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Drafting of code of banking practice
Following is a question by Dr the Hon Law Cheung-kwok and a written reply by the acting Secretary for Financial Services, Mrs Lessie Wei, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council whether the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has considered the feasibility of the following proposals when drafting the "Code of Banking Practice":
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
before "selling" new banknotes at a price in excess of their face value, note-issuing banks be required to obtain approval from the Government and state clearly how the profits so generated will be used;
in offering retail monetary products to customers, banks be required to clearly set out in the relevant documents the "annual effective interest rates" to be charged and the penalty provisions for early settlement of loans;
everyday language be used in contracts made between banks and their retail banking customers;
formulating a set of guidelines on business conduct for compliance by debt collection agencies employed by banks; and
drawing up relevant guidelines to protect bank customers' right to privacy, having regard to some recent cases in which certain banks have changed the terms and conditions of their credit card contracts to the effect that they have the right to disclose the personal data of customers to a third party; and
if so, what the results are; if not, why not?