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Banking Ordinance 1960

SAMOA

BANKING ORDINANCE 1960

Arrangement of Provisions

1. Short title
2. Interpretation
3. Repealed
4. Mode of proof of entries in bank books
5. When banker not compellable to produce books or appear as a witness in proceedings
6. Court or Judge may order inspection or taking of copies
7. Power of Audit officer to inspect private accounts
8. Destruction of cheques, bank drafts, bills of exchange or promissory notes by bankers

BANKING ORDINANCE 1960

1960 No.6

AN ORDINANCE to make certain provisions relating to banking.

[Assent and commencement date: 10 June 1960]

1. Short title – This Ordinance may be cited as the Banking Ordinance 1960.

2. Interpretation – In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires:

“bank” means the ANZ Bank of Samoa, and includes any person, partnership, corporation, or company lawfully carrying on in Samoa the business of banking;

“bank note” or “note” means the instrument commonly known as a bank note, that is to say; a promissory note (in whatever form or by whomsoever drawn or made) issued by a bank and entitling or purporting to entitle the bearer or holder thereof, without endorsement, or without any further or other endorsement than may be thereon at the time of the issuing thereof, to the payment on demand of the sum named therein, not exceeding the sum for which the bank may lawfully issue any such note;

“Court” means the Supreme Court of Samoa and includes any arbitrator, or other person before whom a legal proceeding is held or taken;

“Judge” means a Judge of the Court;

“legal proceeding” means any civil or criminal proceeding or inquiry in which evidence is or may be given, and includes an arbitration;

“officer” of a bank, includes the manager, accountant, and other responsible officer of the bank.

3. (Repealed by section 54 and the Schedule of the Central Bank of Samoa Act 1984 Amendment Act No.20, s.54.)

4. Mode of proof of entries in bank books – (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a copy of any entry in the books of a bank shall in all legal proceedings be received as prima facie evidence of such entry, and of the matters, transactions, and accounts therein recorded.
(2) The copy shall not be received in evidence under this Ordinance unless it is first proved:

(a) that the book was at the time of the making of the entry one of the ordinary books of the bank, and that the entry was made in the usual and ordinary course of business, and that the book is in the custody or control of the bank; which proof may be given either orally or by affidavit by a partner or officer of the bank; and

(b) that the copy has been examined with the original entry and is correct; which proof shall be given either orally or by affidavit by some person who has examined the copy with the original entry.
(3) An affidavit for the purpose of this section may be sworn before any person authorised to take affidavits.

5. When banker not compellable to produce books or appear as a witness in proceedings – An officer of a bank shall not, in any legal proceedings to which the bank is not a party, be compellable either to produce any book of the bank the contents of which can be proved under section 4, or to appear as a witness to prove the matters, transactions, and accounts therein recorded, unless by order of a Judge made for special cause.

6. Court or Judge may order inspection or taking of copies – (1) On the application of any party to a legal proceeding a Court or Judge may, on summons, order that such party be at liberty to inspect and take copies of any entries in the books of a bank for any of the purposes of such proceeding.
(2) An order under this section shall be served on the bank 3 clear days before the same is to be obeyed, unless the Court or Judge directs otherwise.
(3) Sunday, and any bank holiday, is excluded from the computation of time under this section.
(4) The costs of any application to a Court or Judge under or for the purpose of this section, and the costs of anything done or to be done under an order of a Court or Judge made under or for the purposes of this section, shall be in the discretion of the Court or Judge.
(5) Where the costs have been occasioned by any default or delay on the part of the bank, the Court or Judge may order that the same or any part thereof be paid to any party by the bank.
(6) The order against a bank may be enforced as if the bank were a party to the proceeding.

7. Power of Audit officer to inspect private accounts – Nothing herein limits the power of the Controller and Chief Auditor or any person authorised by the Controller and Chief Auditor, under the authority of any enactment for the time being in force relating to the pubic revenue of Samoa, to inspect the account of a private person in any bank if the Controller and Chief Auditor declares that he or she has reason to believe, and does believe, that money the property of the Government, or of any public body whose accounts he or she is by law required to audit, have been fraudulently or wrongfully paid into the private account of such person.

8. Destruction of cheques, bank drafts, bills of exchange or promissory notes by bankers – (1) All cheques and bank drafts in the possession of the bank on which they are drawn, and all bills of exchange or promissory notes in the possession of a bank and made payable at that bank, may be destroyed by such bank after the expiration of 7 years from the date thereof in the case of documents payable on demand, or from the due date thereof in the case of all other documents.
(2) This section applies to cheques, drafts, bills, and notes received by a bank either before or after the coming into operation of this Ordinance.
(3) No such document shall be destroyed under the authority of this section at any time after a demand for the delivery of such document has been made to the bank by the person entitled thereto.

REVISION NOTES 2008 – 2012

This Act has been revised under section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008.

The following general revisions have been made:

(a) Amendments have been made to conform to modern drafting styles and to use modern language as applied in the laws of Samoa.

(b) Insertion of the commencement date

(c) Other minor editing has been done in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General.

(i) “any” changed to “a”
(ii) “shall be” changed to “is”
(iii) “shall have” changed to “has”
(iv) “as aforesaid [section]” changed to “under [section]”
(v) Numbers in words changed to figures
(vi) “hereby” and “from time to time” (or “at any time”) removed
(vii) “etc.” removed and provided complete sentences

There were no amendments made to this Act since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This Act has been revised in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is the official version of this Act as at 31 December 2011. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Aumua Ming Leung Wai
Attorney General of Samoa

Revised in 2008 by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel)

Revised in 2009, 2010 and 2011 by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Papalii Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

Revised in 2012 by the Legislative Drafting Division.

The Banking Ordinance 1960
is administered by the Ministry of Finance.