Banking Ordinance
set of laws passed by Legislative Council
The Banking Ordinance is a set of laws passed by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong to tighten restrictions for opening up or licensing a bank. Prior to the 1964 re-regulations, the government had no way to control bank's monetary effect on the economy. It also had no way of protecting the people utilizing the institutions. Banking was considered a Laissez-faire network, and was also described as "Free Banking" or "Wildcat Banking" filled with much uncertainty.
History
Banking Ordinance of 1948
The first law passed. It provided for the licensing of banks, examination of bank books, publication of bank statements and the appointment of an advisory committee. A Hong Kong dollar $5,000 license fee was required one-time. Afterwards, a bank could theoretically open on zero capital.
Banking Ordinance of 1964
The law was passed on 16 October 1964 and advised by a group of senior officials from the Bank of England. A minimum capital of HKD $5 million and liquidity ratio of 25% and limitation on loans and investments became the new requirements to open a legit institution.
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This entry incorporates text from “Banking Ordinance” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.