SINGAPORE LEGISLATION

• Published date: 01 December 1993
• Date: 01 December 1993
• Citation: (1993) 5 SAcLJ 367
• Author: CHARLES LIM AENG CHENG

Arms Offences (Amendment) Act 1993

Act No. 30 of 1993

Long Title: An Act to amend the Arms Offences (Chapter 14 of the 1985 Revised Edition).

Passed by Parliament on: 30th August 1993

Assented to by President on: 27th September 1993

Publication date: Not published as at time of printing.

Commencement date: Not in force as at time of printing.

Summary: This Act amends the Arms Offences Act to introduce the death penalty for any person who uses or attempts to use any arm while committing or attempting to commit any scheduled offence. The following are some of the more significant provisions of the Act.

Section 2 amends section 4 to provide that a person who uses or attempts to use any arm shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have used or attempted to use it with the intention to cause physical injury to any person or property. The section also excludes the defence under section 95 of the Penal Code.

Section 3 inserts a new section 4A to introduce a new capital offence for a person who uses or attempts to use any arm in committing or attempting to commit any scheduled offence whether or not he has any intention to cause injury to any person or property.

Section 4 re-enacts section 5 to punish with death an accomplice of a person who has committed the offence of using or attempting to use any arm under the new section 4A if the accomplice fails to take reasonable steps to prevent the use of the arm by that person.

Banking (Amendment) Act 1993

Act No. 28 of 1993

Long Title: An Act to amend the Banking Act (Chapter 19 of the 1985 Revised Edition).

Passed by Parliament on: 30th August 1993

Assented to by President on: 27th September 1993

Publication date: 1st October 1993

Commencement date: 8th October 1993 vide S404/93

Summary: This Act amends the Banking Act to provide, inter alia, for the following matters:

(a) to tighten the admission criteria and financial requirements for banks operating in Singapore;

(b) to facilitate the merger of a bank and one or more of its wholly-owned subsidiary banks;

(c) to facilitate the investigation of drug trafficking offences when a bank customer is involved in money laundering;

(d) to impose control over the issue of stored value cards;

(e) to empower the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the Authority) to make regulations on credit or charge cards issued by banks and financial institutions; and

(f) to make a few other necessary exceptions to banking secrecy.

The following are some of the more significant provisions of the Act. Section 3 repeals and re-enacts sections 9 and 10. The amended section 9 introduces the following changes:

(a) the capital funds of every existing Singapore incorporated bank must after the end of a 5-year grace period (which may be extended in certain circumstances by the Authority) be increased from the minimum $3 million to a minimum of $800 million (less a deduction for any debit balance) and that part of the capital funds consisting of issued and paid-up capital may be increased by the Authority in the future to at least $800 million. New banks will need to have this latter amount before being licensed; and

(b) foreign banks intending to establish a branch here must have a paid-up capital of at least $200 million but existing foreign bank branches are not subject to this requirement.

The amended section 10, apart from retaining the existing subsection (1) as to maintenance of capital ratio for all banks, requires every Singapore incorporated bank to maintain a capital adequacy ratio of not less than 12% or such other percentage as the Authority may determine. A bank which fails to meet this standard may be suspended or have its operations restricted.

Section 4 inserts a new section 11A to provide for appeal to the Minister against the rejection by the Authority of an application for a banking licence.

Section 5 introduces new sections 14A, 14B and 14C and sets out the procedure for the merger of a bank and one or more of its wholly-owned subsidiary banks and the effect thereof.

Section 14A empowers the Minister to approve, upon the joint application of the banks, the merger of those banks and to issue a certificate of approval. The merger of the banks would take effect only on the date a copy of the certificate of approval is lodged with the Registrar of Companies. The section also sets out the conditions which must be satisfied by the banks before the banks may apply to the Minister for the certificate of approval, including obtaining the prior approval of the Authority for the merger. Where the Minister has approved the merger of the banks, those banks are required to advertise in a local Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil language daily newspaper a notice of the approval of the merger.

Section 14B disallows the Minister from issuing a certificate of approval unless the applicant banks have complied with the requirements of section 14A and provides that any decision of the Minister relating to the issue of a certificate of approval shall be final and shall not be called in question in any court.

Section 14C (read with the new Fifth Schedule to be inserted by section 22) sets out the effect of a merger of banks approved by the Minister under section 14A.

Section 9 repeals and re-enacts section 29 relating to credit facilities and limits. It changes the existing provision by —

(a) reducing the single customer’s exposure limit from 30% to 25% of a bank’s capital funds;

(b) exempting banks (mainly offshore banks) with Singapore dollar loan portfolios of less than S$100 million from compliance with the provision restricting a bank from making substantial loans exceeding 50% of its total credit facilities; and

(c) extending the restriction on unsecured lending by a bank to private companies and non-listed public companies in which any of the directors of the bank beneficially owns more than 50% of the share capital or controls the board of such companies.

Sections 10,11 and 12 amend sections 31, 33 and 34, respectively, by removing the exemption granted to DBS Bank from complying with the provisions of each of those sections. Section 14 amends section 43 (dealing with the Authority’s recommendation to banks regarding credits and investments) by removing the exemption that at present applies to DBS Bank.

Section 15 amends section 47 relating to banking secrecy. The section allows the Authority to enquire into credit facilities granted to its customers by a

bank. The section also provides for exemption from banking secrecy in the following additional cases:

(a) foreign exchange, money market or any other transactions by foreign banks’ branches in Singapore with other banks or financial institutions where the information is given to their head offices;

(b) information on a deceased’s bank account requested by his personal representatives or any person entitled to letters of administration in connection with an application for probate or letters of administration;

(c) information relating to credit facilities granted by a Singapore branch of a foreign bank where the information is required for its supervision purposes by the supervisory authority responsible for regulating the bank’s head office;

(d) information provided by the Authority to a foreign supervisory authority on the operations of a Singapore branch of a foreign bank but that information must not include information about any customer’s accounts;

(e) information given to other credit or charge card issuers on the suspension or cancellation of a credit or charge card by reason of the customer’s default in payment; and

(f) information relating to credit facilities granted by a local bank where the information is required by its parent Singapore bank.

Section 16 introduces two new sections 47A and 47B. They are intended to be complementary to similar provisions in the Drug Trafficking (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. They are designed to assist in the investigation of drug trafficking offences where a bank customer is involved in laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking. Section 47A enables the Attorney-General or any person authorised by him to apply to the High Court for an order requiring the bank to produce material to which the order relates after the Court has satisfied itself that the conditions as to evidence of drug trafficking and other safeguards have been met. Similarly, section 47B enables the Attorney-General or any person authorised by him to assist a foreign government in its investigation into a foreign offence if the conditions in subsection (2) of that section are satisfied. The Attorney-General or any person duly authorised by him may then apply for a Court order under section 47A for a bank to produce specified material.

Section 17 introduces a new section 54A to allow the Authority, by notice in writing to banks, to give directions or impose requirements on or relating to the activities of and standards to be maintained by banks, if it appears to the Authority to be necessary or expedient in the public interest or the interest of the banking system.

Section 18 repeals and re-enacts section 59. The revised section would permit the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore and other financial institutions approved by the Authority to make use of Clearing House facilities. It would also confer upon the Authority powers to inspect the accounts and transactions of a Clearing House and to exercise effective control over it if the Authority believes it is operating to the detriment of the banks and other participating institutions.

Section 20 introduces a new section 77A. It establishes a scheme of control over the issue of stored value cards for which payments have been made in advance. Only banks that are approved by the Authority and the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore with the approval of the Authority will be permitted to issue such cards unless the cards...