§ 740 — Application for acquisition of control of buy-now-pay-later lender by purchase of stock

* § 740. Application for acquisition of control of buy-now-pay-later\nlender by purchase of stock. 1. It shall be unlawful except with the\nprior approval of the superintendent for any action to be taken which\nresults in a change of control of the business of a licensee. Prior to\nany change of control, the person desirous of acquiring control of the\nbusiness of a licensee shall make written application to the\nsuperintendent and pay an investigation fee as prescribed pursuant to\nsection eighteen-a of this chapter to the superintendent. The\napplication shall contain such information as the superintendent, by\nregulation, may prescribe as necessary or appropriate for the purpose of\nmaking the determination required by subdivision two of this section.\n 2. The superintendent shall approve or disapprove the proposed change\nof control of a licensee in accordance with the provisions of section\nseven hundred thirty-eight of this article.\n 3. For a period of six months from the date of qualification thereof\nand for such additional period of time as the superintendent may\nprescribe, in writing, the provisions of subdivisions one and two of\nthis section shall not apply to a transfer of control by operation of\nlaw to the legal representative, as hereinafter defined, of one who has\ncontrol of a licensee. Thereafter, such legal representative shall\ncomply with the provisions of subdivisions one and two of this section.\nThe provisions of subdivisions one and two of this section shall be\napplicable to an application made under such section by a legal\nrepresentative.\n 4. The term "legal representative," for the purposes of this section,\nshall mean one duly appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction to\nact as executor, administrator, trustee, committee, conservator or\nreceiver, including one who succeeds a legal representative and one\nacting in an ancillary capacity thereto in accordance with the\nprovisions of such court appointment.\n 5. As used in this section, the term "control" means the possession,\ndirectly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of\nthe management and policies of a licensee, whether through the ownership\nof voting stock of such licensee, the ownership of voting stock of any\nperson which possesses such power or otherwise. Control shall be\npresumed to exist if any person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls\nor holds with power to vote ten per centum or more of the voting stock\nof any licensee or of any person which owns, controls or holds with\npower to vote ten per centum or more of the voting stock of any\nlicensee, but no person shall be deemed to control a licensee solely by\nreason of being an officer or director of such licensee or person. The\nsuperintendent may in the superintendent's discretion, upon the\napplication of a licensee or any person who, directly or indirectly,\nowns, controls or holds with power to vote or seeks to own, control or\nhold with power to vote any voting stock of such licensee, determine\nwhether or not the ownership, control or holding of such voting stock\nconstitutes or would constitute control of such licensee for purposes of\nthis section.\n * NB Effective upon the one hundred eightieth day after the\npromulgation of rules and/or regulations by the department of financial\nservices to effectuate certain provisions (see Ch. 58 of 2025, Part Y, §\n13)\n