TNAG-1771-FCO40-25241-Business-and-financial-legislation-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1988 — Page 157

MONEY LENDERS (AMENDMENT) BILL 1988

(b) is for the purpose of facilitating that export or import, as the case may be, of

those goods or services.

12. (a) A loan made to a company that has a paid up share capital of not less than

$1,000,000 or an equivalent amount in any other approved currency.

(b) For the purposes of this paragraph "approved currency" means a

currency-

(i) freely convertible into Hong Kong dollars; or

(ii) approved in writing by the Registrar for the purposes of this paragraph.

13. A loan upon terms involving the issue by a company of debentures or other securities in respect of which a prospectus has been registered under the Companies Ordinance.

(Cap. 32)

14. A loan made to a company the shares or debentures of which are listed on-

(a) the Unified Exchange within the meaning of the Stock Exchanges Unifica- (Cap. 361)

tion Ordinance; or

(b) any other stock market declared in writing, by the Commissioner for

Securities within the meaning of the Securities Ordinance, to be approved (Cap. 333) for the purposes of this paragraph.

15. A loan made to the subsidiary of a company referred to in paragraph 14.".

34. The Second Schedule is amended—

(a) by repealing "SECOND SCHEDULE"

"SCHEDULE 2”; and

Second Schedule

SCHEDULE" and substituting amended

(b) in paragraph 1 by repealing "section 22" and substituting

"section 22(1)".

Explanatory Memorandum

This Bill amends the Money Lenders Ordinance as a result of a review of its operation since its enactment in 1980. The amendments are principally-

(a) to permit, in certain circumstances, the licensing court to dispense

with assessors;

(b) to provide that the principal Ordinance, or specified provisions of the principal Ordinance, shall not apply to certain financial transactions and persons;

(c) to empower the Registrar of Money Lenders to grant general or specific exemptions from specified provisions of the principal Ordinance; and

(d) to correct various anomalies in the principal Ordinance which

have become apparent in its administration.

2. Clause 2(1)(a) inserts a definition of "company" in section 2(1) of the principal Ordinance. The definition is based on the definition of "company" in section 2(1) of the Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155). The existing references to "company" or "body corporate" in the principal Ordinance were either limited to companies registered under the Companies Ordinance (for example, paragraphs 2 and 5 in Part 2 of the First Schedule to the principal Ordinance) or ambiguous in meaning (for example, section 8(2) of the principal Ordinance).

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