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A bill on the adaptation of existing ordinances relating to banking and monetary matters will be gazetted on Friday (November 13) and introduced into the Legislative Council on November 25.

"The Adaptation of Laws (No.9) Bill 1998 is proposed to effect necessary textual amendments to these ordinances so that terminologies that are inconsistent with the Basic Law or with the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China can be changed accordingly," a government spokesman said today (Wednesday).

"Most of the proposed amendments are merely terminological in nature. References to saving the rights of 'Her Majesty, Her Heirs or Successors' will be amended to saving the rights of 'the Central People's Government or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region' while 'the Governor' and 'the colony' will be amended as appropriate," he added.

The Adaptation of Laws (No. 9) Bill 1998 covers 14 ordinances. They are the Bills of Exchange Ordinance (Chapter 19), The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Ordinance (Chapter 70), Loans (Asian Development Bank) Ordinance (Chapter 271), Hang Lung Bank (Acquisition) Ordinance (Chapter 345), Standard Chartered Asia Limited Ordinance

(Chapter 1136), Lloyds Bank (Merger) Ordinance (Chapter 1137), Royal Bank of Scotland Ordinance (Chapter 1138), Deutsche Bank (Merger) Ordinance (Chapter 1142), Rainier International Bank (Transfer of Hong Kong Undertaking) Ordinance (Chapter 1144), First Pacific Bank Limited Ordinance (Chapter 1146), Dao Heng Bank Limited Ordinance (Chapter 1152), Middle East Finance International Limited (Transfer of Undertaking) Ordinance (Chapter 1154), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ordinance (Chapter 1160), and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Merger of Subsidiaries) Ordinance (Chapter 1161).

"The adaptation amendments when passed into law would take effect retrospectively, as from the date of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," the spokesman added.

End/Wednesday, November 11, 1998

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