CENTRAL SAVINGS ASSOCIATION, A KANSAS CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
CENTRAL PLAZA BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, FORMERLY CENTRAL PLAZA BANK, A FLORIDA BANKING CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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Central Savings Association, a Kansas savings and loan association, challenged a judgment against it after Central Plaza Bank applied its certificate of deposit to a loan to Central Savings' controlling entity without consent. The court held that a financial institution cannot use depositors' funds as collateral for loans to its owners, reversing the trial court's judgment.
The court reversed, holding that a financial institution cannot use depositors' money, in the form of certificates of deposit, as collateral for loans to its owners or affiliates. Financial institutions deal with depositors' money, not their owners' money, and federal regulation prohibited savings and loans from lending to companies that own them.
“A bank may lend its money but not its credit.”
Establishes the fundamental principle that financial institutions cannot pledge depositors' funds as collateral for third-party loans.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTower Credit Corporation controlled Central Savings Association and borrowed $50,000 from Central Plaza Bank. The bank required Central Savings to acq…
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None of us has been to Concordia, Kansas, and it is not among the places we are yearning to visit. On the other hand, St. Petersburg, Florida, is a nice place to live or visit, and in the midst of one of its largest retail districts is the Central Plaza Bank & Trust Company, a reputable financial institution owned and managed by some of the community’s leading citizens. We regret to announce that we cannot uphold the judgment in its favor from which this appeal is taken.
Tower Credit Corporation controlled, and owned all but qualifying shares in, Central Savings Association, a Kansas mutual savings and loan assocation. Tower borrowed $50,000 from Central Plaza Bank, which insisted that another Tower subsidiary maintain a 15% compensating balance, that Tower’s two principal officers personally endorse the notes and that Central Savings Association acquire and maintain a $50,000 certificate of deposit, which it did, later reducing the amount to $42,500. Ultimately, after Tower’s loan was in default, Central Savings demanded payment of its certificate of deposit, but the attorney for Central Plaza Bank advised it that the certificate of deposit had been applied to Tower’s indebtedness.
Following the trial court’s denial of a directed verdict, a jury found the certificate of deposit to be a condition of the loan and established the identity of Tower and Central Savings so that if it had been, for example, a manufacturing subsidiary or affiliate, the verdict for the bank might be lawful. See Piedmont Print Works, Inc. v. Receivers of People’s State Bank of South Carolina, 68 F.2d 110 (4th Cir.1934); Black & Decker Mfg. Co. v. Union Trust Co., 53 Ohio App. 356, 4 N.E.2d 929 (1936).
But a financial institution is dealing not with its owners’ money primarily, but with its depositors’. Appellant, regulated by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, was forbidden to “make any loan, discount, or extension of credit to” any company owning it. 12 U.S.C. § 1730a (d) (4) (1964). A bank may lend its money but not its credit. Ferguson v. Five Points National Bank of Miami, Fla.App. 1966, 187 So.2d 45, and cases there cited. See Stearns, Suretyship, 5th ed. by Elder, § 2.6 (1951).
*52Owners of banks or savings and loan associations cannot use depositors’ money as collateral for their personal loans.
Reversed and remanded for entry of judgment for appellant.
PIERCE, J., concurs.
HOBSON, Acting C. J., dissents.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Cent. Plaza Bank & Tr. Co. v. Cent. Sav. Ass'n, 232 So. 2d 176 (Fla. 1969)…Certiorari denied without opinion. 223 So. 2d 50.…
Authorities Cited
- Ferguson v. Five Points Nat'l Bank OF Miami, 187 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 3d DCA 1966)
- Piedmont Print Works, Inc. v. Receivers of People's State Bank of S.C., 68 F.2d 110 (4th Cir. 1934)