§ 65. Appointment of fiscal agent or trustee; powers and duties. 1. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the comptroller, on behalf of the state, may contract from time to time for a period or periods not exceeding ten years each, except in the case of a bank or trust company agreeing to act as issuing, paying and/or tender agent with respect to a particular issue of variable interest rate bonds in which case the comptroller, on behalf of the state, may contract for a period not to exceed the term of such particular issue of bonds, with one or more banks or trust companies located in the city of New York, to act as fiscal agent, trustee, or agents of the state, and for the maintenance of an office for the registration, conversion, reconversion and transfer of the bonds and notes of the state, including the preparation and substitution of new bonds and notes, for the payment of the principal thereof and interest thereon, for related services, and to otherwise effectuate the powers and duties of a fiscal agent or trustee on behalf of the state in all such respects as may be determined by the comptroller for such bonds and notes, and for the payment by the state of such compensation therefor as the comptroller may determine. Any such fiscal agent or trustee may, where authorized pursuant to the terms of its contract, accept delivery of obligations purchased by the state and of securities deposited with the state pursuant to sections one hundred five and one hundred six of this chapter and hold the same in safekeeping, make delivery to purchasers of obligations sold by the state, and accept deposit of such proceeds of sale without securing the same. Any such contract may also provide that such fiscal agent or trustee may, upon the written instruction of the comptroller, deposit any obligations or securities which it receives pursuant to such contract, in an account with a federal reserve bank, to be held in such account in the form of entries on the books of the federal reserve bank, and to be transferred in the event of any assignment, sale, redemption, maturity or other disposition of such obligations or securities, by entries on the books of the federal reserve bank. Any such bank or trust company shall be responsible to the people of this state for the faithful and safe conduct of the business of said office, for the fidelity and integrity of its officers and agents employed in such office, and for all loss or damage which may result from any failure to discharge their duties, and for any improper and incorrect discharge of those duties, and shall save the state free and harmless from any and all loss or damage occasioned by or incurred in the performance of such services. Any such contract may be terminated by the comptroller at any time. In the event of any change in any office maintained pursuant to any such contract, the comptroller shall give public notice thereof in such form as he may determine appropriate.
2. The comptroller shall prescribe rules and regulations for the registration, conversion, reconversion and transfer of the bonds and notes of the state, including the preparation and substitution of new bonds, for the payment of the principal thereof and interest thereon, and for other authorized services to be performed by such fiscal agent or trustee. Such rules and regulations, and all amendments thereof, shall be prepared in duplicate, one copy of which shall be filed in the office of the department of audit and control and the other in the office of the department of state. A copy thereof may be filed as a public record in such other offices as the comptroller may determine. Such rules and regulations shall be obligatory on all persons having any interests in bonds and notes of the state heretofore or hereafter issued.
