Repeal and replacement
of section 20.
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24. Section 20 of the principal Ordinance is repealed and replaced by the following-
**Minimum paid up capital, etc.
20. (1) Subject to the provisions of subsections (2). (4) and (5), a bank shall not transact banking business in the Colony unless-
(a) its capital issued and paid up is not less than ten million dollars (or the equivalent amount in the case of a company incorporated out- side the Colony) deduction having been made in respect of a debit balance appearing in the profit and loss account of the company: (b) its assets within the Colony, after due provi- sion has been made for all known bad and doubtful debts, exceed its deposit liabilities within the Colony, as defined by subsection (5) of section 18, by not less than ten million dollars.
(2) Subject to the provisions of subsections (3), (4) and (5), a bank which is the holder of a licence grunted prior to the commencement of the Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 1967 may transact banking business in the Colony notwithstanding that it does not comply with subsection (1) if
(a) its capital issued and paid up is not less than five million dollars (or the equivalent amount in the case of a company incorpo- rated outside the Colony) deduction having been made in respect of a debit balance appearing in the profit and loss account of the company;
(b) its assets within the Colony, after due pro- vision has been made for all known bad and doubtful debts, exceed its deposit liabilities within the Colony, as defined by subsection (5) of section 18, by not less than five million dollars.
(3) Subject to the provisions of subsection (4), the deposit liabilities within the Colony, as defined by subsection (5) of section 18, of a bank which is transacting banking business in the Colony pursuant to subsection (2) or which is exempted under sub- section (5) from the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) or from the requirements of either of those paragraphs shall not exceed ten times
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the aggregate of the bank's paid up capital and pub- lished reserve.
(4) Paragraph (a) of subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and subsection (3) shall not apply in the case of a bank which is owned wholly by the Government of any country.
(5) The Commissioner may from time to time by order in writing exempt any bank from the require- ments of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) or from the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) and may at any time by order in writ- ing revoke such exemption.
(6) For the purposes of paragraph (b) of sub- section (1) and paragraph (b) of subsection (2).
(a)
assets within the Colony" includes, but is not limited to, the specified liquid assets of the bank within the meaning of subsection (6) of section 18 reduced by an amount equivalent to such bank's total liabilities in respect of balances payable on demand to other banks in the Colony and money at call due to other banks in the Colony and money at short notice due to other banks in the Colony:
(b) in the case of a bank operating in the Colony and also elsewhere, the offices and branches situated in the Colony shall be deemed cof- lectively to be a separate bank carrying on business in the Colony,
(7) Subsection (3) shall come into operation four years after the commencement of the Banking (Amend- ment) Ordinance 1967.”.
25. Section 21 of the principal Ordinance is amended by deleting paragraph (6) and substituting the following—
"(b) in the case of a distribution of capital profits, the aggre- gate of its paid up capital and published reserve after such distribution will not be less than twenty million dollars.".
26. Section 23 of the principal Ordinance is amended by- (a) inserting the following after "any advances" and also
after "such advances"
M
loans"; and
Amendment
of section 21.
Amendmenl
of section 21