(a) No escrow depository license shall be transferred except as provided in this section.
Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 449-8.6
Acquisition of control: means acquisition by a person or persons acting in concert of the power to vote fifty-one per cent or more of any voting securities of a licensee. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 449-1
Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
Escrow: means any transaction affecting the title to real property, including leaseholds, proprietary leaseholds, and condominiums, in which a person not a party to the transaction and neither having nor acquiring any interest in the title receives from one party to the transaction, holds until the happening of an event or performance of a condition and then delivers to another party to the transaction, any money or other consideration or any instrument affecting the title to that real property, all in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the parties to the transaction. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 449-1
Escrow depository: means the corporation which, in an escrow, and for compensation, receives, holds, and delivers the money, other consideration, or instrument affecting title to real property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 449-1
Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
(b) A bona fide sale of all or substantially all of the ongoing operations of a licensee shall not result in the assignment or transfer of the escrow depository license, until approved by the commissioner as provided in this section. The proposed purchaser of all or substantially all of the ongoing operations of a licensee shall file an application for approval of a proposed change in control of the licensee, accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee in accordance with this chapter, and shall not act as an escrow depository until the application has been approved by the commissioner.(c) Any transfer of a licensee’s voting stock which may result in the acquisition of control of the licensee may be considered a transfer of license under this chapter, and prior to the transfer shall be reported to the commissioner in writing. Upon determination by the commissioner that the intended transfer will result in the acquisition of control, the proposed purchaser or transferee of the stock shall file an application for approval of a proposed change in control of the licensee, accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee in accordance with this chapter, and shall not act as an escrow depository until the application has been approved by the commissioner.(d) At the time of filing an application for approval of a proposed change in control of the licensee, the proposed purchaser or transferee shall provide to the commissioner the history of its material litigation and criminal convictions for the five-year period prior to the date of the application, and any other information requested by the commissioner which may include information similar to that required of an applicant for initial licensure or license renewal under this chapter. The proposed purchaser or transferee shall also provide any authorizations necessary for the commissioner to conduct criminal history record checks of each of the purchaser or transferee’s controlling persons, and each of the officers, directors, and principals who will be in charge of the licensee’s activities upon approval of the proposed application for change in control. The authorizations shall be accompanied by the appropriate payment of the applicable fee for each record check.(e) Approval of the application for change in control of the licensee shall be granted only if the commissioner finds that following the change in control of the licensee, the character, financial responsibility, experience, ability, and general fitness of the controlling persons of the applicant for proposed change in control of the licensee, and each of the officers, directors, and principals who will be in charge of the licensee’s activities upon approval of the proposed application for change in control, are such as to command the confidence of the community in the State and to warrant the beliefs that such persons are competent to successfully control and manage an escrow business and the applicant will be an honest and efficient escrow depository.(f) In granting approval, the commissioner may impose such conditions and restrictions as shall be in the public interest, including without limitation requiring the proposed purchaser or transferee to fulfill representations contained in its application for approval of a proposed change in control of the licensee, and agreements made during the application process.
