(a) Unless otherwise provided in the will, a personal representative is authorized to retain the property received by the personal representative on the creation of the estate, including, in the case of a corporate fiduciary, stock or other securities of its own issue, even though the property may not otherwise be a legal investment and a personal representative shall not be liable for such retention, except for gross neglect. In the case of corporate securities, a personal representative may likewise retain the securities into which the securities originally received are converted or which are derived therefrom as a result of merger, consolidation, stock dividends, splits, liquidations, and similar procedures; and a personal representative may exercise by purchase or otherwise any rights, warrants, or conversion features attaching to any such securities. This Code section applies to all property held by a personal representative on March 28, 1961, under estates previously created, except that it shall not relieve a personal representative from liability for loss which had already accrued on or before March 28, 1961.

(b) In the case of a corporate fiduciary, the authority granted in subsection (a) of this Code section shall apply to the exchange or conversion of stock or securities of the corporate fiduciary's own issue, whether or not any new stock or securities received in exchange therefor are substantially equivalent to those originally held; and such authority shall also apply to the continued retention of all new stock and securities resulting from merger, consolidation, stock dividends, splits, liquidations, and similar procedures and received by virtue of such conversion or exchange of stock or securities of the corporate fiduciary's own issue, whether or not the stock or securities are substantially equivalent to those originally received by the fiduciary. The authority granted in subsection (a) of this Code section shall have reference, inter alia, to the exchange and continued retention of such stock or securities for stock or securities of any holding company which owns stock or other interests in one or more other corporations including the corporate fiduciary, whether the holding company is newly formed or already existing and whether or not any of the corporations owns assets identical or similar to the assets of or carries on businesses identical or similar to the corporation the stock or securities of which were previously received by the fiduciary; and any such authority shall apply regardless of whether any of the corporations has officers, directors, employees, agents, or trustees in common with the corporation the stock or securities of which were previously received by the fiduciary.