Notice of Branch Closure (Trust and Loan Companies) Regulations

Marginal note:Notice to customers, public and mayor

• 6 (1) If the branch is in a rural area and there is no retail deposit-taking branch within a travelling distance of 10 km from the branch, the notice must be given to

  • (a) the customers of the branch;

  • (b) the public; and

  • (c) the chairperson, mayor, warden, reeve or other similar chief officer of the municipal or local government body or authority for the area in which the branch is located.

• Marginal note:Six months notice

  (2) The notice must be given no later than six months before the date proposed for the closure of the branch or the cessation of the activity.

• Marginal note:Manner of giving notice

  (3) The notice must be given by

  • (a) posting it in a conspicuous place in a public area of the branch;

  • (b) sending it to each customer of the branch

    • (i) by mail, either included with a regular account statement or in a separate mailing, or

    • (ii) by electronic means, if the customer regularly receives material from the member company by electronic means;

  • (c) publishing it in a newspaper in general circulation at or near the place where the branch is located; and

  • (d) delivering it to the chairperson, mayor, warden, reeve or other similar chief officer of the municipal or local government body or authority for the area in which the branch is located.

• Marginal note:Information to be included

  (4) The notice must include the following information:

  • (a) the location of the branch;

  • (b) the date proposed for the closure of the branch or the cessation of the activity;

  • (c) alternative sites where, after that date, customers of the branch may obtain services similar to the financial services that are provided at the branch, or a telephone number that customers may call to determine those sites;

  • (d) the address of the branch to which the member company will transfer the customers’ accounts;

  • (e) the measures, if any, that the member company is taking to maintain any financial services that are available in the area that is served by the branch, to the extent that that information is available;

  • (f) how the member company and the Commissioner may be contacted in respect of the proposed closure of the branch or cessation of the activity; and

  • (g) a statement that the Commissioner may require the member company to convene and hold a meeting between representatives of the member company, representatives of the Agency and interested parties in the vicinity of the branch, in order to exchange views about the proposed closure of the branch or cessation of the activity, if

    • (i) the member company has not consulted the community in the area affected by the closure of the branch or the cessation of the activity well enough to ascertain the views of interested persons in the community with regard to the closure of the branch or the cessation of the activity,

    • (ii) an individual or a community representative from the area affected by the closure of the branch or the cessation of the activity submits to the Commissioner a written request for the meeting, and

    • (iii) the request is not frivolous or vexatious.