Banking Act - Singapore Statutes Online

Banking Act

(CHAPTER 19)

(Original Enactment: Act 41 of 1970)

REVISED EDITION 1999

(30th December 1999)

An Act to provide for the licensing and regulation of the business of banking.

[1st January 1971]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Banking Act.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“agreement” means an agreement whether formal or informal and whether express or implied;

“Authority” means the Monetary Authority of Singapore established under section 3 of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 186);

“bank” means any company which carries on banking business and holds a valid licence granted under section 7, 11 or 79; and all branches and offices in Singapore of such a company shall be deemed to be one bank for the purposes of this Act;

“banking business” means the business of receiving money on current or deposit account, paying and collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers, the making of advances to customers, and includes such other business as the Authority may prescribe for the purposes of this Act;

“company” means any company defined in any written law for the time being in force relating to companies, any company formed in pursuance of any Royal Charter or Letters Patent, and any company incorporated or registered under any written law in force in Singapore and includes any company incorporated outside Singapore which has complied with the provisions of any written law for the time being in force relating to companies;

“credit facilities” means —

(a)	the granting by a bank of advances, loans and other facilities whereby a customer of the bank has access to funds or financial guarantees; or
(b)	the incurring by a bank of other liabilities on behalf of a customer;

“director” includes any person occupying the position of director of a corporation by whatever name called and includes a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a corporation are accustomed to act and an alternate or substitute director;

“licence” means a licence granted under section 7 or 79;

“officer”, in relation to a corporation, includes —

(a)	a director, secretary or employee of a corporation;
(b)	a receiver or manager of any part of the undertaking of the corporation appointed under a power contained in any instrument; and
(c)	the liquidator of a company appointed in a voluntary winding up;

“person” includes a corporation;

“place of business”, in relation to a bank, includes a head or main office, a branch, an agency, a representative office, a mobile branch of the bank, any office established and maintained for a limited period only and any other place used by the bank for the dispensing or acceptance of money on account or for the conduct of other banking business;

“published reserves” means reserves which appear in the accounts of the bank but does not include any reserves which are represented by the writing down of the value of assets or by provision for the depreciation of fixed assets or which are maintained for any specific purposes;

“savings account liabilities”, in relation to a bank, means the total deposits at that bank which normally require the presentation of passbooks for the deposit or withdrawal of moneys;

“share”, in relation to a bank, means a share in the share capital of a bank and includes an interest in such a share;

“sight liabilities”, in relation to a bank, means the total deposits at that bank which are repayable on demand, but does not include savings account liabilities or the deposits of any other bank at that bank;

“time liabilities”, in relation to a bank, means the total deposits at that bank which are repayable otherwise than on demand, but does not include savings account liabilities or the deposits of any other bank at that bank.

[2/84; 21/96]

(2) Without prejudice to any other meaning which the word “insolvent” may have, a bank shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be insolvent if either it has ceased to pay its debts in the ordinary course of business or is unable to pay its debts as they become due.

(3) For the purposes of sections 9, 10, 29, 31 and 33, “capital funds” means —

(a)	in the case of a bank whose head office is situated in Singapore, the paid-up capital and published reserves of that bank deduction having been made in respect of any debit balance appearing in the profit and loss account of the bank; and
(b)	in the case of a bank whose head office is situated outside Singapore, the net head office funds and such other liabilities as the Authority may decide. [28/93]

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