An interstate merger transaction prior to June 1, 1997, involving a North Carolina bank shall not be consummated, and any out-of-state bank resulting from such a merger shall not operate any branch in North Carolina, unless the laws of the home state of each out-of-state bank involved in the interstate merger transaction permit North Carolina banks under substantially the same terms and conditions as are set forth in Part 3 to acquire banks and establish and maintain branches in that state by means of interstate merger transactions.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 53-224.21