Banking Interpretations
NYSBL 367
Memorandum
To: Examiner Estes, Examiner Nikiforidis, Deputy Superintendent Stone
From: Bryan Farrell
Date: January 13, 2006
Subject: Applicability of Minimum Liquidity Requirements to Limited Station Check Cashers
Issue
Whether the minimum liquidity requirement applicable to check casher locations pursuant to BL 367.4 applies to limited station license locations.
Conclusion
Yes
Background/Reasoning
A licensed check casher may apply for a separate license that would permit it to cash checks only for a specified group or groups, at a particular location. Such licenses are referred to as "limited station licenses."
BL §367.4, applicable to licensed check cashers, provides that "every applicant shall prove...that he or it has available for the operation of such business, for each location and for each mobile unit specified in the application, liquid assets of at least ten thousand dollars..." BL § 370.2 provides that limited station licensees shall be subject to all of the provisions of Article 9-A except for three separately enumerated requirements: (1) a bond; (2) the full fee that is required of other Article 9-A licensees; and (3) certain fee limitations. Based on the exclusion of specifically described requirements that do not include the minimum liquidity requirement imposed by BL § 367.4, I conclude that limited stations are subject to the $ 10,000 per location liquidity requirement. The application of the liquidity requirement to "every applicant" and "each location" and "each mobile unit," combined with the exclusion of limited stations from specific chapter requirements that do not include the liquidity minimum, really leaves no room for another conclusion.