1. No person, except a bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, trust company, private banker, credit union, investment company organized under article twelve of this chapter and authorized to accept deposits, national bank, federal savings association, federal credit union, or out-of-state state bank, as such term is defined in subdivision two of section two hundred twenty-two of this chapter, or lender licensed pursuant to article nine of this chapter, shall engage in the business of a sales finance company in this state without a license therefor obtained from the superintendent, as provided in this article.1-a. Subdivision one of this section does not apply to corporations subject to the insurance law and corporations and private bankers subject to the banking law in exercising the powers granted to them by chapter eight hundred ninety-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred thirty-four as heretofore or hereafter enacted.2. Application for a license required under this article shall be in writing, under oath, and in the form prescribed by the superintendent, and shall contain the following: (a) The exact name of the applicant and date of incorporation, if incorporated;(b) The complete address where the business is to be conducted, showing the street and number, if any, the office building and room number, if any, and the municipality and county;(c) If the applicant has one or more branches, subsidiaries or affiliates operating in this state, the complete address of each such place of business; and(d) The name and resident address of the owner or partners of the applicant or, if a corporation or association, of the directors, trustees and principal officers, and of any stockholder owning twenty per centum or more of its stock; and(e) Such other pertinent information as the superintendent may require.3. Where an applicant operates several places of business, separate applications for license shall be made for each such place of business.4. At the time of filing an application for license, the applicant shall pay to the superintendent an investigation fee. The investigation fee shall be as prescribed pursuant to section eighteen-a of this chapter, except that, when an applicant files applications for licenses for three or more places of business at the same time, the total investigation fee for all the applications shall be three times the amount as prescribed pursuant to section eighteen-a of this chapter.