6
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1984
these positions showed parallel contractions of $13.5
billion and $14.3 billion respectively. The falls were
probably associated with decrease in foreign currency
awap deposits as interest withholding tax on Hong Kong
dollar deposits one of the principal incentives to
-
making swap deposits
was removed in October.
Over
the year there was a contraction of $2.5 billion in
net spot liabilities but an increase of $4.2 billion
in net forward assets.
Liquidity Ratios
The average liquidity ratio (as defined in
S.18 of the Banking Ordinance) for all banks fell to
51.1% from 51.8% in November. The average liquidity
ratio (as defined in S.24A of the Deposit-taking
Companies Ordinance) for all deposit-taking companies
fell to 60.1% from 61.7% in November.
Number of Reporting Institutions
The number of licensed banks in operation was
unchanged at 134. One deposit-taking company licence was revoked on request by the company itself and so
the number of deposit-taking companies fell by 1 to
The number of registered deposit-taking companies
increased by 1 to 319.
/TABLE 1:
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