Registrar, Paying Agent and Conversion Agent (a) The Company shall maintain one or more offices or agencies where Securities may be presented for registration of transfer or for exchange (each, a “Registrar”), one or more offices or agencies where Securities may be presented or surrendered for payment (each, a “Paying Agent”), one or more offices or agencies where Securities may be presented for conversion (each, a “Conversion Agent”) and one or more offices or agencies where notices and demands to or upon the Company in respect of the Securities and this Indenture may be served. The Company will at all times maintain a Paying Agent, Conversion Agent, Registrar and an office or agency where notices and demands to or upon the Company in respect of the Securities and this Indenture may be served in the Borough of Manhattan, The City of New York. One of the Registrars (the “Primary Registrar”) shall keep a register of the Securities and of their transfer and exchange. At the option of the Company, any payment of cash may be made by check mailed to the Holders at their addresses set forth in the register of Holders.
(b) The Company shall enter into an appropriate agency agreement with any Agent not a party to this Indenture, provided that the Agent may be an Affiliate of the Trustee. The agreement shall implement the provisions of this Indenture that relate to such Agent. The Company shall notify the Trustee of the name and address, and any change in the name or address, of any Agent not a party to this Indenture. If the Company fails to maintain a Registrar, Paying Agent, Conversion Agent, or agent for service of notices and demands in any place required by this Indenture, or fails to give the foregoing notice, the Trustee shall act as such. The Company or any Affiliate of the Company may act as Paying Agent (except for the purposes of Section 5.01 and Article 9).
(c) The Company hereby initially designates the Trustee as Paying Agent, Registrar, Securities Custodian and Conversion Agent, and designates the Corporate Trust Office of the Trustee as the office or agency of the Company for each of the aforesaid purposes and as the office or agency where notices and demands to or upon the Company in respect of the Securities and this Indenture may be served.
Certificate Register; Registration of Transfer and Exchange of Certificates (a) The Servicer shall maintain, or cause to be maintained with the Paying Agent in accordance with the provisions of Section 5.09 hereof, a Certificate Register for the Trust Fund in which, subject to the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) below and to such reasonable regulations as it may prescribe, the Servicer shall provide for the registration of Certificates and of Transfers and exchanges of Certificates as herein provided. Upon surrender for registration of Transfer of any Certificate, the Authenticating Agent shall authenticate and deliver, in the name of the designated transferee or transferees, one or more new Certificates of the same Class and of like aggregate Percentage Interest. At the option of a Certificateholder, Certificates may be exchanged for other Certificates of the same Class in authorized denominations and evidencing the same aggregate Percentage Interest upon surrender of the Certificates to be exchanged at the office or agency of the Paying Agent. Whenever any Certificates are so surrendered for exchange, the Depositor shall execute and the Authenticating Agent shall authenticate and deliver the Certificates that the Certificateholder making the exchange is entitled to receive. Every Certificate presented or surrendered for registration of Transfer or exchange shall be accompanied by a written instrument of Transfer in form satisfactory to the Servicer duly executed by the holder thereof or his attorney duly authorized in writing. No service charge to the Certificateholders shall be made for any registration of Transfer or exchange of Certificates, but payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or governmental charge that may be imposed in connection with any Transfer or exchange of Certificates may be required. All Certificates surrendered for registration of Transfer or exchange shall be canceled and subsequently destroyed by the Servicer in accordance with the Servicer's customary procedures.
(b) No Transfer of a Class C, Class L, Class P or Class R Certificate shall be made unless such Transfer is made pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act and any applicable state securities laws or is exempt from the registration requirements under the Securities Act and such state securities laws. In the event that a Transfer is to be made in reliance upon an exemption from the Securities Act and such laws, in order to assure compliance with the Securities Act and such laws, the Certificateholder desiring to effect such Transfer and such Certificateholder's prospective transferee shall (except with respect to the initial transfer of a Class C, Class L or Class P Certificate by the initial Certificateholder thereof or, in connection with a transfer of a Class C or Class P Certificate to the indenture trustee under an indenture pursuant to which NIM Notes are issued, whether or not such notes are guaranteed by the NIMs Insurer) each certify to the Servicer in writing the facts surrounding the Transfer in substantially the forms set forth in Exhibit J (the "Transferor Certificate") and (i) deliver a letter in substantially the form of either Exhibit K (the "Investment Letter") or Exhibit L (the "Rule 144A Letter") or (ii) there shall be delivered to the Servicer an Opinion of Counsel that such Transfer may be made pursuant to an exemption from the Securities Act, which Opinion of Counsel shall not be an expense of the Depositor, the Servicer or the Trustee. The Depositor shall provide to any Holder of a Class C, Class L, Class P or Class R Certificate and any prospective transferee designated by any such Holder, information regarding the related Certificates and the Mortgage Loans and such other information as shall be necessary to satisfy the condition to eligibility set forth in Rule 144A(d)(4) for Transfer of any such Certificate without registration thereof under the Securities Act pursuant to the registration exemption provided by Rule 144A. The Servicer shall cooperate with the Depositor in providing the Rule 144A information referenced in the preceding sentence, including providing to the Depositor such information regarding the Certificates, the Mortgage Loans and other matters regarding the Trust Fund as the Depositor shall reasonably request to meet its obligation under the preceding sentence. Each Holder of a Class R Certificate desiring to effect such Transfer shall, and does hereby agree to, indemnify the Trustee, the Depositor and the Servicer against any liability that may result if the Transfer is not so exempt or is not made in accordance with such federal and state laws. No Transfer of an ERISA Restricted Certificate shall be made unless the Servicer shall have received either (i) a representation from the transferee of such Certificate acceptable to and in form and substance satisfactory to the Servicer, to the effect that such transferee is not an employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA or a plan subject to Section 4975 of the Code or any applicable Federal, state or local law materially similar to the foregoing provisions of ERISA and the Code ("Similar Law"), or a Person acting on behalf of any such plan or using the assets of any such plan or (ii) in the case of any such ERISA Restricted Certificate, other than a Class R Certificate, presented for registration in the name of an employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, a plan subject to Section 4975 of the Code, or a plan subject to Similar Law (or comparable provisions of any subsequent enactments), or a trustee of any such plan or any other Person acting on behalf of any such plan, an Opinion of Counsel satisfactory to the Servicer to the effect that the purchase and holding of such ERISA Restricted Certificate will not result in the assets of the Trust Fund being deemed to be "plan assets" pursuant to the Department of Labor regulations set forth in 29 C.F.R. ss.2510.3-101 or to be subject to the fiduciary responsibility provisions of ERISA or the prohibited transaction provisions of the Code or to cause a violation under Similar Law, will not constitute or result in a prohibited transaction under ERISA or the Code or Similar Law and will not subject the Servicer to any obligation in addition to those expressly undertaken in this Agreement, which Opinion of Counsel shall not be an expense of the Servicer. For purposes of clause (i) of the preceding sentence, such representation shall be deemed to have been made to the Servicer by the transferee's acceptance of an ERISA Restricted Certificate (or the acceptance by a Certificate Owner of the beneficial interest in any Class of ERISA Restricted Certificates) unless the Servicer shall have received from the transferee an alternative representation acceptable in form and substance to the Servicer. Notwithstanding anything else to the contrary herein, any purported transfer of an ERISA Restricted Certificate to or on behalf of an employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, a plan subject to Section 4975 of the Code, or a plan subject to Similar Law without the delivery to the Servicer of an Opinion of Counsel satisfactory to the Servicer as described above shall be void and of no effect. The Servicer shall be under no liability to any Person for any registration of transfer of any ERISA Restricted Certificate that is in fact not permitted by this Section 5.02(b) or for making any payments due on such Certificate to the Holder thereof or taking any other action with respect to such Holder under the provisions of this Agreement so long as the transfer was registered by the Servicer in accordance with the foregoing requirements. The Servicer shall be entitled, but not obligated, to recover from any Holder of any ERISA Restricted Certificate that was in fact an employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, a plan subject to Section 4975 of the Code, or a plan subject to Similar Law or a Person acting on behalf of any such plan at the time it became a Holder or, at such subsequent time as it became such a plan or Person acting on behalf of such a plan, all payments made on such ERISA Restricted Certificate at and after either such time. Any such payments so recovered by the Servicer shall be paid and delivered by the Servicer to the last preceding Holder of such Certificate that is not such a plan or Person acting on behalf of a plan.
(c) Each Person who has or who acquires any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate shall be deemed by the acceptance or acquisition of such Ownership Interest to have agreed to be bound by the following provisions, and the rights of each Person acquiring any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate are expressly subject to the following provisions:
(i) Each Person holding or acquiring any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate shall be a Permitted Transferee and shall promptly notify the Servicer of any change or impending change in its status as a Permitted Transferee.
(ii) No Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate may be registered on the Closing Date or thereafter transferred, and the Servicer shall not register the Transfer of any Class R Certificate unless, in addition to the certificates required to be delivered to the Servicer under subparagraph (b) above, the Servicer shall have been furnished with an affidavit (a "Transfer Affidavit") of the initial owner or the proposed transferee in the form attached hereto as Exhibit I. In the absence of a contrary instruction from the transferor of a Class R Certificate, declaration (11) in Appendix A of the Transfer Affidavit may be left blank. If the transferor requests by written notice to the Servicer prior to the date of the proposed transfer that one of the two other forms of declaration (11) in Appendix A of the Transfer Affidavit be used, then the requirements of this Section 5.02(c)(ii) shall not have been satisfied unless the Transfer Affidavit includes such other form of declaration.
(iii) Each Person holding or acquiring any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate shall agree (A) to obtain a Transfer Affidavit from any other Person to whom such Person attempts to Transfer its Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate, (B) to obtain a Transfer Affidavit from any Person for whom such Person is acting as nominee, trustee or agent in connection with any Transfer of a Class R Certificate and (C) not to Transfer its Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate or to cause the Transfer of an Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate to any other Person if it has actual knowledge that such Person is not a Permitted Transferee. Further, no transfer, sale or other disposition of any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate may be made to a person who is not a U.S. Person (within the meaning of section 7701 of the Code) unless such person furnishes the transferor and the Trustee with a duly completed and effective Form W-8ECI (or any successor thereto) or an Opinion of Counsel to the effect that the transfer is in accordance with the requirements of the Code and the regulations promulgated thereunder and will not be disregarded for federal income tax purposes.
(iv) Any attempted or purported Transfer of any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate in violation of the provisions of this Section 5.02(c) shall be absolutely null and void and shall vest no rights in the purported Transferee. If any purported transferee shall become a Holder of a Class R Certificate in violation of the provisions of this Section 5.02(c), then the last preceding Permitted Transferee shall be restored to all rights as Holder thereof retroactive to the date of registration of Transfer of such Class R Certificate. The Servicer shall be under no liability to any Person for any registration of Transfer of a Class R Certificate that is in fact not permitted by Section 5.02(b) and this Section 5.02(c) or for making any payments due on such Certificate to the Holder thereof or taking any other action with respect to such Holder under the provisions of this Agreement so long as the Transfer was registered after receipt of the related Transfer Affidavit, Transferor Certificate and either the Rule 144A Letter or the Investment Letter. The Servicer shall be entitled but not obligated to recover from any Holder of a Class R Certificate that was in fact not a Permitted Transferee at the time it became a Holder or, at such subsequent time as it became other than a Permitted Transferee, all payments made on such Class R Certificate at and after either such time. Any such payments so recovered by the Servicer shall be paid and delivered by the Servicer to the last preceding Permitted Transferee of such Certificate.
(v) At the option of the Holder of the Class R Certificate, the LR Interest, the MR Interest and the UR Interest may be severed and represented by separate certificates; provided, however, that such separate certification may not occur until the Trustee receives an Opinion of Counsel to the effect that separate certification in the form and manner proposed would not result in the imposition of federal tax upon any of the Lower-Tier REMIC, the Middle-Tier REMIC or the Upper-Tier REMIC or cause any of the Lower-Tier REMIC, the Middle-Tier REMIC or the Upper-Tier REMIC to fail to qualify as a REMIC; and provided further, that the provisions of Sections 5.02(b) and (c) will apply to each such separate certificate as if the separate certificate were a Class R Certificate. If, as evidenced by an Opinion of Counsel, it is necessary to preserve the REMIC status of any of the Lower-Tier REMIC, the Middle-Tier REMIC or the Upper-Tier REMIC, the LR Interest, the MR Interest and the UR Interest shall be severed and represented by separate Certificates. The restrictions on Transfers of a Class R Certificate set forth in this Section 5.02(c) shall cease to apply (and the applicable portions of the legend on a Class R Certificate may be deleted) with respect to Transfers occurring after delivery to the Servicer of an Opinion of Counsel, which Opinion of Counsel shall not be an expense of the Servicer or the Depositor to the effect that the elimination of such restrictions will not cause any of the Lower-Tier REMIC, the Middle-Tier REMIC or the Upper-Tier REMIC to fail to qualify as a REMIC at any time that the Certificates are outstanding or result in the imposition of any tax on the Trust Fund, a Certificateholder or another Person. Each Person holding or acquiring any Ownership Interest in a Class R Certificate hereby consents to any amendment of this Agreement that, based on an Opinion of Counsel furnished to the Servicer, is reasonably necessary (a) to ensure that the record ownership of, or any beneficial interest in, a Class R Certificate is not transferred, directly or indirectly, to a Person that is not a Permitted Transferee and (b) to provide for a means to compel the Transfer of a Class R Certificate that is held by a Person that is not a Permitted Transferee to a Holder that is a Permitted Transferee.
(d) The transferor of the Class R Certificate shall notify the Servicer in writing upon the transfer of the Class R Certificate.
(e) The preparation and delivery of all certificates, opinions and other writings referred to above in this Section 5.02 shall not be an expense of the Trust Fund, the Depositor, the Trustee or the Servicer. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the parties hereto acknowledge that the functions of the Servicer with respect to Transfers, including, without limitation, maintaining the Certificate Register, receiving certificates and/or opinions of counsel, and the transfer and exchange of the Certificates pursuant to Sections 5.02, 5.03, 5.05 and 5.08 shall be performed by the Paying Agent.
