§ 238. Regulations and restrictions as to repayment of deposits. 1.
The repayment of deposits made with any savings bank and any interest
credited thereto, shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter and
to rules and regulations made in accordance therewith. Any such
regulations adopted by the board of trustees shall be posted in a
conspicuous place in the office or offices of such savings bank, and
shall be available to depositors upon request. All such rules and
regulations, from time to time in effect, and all amendments thereto,
from time to time in effect, shall be binding upon all depositors.

2. A savings bank may at any time by a resolution of its board of
trustees require a notice of sixty days before repaying deposits which
are not demand deposits, in which event no non-demand deposit shall be
due or payable until sixty days after notice of intention to withdraw
the same shall have been personally given by the depositor. Any such
non-demand deposit shall cease to be due or payable under such notice or
by reason thereof upon the fifteenth day after the expiration of such
sixty days' notice if not withdrawn by the fifteenth day thereafter.
Nothing herein contained, however, shall be construed as prohibiting any
savings bank from making payments of such deposits before the expiration
of said sixty days' notice. Except as provided in subdivision four of
this section and in subdivision one-a of section two hundred thirty-four
of this chapter, no savings bank shall agree with its depositors in
advance to waive said sixty days' notice nor shall it require a longer
notice than sixty days. In the event that any savings bank shall require
that notice be given before such deposits may be withdrawn it shall,
upon the day such requirement is made effective, notify the
superintendent by telephone or telegraph that such requirement has been
made.

3. Except as provided in subdivisions four, five and six of this
section, a savings bank shall not pay, nor shall a depositor, his
assignee or anyone claiming through a depositor, be entitled to receive
any interest or deposit or portion of a deposit, unless the passbook of
the depositor be produced and the proper entry be made therein at the
time of the payment. The board of trustees, however, may provide in the
by-laws for making payments in cases of loss of passbook, or other
exceptional cases where the passbooks cannot be produced without serious
inconvenience to depositors. The board of trustees may further provide
in the by-laws for the payment of interest to a depositor without
requiring the production of the passbook, provided that such payment is
made (a) pursuant to the written request of the depositor, and (b) by
check payable to the order of the depositor. The right to make such
payments without production of the passbook shall cease when the
superintendent shall so direct, upon his being satisfied that such right
is being improperly exercised. Payments, however, may be made upon the
judgment or order of a court. Where payment is made without production
of the passbook in accordance with its by-laws, a savings bank shall not
be liable to an assignee of that passbook for such payment if such
assignee has not, prior to such payment, served upon the savings bank
written notice of the assignment. When authorized by the depositor, or,
in the case of a joint account, by both depositors, a savings bank may
charge the account of such depositor or depositors for any sums due the
insurance department of such savings bank, or due the insurance
department of any other savings bank for which it is agent, without
requiring the production of the passbook for the recording of the charge
therein. For the purpose of this subdivision, the term "passbook" shall
include any evidence of ownership of a deposit held pursuant to
subdivision one-a of section two hundred thirty-four of this chapter,
subject, however, to such regulations and restrictions as the
superintendent of financial services may prescribe pursuant to such
subdivision.

4. A savings bank may contract with its depositors to repay deposits
of fixed sums made at regular intervals, other than demand deposits and
deposits held pursuant to subdivision one-a of section two hundred
thirty-four of this chapter, at a given time with all interest credited
thereon or to repay said deposits when, together with interest credited
thereon, they shall equal a specific sum and may issue a certificate
setting forth the given sum to which such deposits shall be accumulated
or the given time during which the deposits and the interest thereon
shall be accumulated. Such contract shall not provide for any forfeiture
of the sums deposited in the event of the discontinuance of the regular
payments. Interest on club accounts, if offered, must be credited at
least quarterly and may not be forfeited once credited, in the event of
the discontinuance of regular payments. Any savings bank which provides
for deposits in club accounts shall, in all advertising, announcements
or brochures pertaining to such accounts, state whether or not interest
is paid thereon and, if interest is paid, shall state the rate or form
of interest so paid in accordance with any rules and regulations that
may be prescribed by the superintendent.

4-a. If a deposit held pursuant to subdivision one-a of section two
hundred thirty-four of this chapter is repaid prior to maturity at the
request of a depositor, such repayment shall be subject to such
penalties as the superintendent of financial services may find to be
necessary and proper, except that no such penalty shall be imposed where
the depositor has died or been declared legally incompetent.

5. A savings bank may accept deposits from an employer or an employee
group, to be credited to the individual accounts of the members of a
group of employees having a common employer, without the issuance of a
passbook in connection therewith, and may pay to any one of the members
of such group, or to his authorized agent, in person, the whole or any
part of such deposits credited to his account together with the interest
credited thereon, without requiring the production of a passbook.

6. Subject to any regulations and restrictions prescribed by the
superintendent of financial services, a savings bank may accept
deposits, including demand deposits, without the issuance of a passbook
in connection therewith, and may issue such other evidences of its
obligation to repay such deposits as may be appropriate to safeguard the
interests of the depositors and of the savings bank.