On 23/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 23/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 23/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 15/07/2011.
PART VIII
MISCELLANEOUS
42.
—(1) The Authority shall be charged with the general administration of this Act and the exercise of the functions imposed on it by this Act.
(2) The Authority may authorise or appoint any person to assist it in the exercise of its functions and duties under this Act, either generally or in a particular case.
(3) The members of the Authority shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).
43. No finance company shall transact any business without the approval of the Authority on any day that is a public holiday under the provisions of the Holidays Act (Cap. 126), or on any day declared by the Authority to be a bank holiday under section 60 of the Banking Act (Cap. 19).
[33/84]
44.
—(1) Where a finance company becomes unable to meet its obligations or becomes insolvent or suspends payment, the assets of the finance company shall be available to meet the liabilities in Singapore of the finance company specified in section 44A.
[31/2005]
(2) The liabilities in Singapore specified in section 44A shall have priority over all unsecured liabilities of the finance company other than the preferential debts specified in section 328(1) of the Companies Act (Cap. 50).
[31/2005]
44A.
—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law or rule of law relating to the winding up of companies, in the event of a winding up of a finance company, the following liabilities in Singapore of the finance company shall, amongst themselves, rank in the following order of priority:
(a)
firstly, any premium contributions due and payable by the finance company under the Deposit Insurance and Policy Owners’ Protection Schemes Act 2011 (Act 15 of 2011);
(b)
secondly, liabilities incurred by the finance company under the Deposit Insurance and Policy Owners’ Protection Schemes Act 2011 in respect of insured deposits, up to the amount of compensation paid or payable out of the DI Fund by the Agency under the Deposit Insurance and Policy Owners’ Protection Schemes Act 2011 in respect of such insured deposits.
[31/2005; 15/2011]
(2) The liabilities in each class specified in subsection (1) shall —
(a)
rank in the order specified but as between liabilities of the same class, such liabilities shall rank equally between themselves; and
(b)
be paid in full unless the assets of the finance company are insufficient to meet them in which case they shall abate in equal proportions between themselves.
[31/2005]
(3) In this section, “Agency” and “DI Fund” have the same respective meanings as in section 2(1) of the Deposit Insurance and Policy Owners’ Protection Schemes Act 2011.
[15/2011]
45.
—(1) The Authority may, if it considers it to be in the interests of the depositors of a finance company, by order —
(a)
prohibit a finance company from carrying on its business; and
(b)
stay the commencement or continuance of any actions or proceedings against a finance company in regard to its business for a specified period of time on such terms and conditions as the Authority considers reasonable, and may from time to time extend the period up to a total period of moratorium of not more than 6 months.
(2) So long as an order under subsection (1) remains in force, any licence granted to a finance company under this Act shall be suspended.
46.
—(1) Every company shall, before it is granted a licence by the Authority to carry on financing business under this Act, include in its memorandum or articles of association the restrictions, limitations and prohibitions contained in sections 23 to 27.
(2) Every company that —
(a)
has carried on financing business in Singapore before 10th January 1968; and
(b)
is licensed under this Act,
but whose memorandum or articles of association do not include all or any of the restrictions, limitations or prohibitions contained in sections 23 to 27, shall be deemed to have included in its memorandum or articles of association all or any of such restrictions, limitations or prohibitions as are not so included.
(3) To the extent that any such restriction, limitation or prohibition so deemed to have been included in those memorandum or articles of association under subsection (2) is inconsistent with any provision already included in the memorandum or articles of association, that restriction, limitation or prohibition shall prevail over such provision.
47.
—(1) Without prejudice to anything contained in the Companies Act (Cap. 50), any person who is a director, manager or other officer concerned with the management of a finance company shall cease to hold office —
(a)
if he becomes bankrupt, suspends payments or compounds with his creditors; or
(b)
if he is convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or fraud.
(2) No person who has been a director of, or directly concerned in the management of, a finance company licensed under this Act which has been wound up by a court shall, without the express approval of the Authority, act, or continue to act, as director of, or be directly concerned in the management of, any finance company.
(3) Any person acting in contravention of subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
[33/84]
48.
—(1) Any finance company which, or person who, contravenes or fails to comply with any provisions of this Act or any order made under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
[33/84]
(2) The Authority may, without instituting proceedings against any person for any offence under this Act, or any regulations made thereunder, which is punishable only by a fine or a default penalty, demand and receive the amount of such fine or default penalty or such reduced amount as the Authority thinks fit from that person, whereupon —
(a)
if that person pays such amount to the Authority within 14 days after the demand, no proceedings shall be taken against him in relation to the offence; and
(b)
if that person does not so pay the amount so demanded, the Authority may cause proceedings to be instituted in relation to the offence.
49.
—(1) Any person who, being a director, managing director or manager of a finance company —
(a)
fails to comply, or to take all reasonable steps to secure compliance by the finance company, with the provisions of this Act or any order made under this Act or any other law relating to finance companies in force in Singapore; or
(b)
fails to ensure or to take all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy and correctness of any statement or information submitted under this Act or any other law relating to finance companies in force in Singapore,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
[33/84; 9/2003]
(2) In any proceedings against a person under subsection (1), it shall be a defence to prove that he had reasonable grounds to believe and did believe that a competent and reliable person was charged with the duty of securing compliance with the provisions of this Act or any order made under this Act or any other written law relating to finance companies in Singapore or with the duty of securing that those statements were accurate and correct and that the person was in a position to discharge that duty.
(3) A person shall not be sentenced to imprisonment for any offence under subsection (1) unless in the opinion of the court the offence was committed wilfully.
50. Any director, manager, trustee, auditor, employee or agent of any finance company who —
(a)
wilfully makes or causes to be made a false entry in any book of record or in any report, slip, document or statement of the business, affairs, transactions, conditions, assets or accounts of that finance company;
(b)
wilfully omits to make an entry in any book of record or in any report, slip, document or statement of the business, affairs, transactions, conditions, assets or accounts of that finance company, or wilfully causes any such entry to be omitted; or
(c)
wilfully alters, abstracts, conceals or destroys an entry in any book of record or in any report, slip, document or statement of the business, affairs, transactions, conditions, assets or accounts of that finance company, or wilfully causes any such entry to be altered, abstracted, concealed or destroyed,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
[33/84]
51. Where any public or private company or firm or limited liability partnership holds itself out to be a licensed finance company when it is not licensed under this Act, such company or firm or limited liability partnership shall be guilty of an offence and every director, manager or every officer of that company and the proprietor or every partner or officer of that firm and every partner or manager of the limited liability partnership shall, unless he proves that such holding out by the company or firm or limited liability partnership was made without his knowledge or consent, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
[33/84; 5/2005]
52. No prosecution in respect of any offence under this Act shall be instituted except by, or with the consent of, the Public Prosecutor acting upon a complaint made by the Authority.
[15/2010]
52A. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (Act 15 of 2010), a District Court shall have jurisdiction to try any offence under this Act and shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of the offence.
[9/2003]
53.
—(1) This Act shall not apply to —
(a)
any bank licensed under the Banking Act (Cap. 19); or
(b)
any business of pawnbroking carried on by a person licensed under the Pawnbrokers Act (Cap. 222).
[37/98; 23/2008]
(1A) Every co-operative society registered as a credit society under the Co-operative Societies Act (Cap. 62) to provide financial services shall, to the extent that such services amount to financing business, be exempt from section 3 in respect of such services.
[23/2008]
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act, the Authority may exempt any finance company from all or any of the provisions of this Act.
54.
—(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Companies Act (Cap. 50) —
(a)
a company (whether or not it is being wound up voluntarily) may be wound up under an order of the court on the application of the Authority; and
(b)
the court may order the winding up of a company if —
(i)
the company has held a licence under this Act and that licence has expired or has been revoked; or
(ii)
the company has carried on financing business in Singapore in contravention of the provisions of this Act.
[42/2005]
(2) In the winding up of a company that has been carrying on financing business, the depositors shall be deemed to be holders of debentures issued to them by the company and secured by a floating charge over all the property and undertaking of the company.
55.
—(1) As soon as practicable after the making of an order for the winding up of a finance company, the liquidator of the company shall —
(a)
publish in the Gazette a notice requiring every debtor of the finance company to redeem any property he has deposited with the company as security for any loan that he has obtained from the finance company; and
(b)
send by registered post that notice to every debtor whose security is held by the finance company and whose name is mentioned in the statement of affairs made out under section 270 of the Companies Act (Cap. 50).
(2) The notice shall specify the latest date up to which any security may be redeemed, which date shall not be less than 3 months from the date of the notice.
(3) After the latest date for redeeming any security held by the finance company specified in the notice, the liquidator may proceed to realise any security held by the finance company forthwith, notwithstanding any agreement setting out any other period of redemption previously entered into between the finance company and the debtor.
56. Nothing in this Act shall affect the operation of the Companies Act (Cap. 50), and any company that is liable to be incorporated under that Act shall continue to be so liable as if this Act had not been passed but in case of conflict between that Act and this Act the provisions of this Act shall prevail unless otherwise provided in this Act.
57.
—(1) The Authority may, from time to time, make regulations for, or in respect of, every purpose which is considered by it necessary for carrying out the provisions of this Act and for the prescribing of any matter which is authorised or required under this Act to be so prescribed.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Authority may by such regulations —
(a)
prescribe fees to be charged under this Act; and
(b)
regulate advertisements of finance companies.
(3) Such regulations may provide that a contravention of any provision thereof shall be an offence and shall be punishable with a fine not exceeding $5,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or with both as may be specified in the regulations.
[27/94]