Banks Amendment Act 26 of 1994

The Banks Amendment Act 26 of 1994 intends:

• to amend the Banks Act, 1990, so as
• to define or further define certain expressions;
• to create a sanction for a refusal or failure by an a.Spirant director or executive officer of a bank or controlling company to complete a quesiionnaire at the request of the Registrar of Banks;
• to replace an obsolete expression;
• to extend the powers of the said Registrar to hold discussions, with a view to achieving effective supervision, with the executive management of banks and their associates;
• to substitute for the concepts of provisional and final registration as a bank the single concept of registration as a bank;
• to provide for the conduct by foreign institutions of the business of a bank in the Republic by means of a branch;
• to further regulate the procedure for the establishment by a foreign institution of a representative office in the Republic;
• to make other and additional provision with regard to the payment of annual licence fees in respect of banking business;
• to rationalize a multiplicity of provisions governing the acquisition of shares in banks and controlling cmitpanies;
• to further regulate the transfer by a bank of the whole or any part of its business;
• to extend the categories of employees of banks and their associates who shall be debarred from holding the office of a director of such a bank;
• to create a sanction for a failure to furnish the Registrar of Banks with the prescribed information regarding proposed appointments of new directors to the board of directors of banks and controlling companies;
• to provide more specific guidelines regarding matters to be reported to the said Registrar by the auditor of a bank;
• to extend the categories of employees of banks and their associates who shall be debarred from serving on a bank's audit committee;
• to provide for the appointment of certain knowledgeable persons to assist in the judicial management or liquidation of banks;
• to regulate the effect of the suspension, cancellation or termination of the registration of a bank while such bank is being wound up, under judicial management or under curatorship;
• to provide for the appointment of a commissioner to investigate the affairs of a bank under curatorship or of its associates;
• to increase, and to further regulate the making of regulations with regard to, the minimum share capital and unimpaired reserve funds required to be maintained by a bank;
• to make further provision with regard to large exposures by banks;
• to further regulate the furnishing by banks of returns to the Registrar of Banks;
• to authorize the making of regulations with regard to the restriction of banks' investments in immovable property and shares and of the granting by banks of loans and advances to certain subsidiaries;
• to further regulate the role of banks as agents in the effecting of money-lending transactions;
• to effect a certain textual change;
• to prohibit any differentiation in the voting rights attached to the ordinary shares of a bank or a controlling company;
• to further regulate certain criminal matters; and
• to provide for the making of recommendations to the Minister of Finance regarding amendments to the Banks Act, 1990, through the medium of the Policy Board for Financial Services and Regulation; and
• to provide for matters connected therewith.

Commencement

• 1 May 1995, excluding Sections 6 to 10, 12 to 14, 15 (a), (b), (d) and (e), 16 to 22, 23 (a), (b), (c) and (d), 24 to 26, 34, 35, 37, 38 and 53 (a) (Gazette 16380 of 28 April 1995)
• 1 June 1996, Sections. 6 to 10, 12 to 14, 15 (a), (b), (d) and (e), 16 to 22, 23 (a), (b), (c) and (d), 24 to 26, 34, 35, 37, 38 and 53 (a) (Gazette 17181 of 23 May 1996)