company or Savings Drug 

Store would tend to alleviate any misrepresentation to 

or misleading of the public. 

There has been some question as to whether or not 

the proscription of this statute is sufficient when the 

word “savings” is not used in conjunction with “association” 

-3171- 
Honorable James 0. Gerst, page 4 (c-655,) 

or "loan association". We are of the opinion that 

"association" or "loan association" are not necess7rv 

parts of a name before the prohibition of Article 852a 

is effective. We are of this mind because the statute 

does not exclude usage of only such word combinations 

and because the Intention of the Legislature is quite 

clear and apparent on its face. Therefore, to interpret the statute to prohibit names with only these 

word combinations would be to subvert the obvious, 

plain and clear intent of the Legislature. When 

the intent of a statute is plainly expressed in its 

language, it must be given effect without attempting 

to construe or interpret the law. 53 Tex. Jur. 2d 182, 

sec. 125. Gaddy v. First National Dank, 115 Tex. 393, 

283 S.W. 472 (19%) Central Education Agency v. 

Independent School District, 152 Tex. 5b, 254 S . W . 2d 

35’1 (19531. 

--__--- SUMMARY 

The use of the word 'Savings" by a business, 

that is not regulated by the Savings and 

Loan Department, as part of its name or 

title, is not per se prohibited by Article 

852a, Vernon's Civil Statutes; but whether 

the use of such word in its name or title 

would indicate or reasonably imply that 

the business is the character or kind of 

business carried on or transacted by a 

savings association or which is calculated 

to lead any person to believe that the 

business is that of a savings association 

is a question of fact, to be determined by 

the Savings and Loan Department. 

Respectfully submitted, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attorney General of Texas 

HG:jh 

-3172- 
. . . . 

,i, 

Honorable James 0. Gerst, page 5 (c-655) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

James Strock 

Ronald Luna 

John Fainter 

Sam Kelley 

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: T. B. Wright 

-3173-