Banking (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 12/1996

Read the first time on 2nd May 1996.

An Act to amend the Banking Act (Chapter 19 of the 1994 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Banking (Amendment) Act 1996 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2(1) of the Banking Act is amended by deleting the words “section 7 or 80” in the third line of the definition of “bank” and substituting the words “section 7, 11 or 80”.

Amendment of section 9

3. Section 9 of the Banking Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “$800 million” in subsections (1)(a) and (b), (2), (4) and (5) and substituting in each case the words “$1,500 million”;

(b)

by deleting the words “8th October 1993” in subsections (1)(a) and (b), (2), (4) and (5) and substituting in each case the words “the appointed day”; and

(c)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (7), the following subsection:

“(8) In this section, “appointed day” means the date of commencement of the Banking (Amendment) Act 1996.”.

Amendment of section 26

4. Section 26 of the Banking Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the word “information” in the third line of subsection (1), the words “(including returns)”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “15 days” in the first line of subsection (2)(a) and substituting the words “10 days”.

New section 45A

5. The Banking Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 45, the following section:

“Inspection by foreign supervisory authority

45A.—(1) A supervisory authority which is responsible for regulating the head office of a bank incorporated outside Singapore may conduct an inspection, solely for supervisory purposes and under conditions of secrecy, of the books and accounts of any branch of that bank in Singapore if the following conditions are satisfied:

(a)	where it has obtained the prior written approval of the Authority;
(b)	where it is prohibited by its domestic law from divulging information obtained in the course of the inspection to any other person or it has given an undertaking to the Authority not to divulge the information obtained to any person other than the Authority; and
(c)	where it has given to the Authority a written undertaking to comply with the provisions of this Act and any condition imposed by the Authority under this section.

(2) Subject to any condition imposed by the Authority under subsection (3), the supervisory authority, in carrying out an inspection under subsection (1) —

(a)	may examine the credit facilities in or of the branch and the internal control systems of the branch (including internal control systems relating to the treasury and other operations in the branch) and, with the prior approval of the Authority, other matters relating to the branch; and
(b)	shall not have access to information relating to the deposits of customers of the branch and such other information as the Authority may specify.

(3) The Authority shall, at any time before or after granting approval for an inspection under this section, require the supervisory authority to comply with the conditions relating to —

(a)	the classes of information to which the supervisory authority shall or shall not have access in the course of the inspection;
(b)	the conduct of the inspection;
(c)	the disclosure of information obtained in the course of the inspection; and
(d)	such other matters as the Authority may determine.

(4) For the purposes of ensuring the confidentiality of any information obtained in the course of an inspection by a supervisory authority under this section —

(a)	subsections (1) and (2) of section 47 shall apply to the supervisory authority and the references to the Authority in those subsections shall be read as references to the supervisory authority; and
(b)	section 47(3) shall apply to any official of the supervisory authority as if such official is an official of any bank.”.

Amendment of section 46

6. Section 46 of the Banking Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:

“(1A) For the purposes of an inspection under section 45A, the bank under inspection shall afford the supervisory authority access to such books and accounts as may be required to conduct the inspection if the following conditions are satisfied:

(a)	the requirements and conditions under section 45A are complied with; and
(b)	the inspection would not interfere with the normal daily business of that bank.”; and

(b)

by deleting the words “subsection (1)” in the second line of subsection (2) and substituting the words “subsection (1) or (1A)”.

New section 46A

7. The Banking Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 46, the following section:

“Confidentiality of inspection and investigation reports

46A.—(1) Any director, officer or employee of a bank and any person who by reason of his capacity or office has by any means access to a report produced by the Authority or a foreign supervisory authority upon inspection or special investigation of a bank under section 44, 45 or 45A shall not while holding that office, being employed in or having a professional relationship with the bank, as the case may be, or after the termination thereof, communicate the report or any part thereof to any person other than a director, an officer or an employee of the bank except with the prior written permission of the Authority.

(2) The Authority may grant its permission under subsection (1) subject to such conditions as may be determined by the Authority.

(3) If any person receives the report or any part thereof knowing or having reasonable ground to believe, at the time when he receives it, that the report or part thereof is communicated to him in contravention of this section, he shall be guilty of an offence unless he proves that the report or part thereof, as the case may be, was communicated to him contrary to his desire and, where the communication was effected in any written form, he has returned or has taken reasonable steps to return the report or part thereof, as the case may be, to the Authority.

(4) In this section, “professional relationship” includes a relationship between a bank and its solicitors or auditors, and such other relationship with a bank as the Authority may determine.

(5) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.”.

Amendment of section 47

8. Section 47 of the Banking Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the word “or” at the end of paragraph of (j) subsection (4);

(b)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (k) of subsection (4) and substituting the word “; or”, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(l)

in accordance with such conditions as the Authority may determine, information of such class or classes as the Authority may from time to time approve is transmitted from a branch in Singapore of a bank incorporated outside Singapore to its head office or another branch of that bank outside Singapore, solely for the purposes of carrying out collation, synthesis or processing of the information by the head office or that other branch for the branch in Singapore.”; and

(c)

by inserting, immediately after the word “Code,” in the definition of “written law” in subsection (11), the words “the Goods and Services Tax Act [Cap. 117A],”.

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