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bruneilawsby aturio
In force2024 Revised Edition
Contents

Act

Banking Act

Licensing and regulation of banking business

In plain English

Not legal advice

The Banking Act regulates and licenses banking business. Unless it expressly says otherwise, the Act does not apply to licensed moneylenders, finance companies, or banks licensed under the Islamic Banking Act or the International Banking Order. Part of the Act still applies to licensed moneylenders and finance companies. The Finance Companies Act, the Moneylenders Act and the Islamic Banking Act do not apply to a bank. Certain sections do not apply to the government, licensed banks, moneylenders, pawnbrokers, co-operative societies, finance companies, approved insurers and some other bodies.

Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.

Part

Preliminary

Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged

s 1Citation

This Act may be cited as the Banking Act.

s 2Interpretation

(1)

In this Act, unless the context otherwise require —

“agreement” means an agreement whether formal or informal and whether express or implied;

“associate undertaking” shall be construed in accordance with

Part 1 of Schedule 1;

“Authority” means the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank established by the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank Order, 2010

(S 103/2010);

[S 103/2010; S 17/2021]

“bank” means a company which carries on banking business and holds a licence granted under section 4 or 23, and includes all branches and offices in Brunei Darussalam of any such company for the purposes of this Act;

“banking business” means business which consists of or includes the receiving of deposits or other repayable funds from the public and the granting of credits for its own account and includes the following activities —

(a)

financial leasing;

(b)

money transmission services;

Banking 12

(c)

issuing and administering means of payment, such as credit cards, charge cards, travellers’ cheques and bankers’

drafts;

(d)

guarantees and commitments;

(e)

trading for own account or for account of customers in one or more of money market instruments, foreign exchange, financial futures and options, exchange and interest rate instruments and transferable securities;

(f)

participation in share issues and the provision of services relating to such issues;

(g)

advice to undertakings or capital structure, industrial strategy and related questions and advice and services relating to mergers and the purchase of undertakings;

(h)

money broking;

(i)

portfolio management and advice;

(j)

safekeeping and administration of securities;

(k)

credit reference services;

(l)

safe custody services;

(m)

bank assurance; and

(n)

such other business as may be approved in writing by the Authority with the approval of the Minister;

“company” means a body corporate incorporated or registered in

Brunei Darussalam under the Companies Act (Chapter 39);

“controller” shall be construed in accordance with Part 2 of

Schedule 1;

“credit facilities” means —

(a)

the granting of advances, loans and other facilities whereby a customer of the bank has access to funds or financial guarantees; or

(b)

the incurring by a bank of other liabilities on behalf of the customer;

“deposit liability” means liability in respect of a deposit (as so construed), including where appropriate, a sum due as a debt to

Banking the Authority by virtue of section 62(4), and “depositor” and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

“director” includes any person occupying the position of director of a company, whatever the title of his office, and includes a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a company are accustomed to act and an alternate or substitute director;

“document” includes a circular brochure, pamphlet, poster, handbill, prospectus and other document which is directed at or likely to be read by members of the public; and also includes any newspaper, magazine, journal or other periodical publication;

“licence” means a licence granted under section 4 or 23;

“licensed moneylender” means a moneylender licensed under section 3 of the Moneylenders Act (Chapter 62);

“Minister” means the Minister of Finance and Economy;

“officer”, in relation to a company, includes —

(a)

a director, the secretary or an employee of the company;

(b)

a receiver or manager of any part of the undertaking of the company appointed under a power contained in any instrument; and

(c)

the liquidator of the company appointed in a voluntary winding up;

“owner of money” means the person who is entitled to the money

(or the person who would be so entitled except for the operation of the Limitation Act (Chapter 14)), and includes his executors, administrators and assigns and the lawful attorney or agent of the person, guardian, executor, administrator or assign;

“parent undertaking” shall be construed in accordance with

Part 3 of Schedule 1;

“place of business”, in relation to a bank, includes a head or main office, a branch, an agency, a mobile branch of the bank, any office established and maintained for a limited period only and any other place used by the bank for the dispensing or acceptance

Banking 14

of money on account or for the conduct of other banking business;

“Registrar” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act

(Chapter 39);

“share”, in relation to an institution, means a share in the share capital of that institution and includes an interest in such share;

“subsidiary undertaking” (and references to a subsidiary) shall be construed in accordance with Part 3 of Schedule 1;

“undertaking” shall be construed in accordance with Part 3 of

Schedule 1.

(2)

Without prejudice to any other meaning which the word

“insolvent” may have, a bank shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be insolvent if either it is unable to pay its debts on demand or at a time or in circumstances agreed by or on behalf of the persons making the payment and the person receiving it.

(3)

Subject to subsection (4), a “deposit” is a sum of money paid on terms under which it will be repaid (with or without interest or at a premium), and either on demand or at a time or in circumstances agreed by or in behalf of the persons making the payment and the persons receiving it.

(4)

Notwithstanding subsection (3), a sum of money is not a deposit if —

(a)

it is paid by way of advance or part payment for the sale, hire or other provision of property or services and is repayable only in the event that the property or those services is or are not in fact sold, hired or otherwise provided;

(b)

it is paid by way of security for payment for the provision of property or services provided or to be provided by the person by whom or on whose behalf the money is accepted;

(c)

it is paid by way of security for the delivery up or return of any property, whether in any particular state of repair or in any other manner;

Banking

(d)

it is a sum of money or a loan made by a person, in the course of a business of lending money carried on by him, to any other person, except a licensed bank; or

(e)

it is a sum of money that is paid to an institution by a person who, at the time when it is paid, is a controller, director or manager of the institution, or a spouse, child or step-child of such a person.

(5)

For the purposes of this Act, “capital funds”, in relation to a bank, means —

(a)

if the bank is a company whose head office is situated in

Brunei Darussalam the paid-up capital and published reserves of the company (excluding such reserves as the Authority may specify by notice in writing) deduction having been made for any loss appearing in the accounts of the bank;

(b)

if the bank is a company whose head office is situated outside Brunei Darussalam, the net head office funds and such other liabilities as the Authority may decide:

Provided that, except for the purposes of section 11, in determining the capital funds of a bank at any time there shall be deducted any debit balance appearing in the bank’s profit and loss account.

(6)

In subsection (5)(a), “published reserves”, in relation to a company, means reserves which appear in its accounts but does not include any reserves which are represented by the written-down value of assets or by provision for the depreciation of fixed assets or which are maintained for any specific purposes.

(7)

In subsection (5)(b), “net head office funds”, in relation to a bank incorporated outside Brunei Darussalam, means the aggregate of its issued and paid-up capital (or its equivalent recognised by the Authority as applicable to the bank under the laws of the country or territory in which the bank is incorporated, formed or established) and its published reserves as the

Authority may specify in writing, deduction having been made for any loss appearing in the accounts of the bank.

Banking 16

Part 2

Read on from Part 2

Part

Licensing of Banks

Read on from Part

Part

Reserve Funds, Dividends, Balance Sheets and Information

Read on from Part

Part

Prohibited Business

Read on from Part

Part

Minimum Assets Requirements

Read on from Part

Part 7

Read on from Part 7

Part

Overseas Branches and Representative Offices of Domestic Banks

Read on from Part

Part

Unclaimed Balances

Read on from Part

Part

Invitations to Make Deposits

Read on from Part

Part

General

Read on from Part

Schedules