FINANCIAL AND MONETARY AFFAIRS
Secretariat. The Efficiency Unit undertook an overall operations review of the registry which covered a wide range of areas. At present, the registry is able to complete the incorporation of a local company in seven working days and complete the registration of a charge in 10.5 to 14 working days. The registry aims to further improve its services by streamlining its practices and procedures, and through better staff deployment, office automation and computerisation. Preparatory work for computerising the control book and document index of incoming documents was at an advanced stage and the project is expected to be functional in mid-1994. During 1994, it is intended to provide a computerised directors' index for listed companies, subject to the enactment of the relevant enabling legislation by the Legislative Council. In the longer-term, the registry intends to provide remote search facilities for its main professional customers. The possibility of storing corporate data on optical disks rather than microfilm will also be examined.
Money Lenders
Under the Money Lenders Ordinance, anyone wishing to carry on business as a money lender must apply to a licensing court for a licence. The ordinance does not apply to banks and deposit-taking companies authorised under the Banking Ordinance.
Any application for a licence is, in the first instance, submitted to the Registrar of Companies as Registrar of Money Lenders. A copy is also sent to the Commissioner of Police, who may object to the application. The application is advertised, and any member of the public who has an interest in the matter also has the right to object. During the year, 645 applications were received and 624 licences were granted. At the end of 1993, there were 610 licensed money lenders.
The ordinance provides severe penalties for a number of statutory offences, such as carrying on an unlicensed money-lending business. It also provides that any loan made by an unlicensed money lender shall not be recoverable by court action. With certain exceptions (primarily authorised institutions under the Banking Ordinance), any person, whether a licensed money lender or not, who lends or offers to lend money at an interest rate exceeding 60 per cent per annum commits an offence. Any agreement for the repayment of any such loan, or security given in respect of such a loan, is unenforceable.
Bankruptcies and Compulsory Winding-up
The Official Receiver's office administers the estates of individual bankrupts and companies ordered to be compulsorily wound up by the courts.
Once a receiving order is made against the property of an individual bankrupt, or a winding-up order is made against a company by the courts, the Official Receiver becomes the interim receiver or provisional liquidator, respectively.
In cases where the assets of an estate are not likely to exceed $200,000 in value, the Official Receiver applies to the courts for a summary procedure order and is appointed trustee or liquidator. In other cases, a meeting of creditors in bankruptcy, or of creditors and contributories in compulsory liquidations, is held to decide whether the Official Receiver, or another person from the private sector, should be appointed trustee or liquidator. If a debtor makes a proposal for a composition in satisfaction of his debts or a proposal for a scheme of arrangement of his affairs, he will not be adjudged bankrupt if the proposal is accepted by his creditors and the court. As in past years, the Official Receiver was appointed trustee or liquidator in most cases.
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