The commissioner shall, upon compliance by any bank with the requirements of this section, grant to it a certificate that it is authorized to engage in a trust business. Section 406-3 shall apply to the issuance of such certificates, as though the bank were a proposed trust company thereunder. . . . The commissioner may require from the bank all facts necessary for the commissioner to determine whether or not the public convenience and advantage will be promoted by issuing the certificate, and may in the commissioner's discretion refuse to issue the certificate. The banks, when authorized to engage in any business in this state, shall possess and be entitled to exercise the same rights and privilegesand be subject to the same limitations, requirements, and restrictions, as respects the business so authorized, as by this chapter are given to or placed upon other banks transacting a like business in the State. It is a well-settled principle of law that financial institutions may not look beyond their specific enabling statutes to general corporate powers to expand their powers beyond those given by the legislature to financial institutions specifically.
Banks are quasi public corporations.
The state through its legislative department has at all times exercised a careful and wholesome supervision over banking institutions for the purpose of protecting the general public . . . . From these general but important distinctions that the legislature has made between banks and corporations generally, it is apparent that banks cannot be allowed to exercise any functions that are not strictly authorized by law.