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Following is the speech (English translation) by the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Ms Julia Leung, in moving Committee Stage Amendments to Clauses 3, 4, 8 and 18 of the Banking (Amendment) Bill 2011 at the Legislative Council meeting today (February 29):
Acting Madam President,
I move the amendments to Clauses 3, 4, 8 and 18 read out just now, which are also set out in the paper. The following are technical amendments to the Chinese rendition of certain words in the Bill with a view to ensuring consistency and reflecting more closely the meaning of the relevant words in the English text.
We propose to amend the definition of the Basel Committee in section 2 of the Banking Ordinance as set out in Clause 3(5) by using the Chinese rendition "银行业监管标准" instead of "银行监管标准". The purpose of the amendment is to ensure consistency between the Chinese rendition of the word "banking" as appearing in "standards of banking supervision" in the proposed definition and that of the word "banking" in the proposed sections 60A(3)(b), 97C(3)(b) and 97H(3)(b).
As regards the amendment to the proposed section 97H(4)(a)(ii) as set out in Clause 8 of the Bill, the purpose is to reflect more accurately the meaning of "20% or more, but not more than 50%" in the English text. The proposed amendment adopts a similar Chinese rendition to that currently used in the definition of "minority shareholder controller" in section 2 of the existing Banking Ordinance.
In addition, concerning the proposed amendment to the proposed section 97M(8) as set out in Clause 8 of the Bill, it seeks to clarify that for the purposes of approving and issuing any code of practice under the proposed section 97M(1), or withdrawing any approval of any code of practice under the proposed section 97M(5), any requirement under those sections for the Monetary Authority (MA) to consult any person does not operate to prevent the MA from consulting any other person. The amendment addresses the need to include a reference to section 97M(5), in addition to a reference to section 97M(1), in the proposed section 97M(8).
Amendments are also proposed to each of Clauses 3(5), 4(1), 8 and 18(3) of the Bill to change the Chinese rendition of the word "liquidity" from "流动资产" to "流动性" in order to reflect better the nature of the risks and regulatory requirements concerned and reduce any potential for misunderstanding.
At the same time, amendment is proposed to add Clause 18(1A) in order to amend the Seventh Schedule to the Banking Ordinance so that the Chinese rendition of "流动资产" for the word "liquidity", as appearing in section 7(a) of the Schedule, will be replaced by "流动性" for the sake of consistency.
Acting Madam President, the above amendments have been proposed having regard to the comments raised by the Legal Adviser to the Legislative Council, for which I would like to express my gratitude. These amendments have been submitted to the House Committee for consideration and Members have raised no objection. I hope Members will support these amendments.
Thank you.
Ends/Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:20
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