2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SEVEN - Banking (§§ 1 — 3116) › PART III - Other Financial Institutions (§§ 551 — 1390) › Chapter 66 - Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico (§§ 751 — 779c) › § 770 - Reports; accounting system; unclaimed amounts; publication of notice

(a) The Bank shall render to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions all such reports as the latter may require for the discharge of his supervisory functions.
(b) It shall be the duty of the Cooperative Bank to publish each year in a newspaper of general circulation in the area in which it is located, a statement of its financial condition which shall be submitted within the first one hundred and fifty (150) days from the close of the fiscal year. Should the Bank fail to publish said statement, it shall be penalized each time it fails to do so with an administrative fine of one hundred dollars ($100).
It shall be the duty of the Bank to maintain an accounting system that reflects the financial condition of the Bank and its relations, operations and transactions with natural or juridical third persons and government entities, and to keep and preserve those books, records and documents that reflect said relations, operations and transactions, which may be preserved by alternate means consisting of images or photographs of their contents, which shall be deemed as original for all purposes. Subject to the provisions of §§ 2001 et seq. of Title 30, known as the “Mortgage and Property Registry Act of 1979”, the Bank may destroy its original books, records or documents after their contents have been photographed. With the authorization and under the supervisions of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, or under any other method provided by the Commissioner, the Bank may destroy or otherwise dispose of those books, records, documents and photographs after five (5) years from the date of the last entry in said books and records or from the date on which any obligation ceases to be collectable under the documents in its power.
(c) The Bank shall be bound to render to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, annually and not later than August 10, a report as of June 30 of the previous year stating the amounts, over one dollar ($1.00), in its possession, unclaimed by the depositor or the person entitled to them during the previous fifteen (15) years, excluding:
(1) Amounts owed to a depositor, reduced by withdrawal of funds or increased by deposits, through the exclusion of credit for interest, within said period of years; or
(2) amounts represented by depositors’ passbooks, presented for entry of credit for interest within said period of years, or
(3) amounts which the Bank has written evidence of, received within the previous years, that the person entitled to such amounts has knowledge.
Said report shall set forth the name of and the amount owed to each depositor or creditor and the date of the last transaction related to the respective amounts. All names appearing in said report shall be put in alphabetical order.
In the event that on the date mentioned in this subsection, the Bank does not have unclaimed amounts in its possession, as previously established, it shall render a report to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions stating it, within said term.
The Bank shall publish annually, once during each of the months of August and September, in a newspaper of general circulation, a notice entitled “Notice of Unclaimed Amounts in the possession of...”.
Such notice shall set forth, in alphabetical order, the names of the persons who according to the last report rendered are entitled to claim amounts of twenty-five dollars ($25) or more, the last known address of each one of said persons, and the respective amounts they are entitled to.
During the following month of October and not later than the tenth day of said month, the Bank shall file with the Commissioner of Financial Institutions the certificate of publication of said notice.
The expenses incurred in the publication required by this section shall be defrayed by the Bank against the accounts included in said notice, deducting them from the amount thereof. This shall be the last item that may be charged against unclaimed amounts. It shall be unlawful for a Bank to impose service charges on inactive savings accounts or to write them off from books in any other way.
Every year, during the month of December and not later than the tenth (10) day of said month, if the Bank, after publishing the notice required above and meeting the claims made according to law, has in its possession any unclaimed amounts, regardless of their total, it shall deliver them to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions and they shall be covered into the general funds of the Commonwealth Treasury.
No action shall lie against the Bank to recover amounts delivered to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or for alleged damages for such delivery.
Within the term of ten (10) years from the date of delivery of any unclaimed amount to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, as provided above, any person who believes himself to be entitled to said amount or any part thereof may claim it from the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, who is hereby authorized to reimburse its owner with interest at six percent (6%) per annum, computed from the date in which the amount claimed was delivered to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, upon proof of the claimant’s right. Within the term of thirty (30) days from the date of notice of the negatory resolution of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, the claimant may bring a civil action against the Commissioner of Financial Institutions before the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico, which is hereby granted exclusive jurisdiction to hear the case.
If the Bank violates any of the provisions of this section not penalized herein, it shall be punished as prescribed in § 777 of this title.
History —June 21, 1966, No. 88, p. 257, § 20; May 31, 1976, No. 94, p. 277, § 3; Sept. 25, 1992, No. 79, § 13; Aug. 17, 2001, No. 115, § 3.