FINANCIAL AND MONETARY AFFAIRS
88
companies were registered from 76 countries, including 1 359 from the British Virgin Islands, 822 from the USA, 478 from Bermuda, 414 from the UK, and 368 from Japan.
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 institutions authorised under the Banking Ordinance.
Licence applications are, initially, 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, 1 179 applications were received and 1 250 licences were granted. At the end of 1997, there were 1 138 licensed money lenders.
The ordinance provides severe penalties for 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 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 Court of First Instance of the High Court.
The Official Receiver becomes the interim receiver of an individual debtor or provisional liquidator of a company when a receiving order against the property of the debtor or a winding-up order against the company is made by the Court of First Instance of the High Court. Where the assets of an estate do not exceed $200,000, the Official Receiver is appointed trustee or liquidator by a summary procedure order. In other cases, a meeting of creditors in bankruptcy or meetings of creditors and contributories in compulsory liquidation will be convened to decide whether the Official Receiver or some other fit persons from the private sector should be appointed trustee or liquidator.
When he acts as trustee or liquidator, the Official Receiver investigates the affairs of the bankrupt or the wound-up company, realises assets and distributes dividends to creditors. The Official Receiver also prosecutes certain offences set out in the Bankruptcy Ordinance and the Companies Ordinance, applies for disqualification of unfit company directors, supervises the work of outside liquidators and trustees, and monitors funds held by liquidators in compulsory and voluntary liquidations.
The Bankruptcy (Amendment) Ordinance 1996 was enacted on December 27, 1996, to come into operation as and when the related amendments to the bankruptcy subsidiary legislation were finalised. It abolishes the outdated concept of 'acts of bankruptcy', provides for automatic discharge for bankrupts after a certain period and for new voluntary arrangements to encourage debtors to resolve their problems