(a) Eligibility, number and term—

(1) Eligibility. No candidate for an outside director position may be a director, officer, employee, agent, or stockholder of an institution in the Farm Credit System. Farm Credit banks and associations must make a reasonable effort to select outside directors possessing some or all of the desired director qualifications identified pursuant to §611.210(a) of this part.

(2) Number. Stockholder-elected directors must constitute at least 60 percent of the members of each institution's board.

(i) Each Farm Credit bank must have at least two outside directors.

(ii) Associations with total assets exceeding $500 million as of January 1 of each year must have no fewer than two outside directors on the board. However, this requirement does not apply if it causes the percent of stockholder-elected directors to be less than 75 percent of the board.

(iii) Associations with $500 million or less in total assets as of January 1 of each year must have at least one outside director.

(3) Terms of office. Banks and associations may not establish a different term of office for outside directors than that established for stockholder-elected directors.

(b) Removal. Each institution must establish and maintain procedures for removal of outside directors. When the removal of an outside director is sought before the expiration of the outside director's term, the reason for removal must be documented. An institution's director removal procedures must allow for removal of an outside director by a majority vote of all voting stockholders voting, in person or by proxy, or by a two-thirds majority vote of the full board of directors. The outside director subject to the removal action is prohibited from voting in his or her own removal action.