H Keswick Esq
Matheson & Co Ltd
3 Lombard Street
London
EC3V 9AQ
Thank you for your letter of 1 May about the difficulty being
experienced by Jardine Fleming & Co in obtaining a full banking licence in Hong Kong.
As you know, decisions on local banking licences are for the
Hong Kong authorities and the Executive Council. But I have looked
very carefully into the matter.
One of the published criteria for obtaining a full banking licence is that local applicants have to be predominantly beneficially owned by Hong Kong interests. I understand that when the Executive Council last considered Jardine Fleming's application,
they considered that this criterion was not clearly met since neither of Jardine Fleming's ultimate parent companies are incorporated in Hong Kong. It would of course be open to Jardine Fleming and Co to apply for a full banking licence in the same way as
þora any other non-Hong Kong institution provided it could meet the usual
size criteria.
مجله
>
However, I, understand that under the revised licencing structure which came into effect on 1 February 1990, Jardine Fleming & Co has now been designated as a restricted licence bank and can
describe itself as a merchant bank. I hope that this will help Jardine Fleming to gain better access to markets both in Hong Kong
and elsewhere.
Jardine Fleming's applications for a full banking licence will
be considered again once the Hong Kong authorities have seen how the
new three tier system operates in practice. In the meantime, I
TICAAH
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