EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1988 NO 379
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE TREASURER
BANKS (SHAREHOLDINGS) ACT 1972
BANKS (SHAREHOLDINGS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 10 of the Banks (Shareholdings) Act 1972 (the Act) generally limits the nominal amount of the voting shares of a bank incorporated in Australia in which a person (including a corporation) may have an interest to 10 per cent, or with the approval of the Treasurer, to 15 per cent, of the total nominal amount of the voting shares of the bank. Under sub-section 10(4) of the Act the Governor-General may, after application made to the Treasurer by a person, fix a higher percentage for that person by instrument published in the Gazette. Sub-section 10(3) provides that where a percentage is applicable in relation to a person, that person may not have a greater nominal amount of shares than the percentage so fixed.
In order to permit the sale of the 15 per cent interest in IBJ Australia Limited held in equal proportions by the Western Australian Development Corporation, the State Government Insurance Commission of Western Australia and the
Town and Country WA Building Society to the Industrial Bank of Japan, the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on the recommendation of the Treasurer has, pursuant to Sub-section 10(B) of the Act, varied the instrument which had previously been gazetted under Sub-section 10(4) so that the instrument as varied fixes a percentage of 100 for the Industrial Bank of Japan Limited in relation to its interest in IBJ Australia Bank Limited.
The Banks (Shareholdings) Regulations (the Regulations) currently prescribe a class of persons in relation to their interests in the banks listed in the Schedule to the Regulations which are deemed under sub-section 9(2) of the Act to exist by virtue of those persons being associates of the corporations listed in the Schedule, so that those interests are disregarded for the purposes of the Act.
In view of the fact that the Western Australian Development Corporation will no longer have an interest in IBJ Australia Bank Limited, it is not necessary for the Regulations to contain any reference to the Western Australian Development Corporation in relation to IBJ Australia Bank Limited. The current amendment has deleted that reference from the Schedule to the Regulations.
Similarly, in view of the fact that the Town and Country WA Building Society and the Western Australian Development Corporation will no longer have an interest in IBJ Australia Limited, it is no longer necessary to have a regulation which disregards the deemed interest in IBJ Australia Bank Limited of a director in common to the Western Australian Development Corporation and Town and Country WA Building Society. Regulation 5 of the Banks (Shareholdings) Regulations has therefore been repealed.