status. A further 27 were revoked at the request of
the company concerned, some because they
they had no deposits (13) and some because of a change in the
Owners' policy (8). Others had a variety of
problems which required careful monitoring in the interests of depositors until the business was wound
down.
30.
The registration of the remaining 3
companies were revoked by the Commissioner when, after full investigation, the companies had been put
into liquidation. These cases brought to the fore
the value of the so-called "comfort letters", that
is the undertaking given by the parent bank to the
Commissioner against which are set the permitted
lending limits of the subsidiary deposit-taking
company in Hong Kong. Mainly as a result of these
cases but partly for other reasons, the arrangements
regarding this sort of undertaking were reviewed
with the supervisory authorities of a number of
(Paragraph 32 below
countries
refers).
in the region.
31.
In May, 1986, the Office became concerned
about the possibility that remittance operations or
public issues of debentures or notes might have been
developed into devices having the effect of avoiding
the provisions of the Deposit-taking Companies
Ordinance, 1976, Sections 6 and 8. A deposit-taking company may legally provide remittance services for
a bank abroad and there is no wish to interfere in
16