TNAG-1648-FCO40-2295-Financial-insurance-and-investment-companies-in-Hong-Kong-In-1987 — Page 29

C354

Transitional.

INSURANCE COMPANIES (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) BILL 1987

(ii) by deleting "under section 8" and substituting following

"under section 8(1)(b)”; and

(b) by inserting after subsection (2) the following—

4.

"(3) Where the Insurance Authority refuses to authorize a company under section 8(1)(b)(ii), the Insurance Authority shall notify the company in writing of that refusal.

(4) Where notice of a refusal is given to a company under subsection (3) and the company is aggrieved by such refusal, it may, within 1 month from the date of the notice, appeal in writing against such refusal to the Financial Secre- tary, who shall review the Insurance Authority's reasons for such refusal and whose decision shall be final; but his decision shall not affect any refusal under section 8(1)(b)(i).”.

This Ordinance shall apply to and in relation to any application made under section 7 of the principal Ordinance before the commencement of this Ordinance in respect of which no decision has been made under section 8 of the principal Ordinance before that commencement as it applies to any application made under section 7 of the principal Ordinance on or after that commencement.

Explanatory Memorandum

The object of this Bill is to-

(a) give the Insurance Authority a discretionary power to refuse an application by a company to be an authorized insurer on a ground other than the grounds specified in section 8(2) and (3) of the principal Ordinance; and

(b) provide for an appeal against a refusal made by the Insurance

Authority in pursuance of his new discretionary power.

2. Clause 2 inserts a new subsection (1) in section 8 of the principal Ordinance. Paragraph (b)(ii) of the new subsection empowers the Insurance Authority to refuse an application to be an authorized insurer on a ground other than a ground specified in paragraph (b)(i) of that subsection.

3. Clause 3(a) amends section 11(2) of the principal Ordinance to provide

(a) that the Financial Secretary's power to decide an appeal against a refusal by the Insurance Authority to authorize a company on the ground specified in section 8(2) (the ground being that it appears to the Insurance Authority that a person who is a director or controller of the company concerned is not a fit and proper person to hold the position held by him) shall be by way of review of the Insurance Authority's reasons for such refusal; and

(b) that the Financial Secretary's decision in respect of such an appeal shall not affect any other ground (under new subsection (1)(b) of section 8 of the principal Ordinance) on which the Insurance Authority may have refused an application to be an authorized insurer.