1. No person shall engage in the business of selling or issuing checks, or engage in the business of receiving money for transmission or transmitting the same, without a license therefor obtained from the superintendent as provided in this article, nor shall any person engage in such business as an agent, except as an agent of a licensee or as agent of a payee; provided, however, that nothing in this article shall apply to a bank, trust company, private banker, foreign banking corporation licensed pursuant to article two of this chapter or foreign banking company authorized to operate pursuant to the International Banking Act of 1978 (12 USC 3101 et seq.), as amended, savings bank, savings and loan association, an investment company, a national banking association, federal reserve bank, corporation organized under the provisions of section twenty-five-a of an act of congress entitled the "Federal Reserve Act", federal savings bank, federal savings and loan association or state or federal credit union.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, if incorporated, the date of incorporation and the state where incorporated.(b) The complete address of the principal office from which the business is to be conducted, and where the books and records of the applicant are maintained and to be maintained, showing the street and number, if any, and the municipality and county;(c) If the applicant has one or more branches, subsidiaries or affiliates engaging in this state in the business of selling or issuing checks, or of receiving money for transmission or transmitting the same, the complete name and address of each;(d) The name and residence address of the applicant, if an individual or, if a partnership, of its partners or, if a corporation or association, of the directors, trustees and principal officers thereof, and of any stockholder owning twenty per centum or more of any class of its stock; and(e) Such other pertinent information as the superintendent may require.3. Application for a license shall be accompanied by an investigation fee as prescribed pursuant to section eighteen-a of this chapter, which shall not be refunded.