XN000022-1995-07-05 — Page 39

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Clause 17 amends section 73(1) to provide that the Registrar may make rules for details to be supplied on notice of changes to registered schemes, exempted schemes and pooling agreements.

Proposed section 27(1)(b) is amended, through clause 13, to clarify that investments may be made in mutual fund corporations. This will place investments in mutual funds on a par with investments in, say, unit trusts, for which there are no restrictions.

Proposed section 27(2)(c) is amended, through clause 13(2), to provide that, subject to a limitation of 15% of the assets of the scheme under the proposed subsection (3)(a), no asset of the scheme acquired on or after 15th October 1993 shall consist of investments in the share capital of a body corporate which share is not publicly listed on a stock exchange recognised by the Securities and Futures Commission. Proposed subsection 27(3)(a) further clarifies that the 15% of the assets of the scheme is not in addition to any investment of the same nature held before 15th October 1993.

Proposed section 27(3)(c) is added, through clause 13(3), to provide that the administrator shall have to obtain the Registrar's permission before making investments that derive directly from entitlements attached to investments held before 15th October 1993. He has to satisfy the Registrar that the investments derive directly from prior entitlements, have become available in the normal course of business, and that the registered scheme would be disadvantaged if the investments were not made. Proposed section 27(4) is added to enable the Registrar to issue guidelines explaining what evidence or documentary material would be required to prove that the investments met those criteria.

Proposed sections 67(1) and 67(1A) to (1G) are added, through clause 16, to clarify that an occupational retirement scheme may be operated by two or more employers provided that they fall within the specified relationship, that is, they are within a defined grouping of companies. For this purpose, companies are regarded as within a grouping of companies if they consist of a holding company, its subsidiaries or associated companies. Companies are regarded as associated if one of them controls at least 20 per cent of the voting power of the other company's general meetings or they are partners operating under a written partnership agreement or are subsidiaries of any such companies. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that a group of associated companies is able to make proper collective decisions in the operation of a common occupational retirement scheme.