The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1920-09-01
FINANCIAL TALK
BY F. J. H. SUTTON
(By F. J. n. Sutton. Vice President,
Trust Co. of New York;

Trust Co. of New York;
When a company has passed be-
yond the stage of a CLOSE corpora
tion,' and it's securities are actively
bought and sold, 1t is an advantage
and economy to the company itself,
and a service to it's shareholde and
investors generally. to have a transfer
agent and registrar.
AS transfer agent for a corporation,
the trust company keeps the stock
ledger, which is a record of the name,
address, and holdings of each stock
holder. 1t also issues and counter
signs stock certificates. This may be
done on the surrender of old certifi-
Gates, as when a stockholder sells his
holdings to another person, Or it
may be done as a matter of original
issue, when a corporation is first or
ganized, a stock dividend declared,
or the capitalization increased.
But the trust company does more
than these mechanical operations.
The transferring of stock under the
various conditions which arise is a
matter of great importance. as the
duties of transfer agent and the
requirements for making transfers
have become many and complex.
There has been much legislation on
the subject, particularly affecting es-
tates, whereby the transfer function is
made Of assistance to the Federal and
State governments in the collection Of
inheritance and stamp taxes. The
transfer agent, therefore, must have a
thorough knowledge of all such legal
requirem ents, and must exercise great
care in connection with statutes of
the various states covering appoint
ments OF guardians. administrators,
and executors. as well as statutes re-
lating to the replacement Of lost GER
tif1cates and to the present authority
Of a. person signing under a power of
attorney Then there are always pos
sibihties of forgery to be guarded
against-forgery of~the name of the
corporation officer signing stock GER
tiffcates, of the name of the holder OF
a certificate, or of the number of
shares which certificate represents.
Few corporations care nowadays to
assume the responsibilities in connec-
ton with the transfer of stock. They
realize that in all these matters the
trust company, with it's fund of ex-
perience and it's highly trained per-
sonnet, dealing daily with transfers
and the problems arising in connec-
ton with them, is able to render COM
petently and efficiently a most i'm
portant service to the corporation.
relieving it not alone from the bur
den of clerical work and supervision
incident to the handling of transfers
of ownership, but also lessening to a
large extent it's responsibility as to
the legality of the transfer.
Under the rules of the New York
market, a corporation whose stock is
to be listed on the Exchange must
have a registrar, and this registrar
must be another corporation Here
again a trust company, by reason of
its facilities for 90 acting, Is generally
selected.
It ds obvious that when capital stock
is issued every precaution must be
taken to prevent the issuance Of Ger
ti1cafes for more than the authorized
number of shares. This Is the duty OF
the registrar-to see that at all times
the number of shares outstanding,