TNAG-1267-FCO40-1616-Economic-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 249

:

period for the

establishment of the three-tier structure

structure(1)

came to an end. The problems experienced in the

the registered

deposit-taking companies sector at the turn of the year, which

had led to the revocation of eight registrations by the

Commissioner of Deposit-taking Companies in the first quarter, appeared to have subsided. Meanwhile, Hong Kong continued to

develop as an international financial centre. More foreign

banks have applied and were given licences to operate in Hong

Kong.

3.3

A total of four banking licences were granted during

the first half, bringing the number of licensed banks at the

end of June to 135, of which 132 were in operation. During

the same period, seven deposit-taking company licences were granted. So,

since the introduction of this particular

category of financial institution in 1981 and up to the expiration of the two-year transitional period, a total of 29

licences have been granted. At the end of June,

of June, 26 of these

were in operation. There was a net reduction in the number of

registered deposit-taking companies from 343 to 326 in the

first half of 1983. The net reduction of 17 was made up of

the addition of five newly registered deposit-taking

/companies

(1)

The three-tier structure of the financial sector, 'introduced in 1981, refers to the three distinctive classes of deposit-taking institutions: first, licensed banks, taking deposits of any maturity and in any amount in the course of their banking business; second, licensed deposit-taking companies, which are not permitted to take deposits of less than $500,000; and third, registered deposit-taking companies, which are not permitted to take deposits of less than $50,000 nor with an original term to maturity of less than three months. In the amendments to the Deposit-taking Companies Ordinance enacted in 1981, licensed deposit-taking companies, as a new class of deposit-taking institution, was created on 1 July 1981. Registered deposit-taking companies were given a transitional period of two years to run down their short-term deposits.

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