TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1981
MORE AMENDMENTS TO BANKING ORDINANCES LIKELY
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SOME FURTHER AMENDMENTS TO THE BANKING AND DEPOSIT-TAK ING COMPANIES ORDINANCES WERE BEING PLANNED WHICH HE HOPED WOULD BE PUT FORWARD TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL LATER THIS YEAR, THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY, MR JOHN BREMRIDGE, TOLD THE HONG KONG ASSOCIATION OF BANKS AT ITS FIRST ANNUAL DINNER, HELD TONIGHT AT THE MANDAR IN HOTEL.
MR BREMRIDGE SAID THESE AMENDMENTS, LIKE SOME OF THE RECENT ONES, WERE NECESSARY TO ENSURE THAT ALL THE BANKS AND DEPOSIT-TAKING COMPANIES THAT GO TO MAKE UP THIS RAPIDLY-GROWING FINANCIAL CENTRE ARE SUBJECT TO A COMMONSENSE DEGREE OF PRUDENTIAL SUPERVISION IN THE INTERESTS OF THE IR DEPOSITORS, OF THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE, AND OF OUR COMMUNITY IN WHICH BANKING IS ONLY A PART THOUGH INDEED A PART OF RAPIDLY-INCREASING IMPORTANCE+.
+THIS SUPERVISION SHOULD NOT ONLY BE ADEQUATE IT SHOULD ALSO BE SEEN TO BE ADEQUATE. JUST AS REPUTATION FOR QUALITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE GOODS MANUFACTURED IN HONG KONG, SO THAT REPUTATION IS ESSENTIAL IN RESPECT OF OUR FINANCIAL SERVICES WHETHER THE INSTITUTIONS CONCERNED ARE INCORPORATED IN HONG KONG OR ELSEWHERE, THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY SAID.
WHILE RECALLING BRIEFLY THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN HONG KONG'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE PAST THREE YEARS, MR BREMRIDGE WENT ON TO CONSIDER WHERE WE NOW STAND, OR RATHER WHERE WE WILL STAND WHEN THE LATEST LEGISLATIVE CHANGES HAVE BEEN FULLY IMPLEMENTED+.
MR BREMRIDGE SAID HONG KONG WOULD THEN HAVE A MONETARY SECTOR FORMED OF THREE SEPARATE BUT INTER-DEPENDENT ELEMENTS.
THE FIRST, THE LICENSED BANKS, OFFERED A WIDE RANGE OF SERVICES TO A WIDE GROUP OF CUSTOMERS, AND MADE HONG KONG THE THIRD LARGEST INTERNATIONAL BANKING CENTRE AFTER LONDON AND NEW YORK.
HE SAID THERE ARE ALREADY 115 LICENSED BANKS, INCLUDING 72 INCORPORATED OUTSIDE HONG KONG AND CHINA, AND THE GRANT OF LICENCES TO FURTHER MAJOR INTERNATIONAL BANKS WAS IMMINENT,
THE SECOND ELEMENT WOULD CONSIST OF LICENSED DEPOSIT-TAKING COMPANIES, - THOUGH NO COMPANY HAD YET BEEN GRANTED THAT STATUS AND THE THIRD CONSISTED OF REGISTERED DEPOSIT-TAKING COMPANIES. OF WHICH THERE WERE 346.
/THESE THREE