Section 19-3-7 - Holding or ownership of real estate(a) Any financial institution may directly or indirectly purchase, own, or otherwise acquire interests in real estate, improved or unimproved, and improve, develop, redevelop, hold, and manage the real estate and any improvements on it, and mortgage, rent, lease, option, sell, or otherwise dispose of it and/or any interest in it; provided, however, that no financial institution shall invest more than five percent (5%) of its assets in investments authorized in this subsection. This limitation excludes real estate owned, held, or leased for the convenient transaction of the financial institution's business.(b) A financial institution may hold real estate acquired by the foreclosure of a mortgage owned by it, or by purchase at sales made under the provisions of the mortgage, or upon judgments for debts due to it, or in settlements effected to secure debts. All this real estate shall be sold by the financial institution within five (5) years after the title is vested in it, unless the time is extended as provided in the case of non-legal investments. P.L. 1995, ch. 82, § 40; P.L. 1997, ch. 98, § 3.