Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 81 - BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (§§ 81-1-1 — 81-29-3) › Chapter 27 - MULTISTATE, STATE AND LIMITED LIABILITY TRUST INSTITUTIONS (§§ 81-27-1.001 — 81-27-8.131) › Article 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS; TRUST INSTITUTION AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES (§§ 81-27-1.001 — 81-27-1.105) › Subarticle A - GENERAL (§§ 81-27-1.001 — 81-27-1.004) › Section 81-27-1.002 - Certain Definitions

(a)
In Articles 1 and 2 of this chapter:
(1)
"Account" means the client relationship established with a trust company involving the transfer of funds or property to the trust company, including a relationship in which the trust company acts as trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, custodian, conservator, bailee, receiver, registrar, or agent, but excluding a relationship in which the trust company acts solely in an advisory capacity.
(2)
"Act as a fiduciary" or "acting as a fiduciary" means to:
(A)
Accept or execute trusts, including to (i) act as trustee under a written agreement; (ii) receive money or other property in its capacity as trustee for investment in real or personal property; (iii) act as trustee and perform the fiduciary duties committed or transferred to it by order of a court of competent jurisdiction; (iv) act as trustee of the estate of a deceased person; or (v) act as trustee for a minor or incapacitated person;
(B)
Administer in any other fiduciary capacity real or tangible personal property; or
(C)
Act pursuant to order of court of competent jurisdiction as executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased person or as a guardian or conservator for a minor or incapacitated person.
(3)
"Administer" with respect to real or tangible personal property means, as an agent or in another representative capacity, to possess, purchase, sell, lease or insure, safekeep or otherwise manage the property.
(4)
"Affiliate" means a company that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a trust institution or other company.
(5)
"Bank" has the meaning set forth in 12 USCS Section 1813(h); provided that the term "bank" shall not include any "foreign bank" as defined in 12 USCS Section 3101(7), except for any such foreign bank organized under the laws of a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa or the Virgin Islands, the deposits of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
(6)
"Bank supervisory agency" means:
(A)
Any agency of another state with primary responsibility for chartering and supervising a trust institution; and
(B)
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of Thrift Supervision and any successor to these agencies.
(7)
"Branch" with respect to a depository institution has the meaning set forth in Section
81-7-1
et seq.
(8)
"Charter" means a charter, license or other authority issued by the commissioner or a bank supervisory agency authorizing a trust institution to act as a fiduciary in its home state.
(9)
"Client" means a person to whom a trust institution owes a duty or obligation under a trust or other account administered by the trust institution or as an advisor or agent, regardless of whether the trust institution owes a fiduciary duty to the person. The term includes the noncontingent beneficiaries of an account.
(10)
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Banking and Consumer Finance then in office and, where appropriate, all of his or her successors and predecessors in office.
(11)
"Company" includes a bank, trust company, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, business trust, or another trust.
(12)
"Department" means the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance.
(13)
"Depository institution" means any company chartered to act as a fiduciary and included for any purpose within any of the definitions of "insured depository institution" as set forth in 12 USCS Section 1813(c)(2) and (3).
(14)
"Fiduciary record" means a matter written, transcribed, recorded, received or otherwise in the possession or control of a trust company, whether in physical or electromagnetic form, that is necessary to preserve information concerning an act or event relevant to an account or a client of a trust company.
(15)
"Foreign bank" means a foreign bank, as defined in Section 1(b)(7) of the International Banking Act of 1978, chartered to act as a fiduciary in a state other than this state.
(16)
"Home state" means
(A)
with respect to a federally chartered trust institution and a foreign bank, the state in which such institution maintains its principal office and
(B)
with respect to any other trust institution, the state which chartered such institution.
(17)
"Home state regulator" means the bank supervisory agency with primary responsibility for chartering and supervising an out-of-state trust institution.
(18)
"Host state" means a state, other than the home state of a trust institution, or a foreign country in which the trust institution maintains or seeks to acquire or establish an office.
(19)
"License" means the authority granted by the commissioner pursuant to this chapter to establish, acquire or maintain a trust office.
(20)
"New trust office" means a trust office located in a host state which (i) is originally established by the trust institution as a trust office and (ii) does not become a trust office of the trust institution as a result of (A) the acquisition of another trust institution or trust office of another trust institution or (B) a merger, consolidation, or conversion involving any such trust institution or trust office.
(21)
"Office" with respect to a trust institution means the principal office, a trust office or a representative trust office, but not a branch.
(22)
"Out-of-state bank" means a bank chartered to act as a fiduciary in any state or states other than this state.
(23)
"Out-of-state trust company" means either a trust company that is not a state trust company or a savings association whose principal office is not located in this state.
(24)
"Out-of-state trust institution" means a trust institution that is not a state trust institution.
(25)
"Person" means an individual, a company or any other legal entity.
(26)
"Principal office" with respect to:
(A)
A state trust company, means a location registered with the commissioner as the state trust company's home office at which:
(i)
The state trust company does business;
(ii)
The state trust company keeps its corporate books and a set of its material records, including material fiduciary records; and
(iii)
At least one (1) executive officer of the state trust company maintains an office; or
(B)
A trust institution other than a state trust company, means its principal place of business in the United States.
(27)
"Registration" means the process by which a trust institution has been authorized by the commissioner to acquire, establish or maintain a representative trust office in this state.
(28)
"Representative trust office" means an office at which a trust institution has been authorized by the commissioner to engage in a trust business other than acting as a fiduciary.
(29)
"Savings association" means a depository institution that is neither a bank nor a foreign bank.
(30)
"State" means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, any territory of the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
(31)
"State bank" means
(A)
a bank chartered to act as a fiduciary by this state or
(B)
a foreign bank as defined in Section 1(b)(7) of the International Banking Act of 1978 chartered to act as a fiduciary in this state.
(32)
"State trust company" means a corporation or a limited liability trust company organized or reorganized under this chapter, including a trust company organized under the laws of this state before July 1, 1998.
(33)
"State trust institution" means a trust institution having its principal office in this state.
(34)
"Trust business" means the holding out by a person to the public by advertising, solicitation or other means that the person is available to perform any service of a fiduciary in this or another state, including but not limited to:
(A)
Acting as a fiduciary, or
(B)
To the extent not acting as a fiduciary, any of the following:
(i)
receiving for safekeeping personal property of every description;
(ii)
acting as assignee, bailee, conservator, custodian, escrow agent, registrar, receiver or transfer agent; or
(iii)
acting as financial advisor, investment advisor or manager, agent or attorney-in-fact in any agreed upon capacity.
(35)
"Trust company" means a state trust company or any other company chartered to act as a fiduciary that is neither a depository institution nor a foreign bank.
(36)
"Trust institution" means a depository institution, foreign bank, state bank or trust company.
(37)
"Trust office" means an office, other than the principal office, at which a trust institution is licensed by the commissioner to act as a fiduciary.
(38)
"Unauthorized trust activity" means
(A)
a company, other than one identified in Section
81-27-1.101(a)
, acting as a fiduciary within this state,
(B)
a company engaging in a trust business in this state at any office of such company that is not its principal office, if it is a state trust institution, or that is not a trust office or a representative trust office of such company, or
(C)
an out-of-state trust institution engaging in a trust business in this state at any time an order issued by the commissioner pursuant to Section
81-27-2.302(b)
is in effect.
(b)
These definitions shall be liberally construed to accomplish the purposes of the chapter. Additional definitions applicable to this chapter are contained in Section
81-27-6.001
. The commissioner by rule or regulation may adopt other definitions to accomplish the purposes of this chapter.
Laws, 1998, ch. 437, § 1, eff. 7/1/1998.