(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 23-48-405, bank holding companies that own, directly or indirectly, an affiliated bank are authorized and empowered by the provisions of this subchapter to apply to the Bank Commissioner for authority to:
(1) Create, form, and establish subsidiary trust companies under this subchapter for the purpose of combining the trust operations of their affiliated banks into a single trust operation; and
(2) Create, form, and establish national trust companies under the laws of the United States.
(b) In determining whether to grant an application for permission to establish a subsidiary trust company, the commissioner shall take into consideration the sufficiency of the capital base of the applying bank holding company, the needs of the communities to be served, and any other facts and circumstances that seem to him or her proper, and may grant or refuse the application accordingly.
(c) The subsidiary trust company shall be formed as a business corporation under the Arkansas Business Corporation Act, § 4-27-101 et seq. The newly formed subsidiary trust company shall only have the ability to conduct trust business that could be conducted by the individual trust departments combined from the affiliated banks to create the subsidiary trust company.
(d) Offices of a subsidiary trust company may be located only in:
(1) Communities where its affiliated banks are located or in communities where their branches are or could be located; or
(2) Communities where it would be authorized to have an office if it were a national trust company.
(e) A subsidiary trust company shall be fully subject to the provisions of § 23-50-101 et seq.