§ 369. Conditions precedent to issuing license; issuance and filing of
license; posting license. 1. If the superintendent shall find that the
financial responsibility, experience, character, and general fitness of
the applicant, and of the members thereof if the applicant be a
co-partnership or association, and of the officers and directors thereof
if the applicant be a corporation, are such as to command the confidence
of the community and to warrant belief that the business will be
operated honestly, fairly, and efficiently within the purposes of this
article, and if the superintendent shall find that the granting of such
application will promote the convenience and advantage of the area in
which such business is to be conducted, and if the superintendent shall
find that the applicant has available for the operation of such business
for each location and for each mobile unit specified in the application
liquid assets of at least ten thousand dollars, the superintendent shall
thereupon execute a license in duplicate to permit the cashing of
checks, drafts and money orders in accordance with the provisions of
this article at the location or in the area specified in such
application. In finding whether the application will promote the
convenience and advantage to the public, the superintendent shall
determine whether there is a community need for a new licensee in the
proposed area to be served. No license shall be issued to an applicant
for a license, at a location to be licensed which is closer than one
thousand five hundred eighty-four feet (three-tenths of a mile) from an
existing licensee, except with the written consent of such existing
licensee or pursuant to subdivision three of section three hundred
seventy of this article, subject to any restriction or condition as the
superintendent may promulgate by regulation; provided, however, the
superintendent may permit a location to be licensed that is closer than
three-tenths of a mile from an existing licensee provided such applicant
engages in the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders only for payees
of such checks, drafts or money orders that are other than natural
persons at the location to be licensed and such applicant was engaged in
the cashing of such checks, drafts or money orders for payees that are
other than natural persons at such location on or before the fourteenth
day of July, two thousand four, and provided further that upon licensing
any such location by the superintendent, such license as it pertains
solely to such location shall not be affected thereafter by any change
of control of such license pursuant to section three hundred seventy-a
of this article, provided that the licensee continues thereafter to
engage at that location in the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders
only for payees that are other than natural persons and provided further
that such license shall bear a legend stating that such location is
restricted to the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders only for
payees that are other than natural persons. The three-tenths of a mile
distance requirement as set forth in this section shall not apply in
cases where the existing licensee is a restricted location as authorized
in the preceding sentence, or is any other licensed location that
engages solely in the cashing of checks, drafts or money orders only for
payees that are other than natural persons. For purposes of this
section, such distance shall be measured on a straight line along the
street between the nearest point of the store fronts of the check
cashing facilities. The primary business of the licensee, at the
location to be licensed, shall be financial services. The superintendent
shall transmit one copy of such license to the applicant and file
another in the office of the department. Notwithstanding the foregoing
provisions of this subdivision, the superintendent, upon application by
an applicant and for good cause shown, may permit a reduction from ten
thousand dollars to not less than five thousand dollars of minimum
liquid assets required for each location.

2. Such license shall state the name of the licensee; and if the
licensee is a co-partnership or association, the names of the members
thereof; and if the licensee is a corporation, the date of its
incorporation; and if the business is to be conducted at a specific
address, the address at which such business is to be conducted; and if
the business is to be conducted through the use of a mobile unit, the
New York state registration number or other identification of such
mobile unit and the area in which such mobile unit is authorized to do
business.

3. Such license shall be kept conspicuously posted in the place of
business of the licensee or, in the case of a mobile unit, upon such
mobile unit. Such license shall not be transferable or assignable.

4. Such license shall remain in full force and effect until it is
surrendered by the licensee or revoked or suspended as provided in this
article.

5. If the superintendent shall find that the applicant fails to meet
any of the conditions set forth in subdivision one of this section, he
shall not issue such license, and he shall notify the applicant of the
denial. If an application is denied or withdrawn, the superintendent
shall retain the investigation fee to cover the costs of investigating
the application and return the license fee to the applicant.

6. The superintendent may, consistent with article twenty-three-A of
the correction law, refuse to issue a license pursuant to this article
if he shall find that the applicant, or any person who is a director,
officer, partner, agent, employee or substantial stockholder of the
applicant, (a) has been convicted of a crime in any jurisdiction or (b)
is associating or consorting with any person who has, or persons who
have, been convicted of a crime or crimes in any jurisdiction or
jurisdictions. For the purposes of this article, a person shall be
deemed to have been convicted of a crime if such person shall have
pleaded guilty to a charge thereof before a court or magistrate, or
shall have been found guilty thereof by the decision or judgment of a
court or magistrate or by the verdict of a jury, irrespective of the
pronouncement of sentence or the suspension thereof. The term
"substantial stockholder," as used in this subdivision, shall be deemed
to refer to a person owning or controlling ten per centum or more of the
total outstanding stock of the corporation in which such person is a
stockholder. In making a determination pursuant to this subdivision, the
superintendent shall require fingerprinting of the applicant. Such
fingerprints shall be submitted to the division of criminal justice
services for a state criminal history record check, as defined in
subdivision one of section three thousand thirty-five of the education
law, and may be submitted to the federal bureau of investigation for a
national criminal history record check.

7. No license pursuant to this article shall be issued to any
applicant to do business at the place specified in the application as
the place where the business is to be conducted if, within the twelve
months preceding such application, a license to engage in business
pursuant to this article at such place shall have been revoked.