12 U.S.C. § 71 (2024)

This is the official text of 12 U.S.C. § 71 (2024), part of Federal (US Code)’s United States Code — the codified general and permanent federal statutes of the United States, organized into more than 50 numbered titles by subject.

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Election

Official statutory text

The affairs of each association shall be managed by not less than five directors, who shall be elected by the shareholders at a meeting to be held at any time before the association is authorized by the Comptroller of the Currency to commence the business of banking; and afterward at meetings to be held on such day of each year as is specified therefor in the bylaws. The directors shall hold office for a period of not more than 3 years, and until their successors are elected and have qualified. In accordance with regulations issued by the Comptroller of the Currency, a national bank may adopt bylaws that provide for staggering the terms of its directors.

(R.S. §5145; Pub. L. 88–232, §1, Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 472; Pub. L. 106–569, title XII, §1205(a), Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 3033.)

Editorial Notes

Codification

R.S. §5145 derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, §§9, 10, 13 Stat. 102, which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this title.

Amendments

2000—Pub. L. 106–569 substituted "for a period of not more than 3 years" for "for one year" and inserted at end "In accordance with regulations issued by the Comptroller of the Currency, a national bank may adopt bylaws that provide for staggering the terms of its directors."

1963—Pub. L. 88–232 substituted "on such day of each year as is specified therefor in the bylaws" for "on such day in January of each year as is specified therefor in the articles of association".

Executive Documents

Exception as to Transfer of Functions

Functions vested by any provision of law in Comptroller of the Currency, referred to in this section, not included in transfer of functions to Secretary of the Treasury, see note set out under section 1 of this title.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.